I'm sure the bearings really enjoy that blow with the sledge hammer. I
like to remove the drums. Then after cleaning things up, I remove the
outer bearing seals, and then using a thin grease needle, inject grease
into the wheel bearing. After the grease comes out of the rollers, I
wipe out the excess and replace the seal. Wipe out all the grease on the
outside of the bearing. This will allow for expansion when the bearings
get warm. If you don't leave room, you will blow out the seals.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
Of Tom Young
Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2003 8:11 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Rear Brakes

Perhaps living in California has spoiled me in this regard, but even in
situations where the drums and hubs have been together for a long, long
time
I've managed to remove the drums from the hubs without going to
Herculean
effort.  Certainly less effort than removing and them installing a nut
to
500Nm, particularly since I don't have the tools to do this in the first
place.

I've always found that judicious use of a 3 lb. sledge around the
circumference of the flat face of the drum will eventually break the
"sticktion" that builds up between the drum and the hub.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Young                       '81 Vanagon
Lafayette, CA 94549         '82 Westfalia
---------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Connolly" <john@AIRCOOLED.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2003 4:14 PM
Subject: Re: Rear Brakes

> while I do agree you can do it, it is a lot easier to remove the drum
and
> hub. Sometimes trying to remove the drum from the hub is a SOB. Kinda'
like
> changing the generator in a beetle in the engine bay. You CAN do it
but
it's
> easier to just yank the engine first.
>
> John
> Aircooled.Net Inc.
>
> > >The myth that one needs to remove the axle nut to do the rear
brakes is
> one
> > >that's been repeated in just about every manual I've seen.  Even
the
> > >Bentley, while not explicitly saying so, suggests this it true.
Well,
> it's
> > >not.
> >