Tim Gardner wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> Today I checked out my Bentley manuel and noticed that sussposidly to do the
> rear shoes you need to use a wheel puller?  I then went outside with my father
> and checked out the brakes and how to get at them.  Im not sure if this is
> syncro spectfic but there is a pin that holds a large nut and the hub.  Now
> this must be removed inorder to replace the rear shoes?  Do I need the wheel
> puller or can I just bend the pin, take it out and unscrew the nut that holds
> the hub on?  Please help me out with how to do this.  Thank you for any
> information.
>
> Tim G
> 87 gl syncro(166k)

Tim,
If the Syncro rear brakes are anything like the 2WD rear brakes, it is
not necessary to remove that big nut.  If you remove the road wheel, you
will find that there are two small bolts that hold the drum to the hub.
You undo these bolts, undo the parking brake, and the drum should pull
right off.

You can't just "unscrew" the big 46mm axle nut.  You need one hell of a
breaker bar (like 6 feet) because that nut is torqued to like 350
foot-pounds.  Thankfully it is not necessary to undo this nut to replace
the rear brake shoes.  I wish VW had gone the same way for their earlier
cars, because on my Karmann Ghia I have to undo the big 36mm axle nut to
get the rear drums off.

Good luck,
Sean Bartnik
Johnson City, Tennessee
'81 Vanagon L Westfalia