On Thu, 21 May 1998, Vernon Craddock wrote:

> [snip]
> Arghh! the drum wouldn't budge  Try as I might, I could not
> get a good enough grip to move the thing.
>
> I got my girlfriend pulling on one side of the box, me on the other
> alternating.  The drum was flexing back and forth and Finally BONG!!! popped
> off.
>
> [snip]
>
> Answer me the following questions please:
>
> 1. Is there a good way to prevent this from re-occurring?

Since going through the same thing you did to get my drums off, I put a
*very* light smear of grease on the new drums where they meet the hub.
I've pulled the hubs 2 or 3 times since (maybe around 6-7k miles at a
time) and this seems to work, although if I left them in place for years
and years like I did with the old ones, who knows?

 2. Why were all of the old shoes heavily won on the Top, but not the bottom?

Seems to be the result of the drums' design.  I had the same condition
and others have reported similar wear.

> 3. Why would one shoe (Driver side rear facing) be worn almost to the metal
> (top edge 1mm) while the others were all at about 2.5mm on the top edge?

Don't know.  I seem to recall having a similar wear pattern, i.e., one
shoe a lot more worn than the others.  I suspect it's because of
mis-adjusted brakes.

> 4. Is there any easy way to work that !@#$% adjuster to tension these?  Right
> now my brake pedal drops to the floor on the first push.

Not sure what you're asking here.  You adjust the shoes until they just
*barely* drag on the drum.  Once that's done, it's done.  The brake pedal
dropping to the floor sounds like an "air in the lines" problem.  If the
second and third pump bring the pedal up to its proper position, then you
need to bleed the brakes.

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Tom Young               young@sherlock.SIMS.Berkeley.EDU
Lafayette, CA  94549    '81 Vanagon
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