It's the rear brakes.  Disk brakes "self adjust" because the rubber piston
seal retracts just enough to pull the pads back a fraction of an inch.
Springs do the job with drum brakes.  If you can't get the drum off, it's
usually because it is so worn that there is a ridge at the edge, and you
need to retract the brakes as far as possible, ratchet the adjuster back to
the bottom.  Drums worn this much are nearly impossible to adjust properly,
because they are usually warped.  The principle of hydraulic brakes is
multiplication of force--a small piston pressurizes a larger one, and the
force multiplies by a factor of the difference in cross sectional area.  The
larger piston (brake cylinder or disk caliper) has to maintain a close
distance to the braking surface, or the pedal moves too much to engage the
surfaces.

Stuart

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Troy
Sent: Monday, June 30, 2008 8:26 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: I learned alot about my brakes today....

I'll be real curious to know what your solution is. I was having a similar
set of problems with my 89, and replaced the master cylinder.  I bled the
brakes twice, but may need to do it once more. I've also adjusted the rear
brakes twice, and STILL the brakes engage somewhere around half to two
thirds down. I'm quite certain my drums are a little bit warped, as the
shoes do not scrape continuously, but rather just about once every
revolution. I was trying to get the drums off, but what a job!  I pounded
the heck out of them with a hammer, plus also backed off the star wheel
adjuster about 15 turns, but can't get those things to budge. May try heat
next, but put the thing back together for now. I'm told that the distance
the pedal travels is directly related to the rear brakes, so I'm puzzled.
And it looks so easy in the video I watched;)

Troy