If you are not getting a firm pedal, l would say you are not getting
effective braking from the calipers. I don't know if our vans have a
diagonal hydraulic circuit like the old Rabbits/Sciroccos did, where the
you had one front and the diagonal rear brake on the same circuit in case
of a failure..

My current parking brake shoes are adjusted to the point I get slight drag
when I spin the wheels and at one click of the parking lever, it will hold
in my slightly inclined driveway.

-Dick-

On Friday, June 26, 2015, Neil N <musomuso@gmail.com> wrote:

> Thanks Dick.
> The low pedal is likely due to a shoe fine adjustment.
> Before and during shoe adjustment I
> pushed the brake pedal several times to center shoes.
> This likely pumped up the wheel cylinders
> allowing the wheel cylinder springs to keep the shoes out
> during fine adjustment. i.e. the gap between shoes and drums
> is big enough to cause an initial low pedal but not so big
> that it actuates the adjuster lever.
> Wheel cylinders are new ATE.
> Master cylinder was replaced not that long ago.
> I flush the hydraulics regularly.
>
> In terms of my question, as an extreme example, if the shoes were
> adjusted so far in that this caused the pedal to go to the floor,
> would this hamper effectiveness of the calipers?
>
> On 6/25/15, Dick Wong <sailingfc@dslextreme.com <javascript:;>> wrote:
>
> > My 'pump up" brake pedal ended up being a failing seal within the master
> > cylinder.
> >
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com
> <javascript:;>] On Behalf Of
> > Neil N
> > Sent: Thursday, June 25, 2015 8:14 PM
> > To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM <javascript:;>
> > Subject: Low Brake Pedal, Caliper Piston Movement.
>
> > .....
> > i.e. does this [low pedal] negatively affect the calipers ability to
> sufficiently push
> > the pads against the rotors?
> >
>
> --
> Neil n
>
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>
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>
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