On 18 Mar 2006 at 7:33, Dennis Haynes <dhaynes@OPTONLINE.NET> wrote:

> Rear wheel cylinders are relatively short term parts. I recomend repalcing them
> at every brake job along with the hardware kits. ATE is the only cylinder I know
> with the correct details including the spring to preload the pistons to push tem
> out against the shoes. Without these springs, the pistons often creep back in
> causing you to have to double pump the brake pedal to get a firm pedal.

Thanks for this info Dennis... I'd heard about springs in the cylinders, but didn't know this was
one of the symptoms - my '88 has had it since I got it. My brakes haven't been touched in 10
years (only 45k miles in that time), aside from flushing the lines every two years. But I'm
going to take a look soon. Interestingly, the brakes were done at the dealer just before I
bought it. So it sounds like they may not have used ATE...

Shawn Wright
http://members.shaw.ca/vwdiesels
'88 Westy 1.6TD 5 speed
'82 Diesel Westy 1.6NA
'85 Jetta Diesel 1.6NA