although i have never tried it, it has been suggested that to loosen the
rear drum when its rusted do the following.  loosen the lug nuts so that
the wheel wobbles a bit then drive back and forth over a curb.

jonathan

On Thu, 3 Mar 2005, jake beaulieu wrote:

> Hey,
>
> The rear brake drums on my air cooled 82 Vanagon were so tightly rusted
> to the hub that I really had to beat the heck out of them with a 2.5lb
> hammer to get them off.  After I reinstalled the drums I noticed a very
> pronounced pulsing in the brake pedal.  I took the drums into a machine
> shop and it turns out that I actually bent them!  This also explains why
> they started scraping on the backing plate.  Moral of the story, don't
> beat up your rusted drums too badly while trying to remove them.  I
> guess I am also looking for a new set.
>
> Live and learn,
> Jake
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
> Of Frank Condelli
> Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2005 5:59 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: drums scraping backing plate
>
> In a message dated 21/02/2005 8:41:58 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM writes:
>
> I  recently serviced the rear wheel bearings on my 82 air cooled
> vanagon.
> I  replaced the wheel bearings on the drivers side and just repacked
> the
> bearings on the passengers side.  After reassembly the drums are
> rubbing
> against the brake backing plates.  The drums are only hitting  the
> backing plates at one point (at the bottom) and only a small section  of
> the drum is hitting the plate.  Any ideas on this?
> The axle nut  is properly torqued to 258 ft-lbs and the lug nuts are
> also
> properly  torqued.
>
>
> Jake, the backing plate is most likely bent.   Backing plate is just
> flimsy
> metal and gets bent often causing the  rubbing.  Just find the spot and
> unbend
> until it has enough  clearance.  The axle nut torque is 360 lbs not 258.
> See
> Bentley page  42.4
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> Frank  Condelli
> Almonte, Ontario, Canada
> _BusFusion_ (http://members.aol.com/BusFusion/bfhome.htm)  a VW Camper
> camping event, Almonte, ON, June 09 ~ 12, 2005
> '87 Westy, '90 Carat &  Lionel Trains
> Member: _Vanagon List_ (http://www.vanagon.com/) , _LiMBO_
> (http://www.bcn.net/~limbo/) , _IWCCC_ (http://www.westfalia.qc.ca/)  &
> _CCVWC_
> (http://www.ccvwc.ca/)
> Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in  the Ottawa Valley
> _STEBRO/Vanagon Stainless Steel  Mufflers_
> (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/stebro.htm)
> _Frank Condelli &  Associates_
> (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/busindex.html)
> or  http://frankcondelli.com
>
>
>