I've been following this question and now have one of my own.  'I' did my
brakes and rear, a few weeks ago.  'I' meaning an expert mechanic friend
pointed and said 'do this' then 'do that'.  Took about 30 minutes per side
in the back.

I did one side with him in charge and the other side 90% on my own.  It
wasn't that difficult [I hope, maybe now something will show up, never tempt
the van gods].  So either an '85 is especially easy or there really is an
easy way if you know how.  Maybe one of the vendor/experts on the list can
comment?

Mike
----- Original Message -----
From: "wb6otg" <wb6otg@INTREX.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2000 7:15 AM
Subject: Re: Rear Brake Drums

> >I find my rear drums
> >pretty solidly frozen to the hubs... is there a special puller or
> >extractor for it, or is it just simpler to deal with the 46 mm nut?
>
> I didn't have this problem, but found that I had to remove the 46mm nut
and take the hub off to be able to get at all the springs and stuff in
there.  Its probably possible to do a rear brake job just by removing the
drum, but it didn't look easy!
>
> Bill
>