Thanks Dennis.

I replaced the shoes - hardware cyl(s). etc. early on my Vanagon
owner-operator career. Prior to that, I thought i knew a bit about
cars. Maybe not so much in hindsight.    ;)    That said, a Vanagon
aware shop recently inspected the brakes and found no fault.

In general, I know more now about auto mechanics and appreciate your
input and pointer to the archives.

The gap between the e-brake cable eyelet and each shoe lever is
something I wouldn't have known to look for; it TOTALLY makes sense.
i.e. back off e-brake front cable nut, adjust shoes close to drums,
ensure that there's a little wiggle room (small gap) between shoe
levers and e-brake eyelets, drive and re-adjust rears then adjust
e-brake as needed.

Neil.

On Sun, May 26, 2013 at 10:30 PM, Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com> wrote:

> The e-brake cables do not get adjusted to compensate for wear or whatever.
> Check the archives. I have written a procedure for proper adjustment of the
> brakes. The e-brake cable has to get set properly and in order to do this
> the drums have to be off so you can see the lever and set the cables for a
> small gap between the levers and the adjusting rod. After that all
> adjustment is done with the rod and they should automatically adjust.
>
> Dennis
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> neil n
> Sent: Sunday, May 26, 2013 2:22 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Causes of Brake Pull at Highway Speeds? UPDATE
>
> So another shop checked out my '81. The owner ....

> A side note. He adjusted the brake shoes and noted that the e-brake was
> adjusted as far as it can go. ..... I asked if backing off the e-brake adjustment would allow more
> adjustment at the shoes and allow the e-brake to be adjusted properly. He
> said "no".
>
> AFAIK, all the rear brake parts are still serviceable. If I slack off the
> e-brake adjuster, will this allow the shoes to re-position slightly further
> in (away) from the drums which in turn would allow me to adjust the shoes
> then properly adjust the e-brake?

--
Neil n

Blog: tubaneil.blogspot.ca

'88 Westy http://tinyurl.com/c8rlw6p

'81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco"  http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/

Vanagon VAG Gas inline-VR Engine Swap Group:

http://tinyurl.com/d7gd5ej