with extremely rare exceptions..
almost all cars have parking brakes on only one end of the car.

usually it's the rear.
so your Vanagon fronts sure should spin freely if they're in the air, and
the back end is on the ground and parking brake applied. In both 2WD and
Syncro Vanagons  ...it's on the rear brakes only.

there are a few cars with the parking brake on the front wheels...a few
front wheel drive cars - Saabs and Citroen's for example.

as far as I know only a few military vehicles or a few  extreme off road
custom vehicles have 4 wheel parking brakes.
and speaking of that ..
where a  four wheel parking brake is desired..like in tow trucks say...
then there is an electric 'line lock' switch ...you apply the brakes, flip
the switch ..
the switch 'locks' the brake pressure on ...which is going to all four
wheels of course.

All tow trucks have that feature, pretty much.
Very common in trucks.

for drag racing ...what is called a 'line lock' is used on the front wheels
only ...they're electro-hydraulically locked on ..so you can take your foot
off the brake and the car won't creep over the line ..
or for doing rear wheel burn outs perhaps without the car going
anywhere...to heat up the rear tires for better traction. .
when it's time to 'GO' ...you release the switch and thus brake line
pressure.

Scott
www.turbovans.com

----- Original Message -----
From: <mcneely4@cox.net>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>; "Scott Daniel - Turbovans"
<scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sent: Saturday, July 03, 2010 5:51 PM
Subject: Re: [VANAGON] Parking brake pressure (was I've had it)

> ---- Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM> wrote:
>> it's an 84 I think..
>> even when you yank those early parking brake handles on pretty firmly,
>> you still don't get much leverage on the brake drum shoes.
>> it's really very poorly designed.
>>
>> the later style parking brake handle is at least 3 times better .
>> you know the parking brake is on with those.
>
> So, should the parking brake on an '91 VW Vanagon GL Campmobile engage
> both front and rear brakes?
>
> When I set the brake, the van won't move (in 1st gear, manual
> transmission).  However, I raised the front end a few days ago.  The
> parking brake was on, but the front wheels spun freely.  Right, or wrong?
> Van brakes perfectly well, but the parking brake does not engage the
> front.