Yo Listees,

Spent the first full day as a Vanagon owner fixing the source of the
hot brake odor coming from the right rear. Took a few minutes to
find the trademark VW inspection holes with a mirror and flashlight
I could see one of the holes (yes, only one) had an adjuster.

Loosened the shoes up enough to get the drum off and found that
things had gotten very hot.  My nose is notoriously insensitive (wife
accuses me of not noticing my own body odor), but PO must have
_really_ been bad.

Sprayed brake cleaner all over and things looked much better. The
layer of surface metal steel fabricators call mill scale was cooked
completely off the drum.  Its braking surface was still smooth, so
decided to put  it back on.  The shoes were extremely rough
textured--strange.

Anyway, I cleaned things up, adjusted the brakes and torqued the
axle stub nut to---253 ft lbs--like and older bus because I don't have
a manual yet.

Immediately after this morning's post, I went to the library and
Books in Print listed a Bentley Manual.  By the time I left the
building, Barnes and Noble has agreed to order me one.

So, after it arrives I'll be considerably less ignorant, although things
underneath an 89 VW _do_ look somewhat like the underneath of
VW's I've seen before.

Was not getting the archives to work a mistake on my end
or did they have problems this morning.

Thanks for the kindness and advice.

Keep to the High Road

Fred Brittain
78 and 89 Westys