Some form of the "star wheel" is common on all cars with drum brakes and
you almost HAVE to adjust them with the drum on to get a good initial
adjustment after a brake job.  On some cars a straight flat-bladed
screwdriver will do the job, but with the Vanagon you typically have to
bend an old screwdriver into an "L" shape (or buy one of those brake
adusting tools at the FLAPS) in order to get the tool in the hole.

But why did you add "(and I now know, the hub) off"?  It's certainly not
necessary to pull the hub to get the drum off, and, IMO, it's more
trouble than it's worth to do so for a regular brake job.

On Wed, 29 Sep 1999, Sean Birkner wrote:

> Is there a way to adjust the "star wheel" without pulling the drum (and I now
> know, the hub) off?
>

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