As important as brakes are at some point it may be time to see a pro.

Front calipers du wear, rust internally and need to be overhauled at some
point. If you do not remember when rebuilds were last installed it is
probably time. At least a thorough inspection during pad replacement and do
the pistons retract smoothly. Brake fluid changes do not fix all.

As for the rear brakes I have made a number of posts during the years on
proper adjustments and parts choices. Check the archives. You should be able
to lift the handle ~4 clicks before the shoes drag and 8 clicks to really
lock them. Proper brake cable adjustment needs to be done with the drums off
so you can see the levers.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Jonathan Poole
Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 12:29 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Intermittent brake sticking

Hello list,

A problem is slowly developing on my '83 air cooled westy.  A couple
of times in the past week of around town driving I have noticed a
little brake drag (while at a light for instance or when stopping and
starting a lot).  I also, after short highway drives I have noticed a
slight burning smell a few times.  This didn't immediately remind me
of typical brake pad smells, probably because I am running some
organic type pads up front.  In any case I have tracked the problem
down to the front left/drivers wheel only.  I have not been able to
get the brakes to stick while testing but it seems that they have only
done this after a lot of town/stop and go driving.  The only recent
change that my van has seen is a move to coastal carolina where it is
wet and salty.  I need to get my van out of here before it starts
rusting, but that's another story.  I have spent months in different
coastal areas in this van recently and have never had this problem so
I don't know if this is related.

Around 2 years ago I replaced most of the brake system including
rotors, pads, bearings and hoses up front - shoes, drums, slaves,
springs, hoses etc. in back and a new master cylinder and copious
flushing.  I also dissassembled and cleaned out the balancer/check
ball thing at the same time.  I haven't adjusted, bled or tinkered
with the brakes in quite some time.  All friction surfaces are in good
shape though and I have plenty of pad/shoe left.

A few other details.  My parking brake is a bit tight and only clicks
once, or twice typically.  When doing a lot of city driving I
sometimes get annoying brake squeak from the rear wheels I think.
This always goes away when I get out of the city.  I've only noticed
this a few times (Boston, NYC and other similar places where the
driving involved a lot of medium speed stops).

I'm not sure how to proceed on this one as I shouldn't have a
collapsing hose since they are fairly new.  I suspect that something
is a bit out of adjustment and that either the sea level air pressure
or rust has caused the driver caliper to not always release fully.  It
doesn't bind tightly though and it is hard to notice.  My infrared
thermometer is really helpful though once it did smoke a bit from that
wheel.  I hope I didn't cook the grease.  It is synthetic so hopefully
that is no problem.

Any suggestions for adjustments, troubleshooting etc. are appreciated.

Thanks,

Jonathan Poole