Hi all:

After taking the wheel/drum on and off two or three times just to make
*sure* I'd done the brake job correctly I re-installed the old drum, without
adjusting the shoes.  (I'd measured the old drums and determined they were
both out of spec.)

While I think I'm now hearing a slight rubbing noise, the "clunk" isn't
there and I'm not getting any sensation through the brake pedal.  Could this
all be a matter of adjusting the shoes "looser" to the new drum?  In a way
that doesn't make sense to me because the "clunk" sounded so "mechanical."
I think I'll also mic the new drum to see if it's significantly out of
round.
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Tom Young                        '81 Vanagon
Lafayette, CA 94549          '82 Westfalia
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Young" <tomyoung1@attbi.com>
To: <type2@type2.com>; <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, October 11, 2002 1:54 PM
Subject: [T2] Help Please-Rear End Noise!

Hi all:

I've just finished doing a complete rear end brake job on my '82 Westfalia,
and now I've got a problem I'd sure appreciate some help on.

Background:

'82 is new to me; purchased 3-4 weeks ago.  Drove it once or twice a week
since then and noticed no noise, no problems.  Just finished installing new
rear brakes - shoes, drums, hardware, wheel cylinders - and now I have a
definite "clunk" in the left rear, one clunk per wheel rotation.  I'm also
feeling it through the brake pedal when I apply the brakes.  It seems like
the noise and the brake job go hand-in-hand but I've done rear brakes on my
'81 before with no problem and I've pulled the left drum on the '82 now a
half a dozen times and would swear everything is correct: E-brake attached,
front shoe in front, rear shoe in rear, 4 springs in place.  The noise is
consistent on straight runs and left turns (haven't turned right yet).

At first I thought maybe by pure coincidence a CV joint had gone bad while
the car was sitting there, but I've had an outboard CV joint go bad before
and I don't remember feeling it through the brake pedal in this fashion.

 I also thought about the wheel bearing, but I've read that bad bearing tend
to make more of a rumbling sound while this is a definite "clunk."

Can anybody think of anything wrong in the brake job that could be causing
this?  Something installed wrong, defective drum, anything?  I figure an
out-of-round drum could give me the brake pedal "pulse" but I sure wouldn't
expect any sort of "clunk."

TIA.