Hi Volks,

Just thought I would warn you-all that my partner and I will be head out on
a trip this week.  We will be leaving Mendocino, California the morning of
April 22nd and arriving at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, Friday afternoon, the
24th - (1,500 miles one way.  We decided to take advantage of the cheap
gas!)

Actually, my partner has a conference to attend.  I'm just the driver!

So, this will be a high speed, low level run down to Bakersfield, over to
Barstow and then onto Interstate 40 to head east for hours until we reach
the turn-off at Albuquerque, then north to Santa Fe and on up to Abiguiu.  I
am expecting "trouble free motoring" with my recent Subaru conversion.  I
have put 9,000 miles on the conversion since I installed it last summer but
this is the first real, long distance "test'!

Last weekend I put new tires on all around and for the first time in all the
years I have driven VW busses (21 years) I put on truck tires!  And only
because of YOU Volks on the vanagon list!  Yes!  Hard head that I am, I am
taking your suggestion.  I installed a set of Bridgestone LT 185-R 14 "D"
rated tires.  I know nobody was talking about Bridgestone tires during all
these past tire discussions but that was all I could get in the way of Light
Truck tires out here in my neck of the woods.

In the process of putting on the tires I pulled the rear brake drums and
discovered I was almost metal to metal!!  So, I installed new shoes.
Anyway, the weird thing is...  The shoes I took off had almost full
thickness of lining material at the bottom of each shoe but the top of each
shoe was worn down almost to the metal!!  All four - two shoes each side -
worn the same!  The top almost gone, the bottom full thickness!

This is a 1984 Vanagon camper we are talking about here.  This is the first
bus I have owned that had "self adjusters" on the rear.  I see that the
"star" adjuster and "self adjuster assembly" is located at the top of the
shoes just below the slave cylinder.  The bottom of the shoes are "fixed" ag
ainst non- adjustable points.  What I'm trying to say is...  I don't see how
the shoes can wear out any other way than in the tapered manner they did
when only one end of the shoes gets expanded.  Am I missing something here
or is this normal wear for early Vanagons?  My 1971 ROADCOW has the star nut
expander at the bottom of the shoes and the slave cylinder expanding the top
of the shoes - that way I can expand the bottom of the shoes, over time, so
they wear down evenly.

Anybody know if something is wrong set up wrong with the rear brakes on my
'84 or is that normal?

Anyway, I will be "free and clear" next weekend after delivering my partner
to the conference.  I will have all of Saturday, the 25th and Sunday, the
26th to go exploring around the Ghost Ranch area.  Maybe rattle up to the
Buddhist temple if the road is open.  Any Volks in the area that might want
to give me the eyeball, kick my tires or try driving a Vanaru - Send me an
e-mail before the 22nd.

When the conference is over we will be in the Taos, Hondo area for a few
days visiting some friends.  Then, back to Mendocino by the 2nd of April.

Ron Bloomquist, Lolli Jacobsen and "Red Rug" - the dog formerly known as
Sarah.
ROADCOW
Vanaru