Aircooled VW South Africa

Hello everyone!

Just a quickie here, I've recently done the brakes on my old bug.

Upon inspection, I found that my front right upper lining was clinging to the shoe by a few ballhairs. Luckily I had a set of new shoes, so went about getting a pair of new slave cylinders since the old ones are leaking.

So I set off working and find my bearings are not in the best shape, but I repacked them and put it all together until I can afford new bearings.

OK, new brake shoes are on, new cylinders in place, system is bled. Time for a test drive!

Before I picked up much speed, I noticed a curious sound coming from one of the wheels. I reckon it may be the new shoe dragging a bit on a drum that may or may not be a little out of round. (Can't afford to get them machined or replaced just yet.) Is that a common occurrence? Or should I be more worried about the bearings that werent in good shape? there was some pitting on the rollers of the inner bearing. It didn't make that much noise before but now that I am aware of the condition it plays on my mind.

When it comes to bearings, I'd like some advice on how to go about replacing them. The outer races (the ones pressed into the drum) looked OK, would I simply replace the inners? If I have to do both then I'll wait til next month and just get the drums machined at the same time (praying there is enough meat on them for that!) Do I just take the old one as a sample and get it matched?

All this in mind, I do want to drive her here and there working some of the other kinks out. She's not ready to be a daily runner just yet. No idea what shape the aft brakes and bearings are in. If I remember correctly they didn''t look too bad the last time I had them off, but I'll tackle those as soon as I am happy with the front end. I just want to keep her rolling though, since it's easier to identify problems that way and sort them out.

Thanks for reading!

It is always best to replace all bearing at the same time as it will save time.

But you can just wash and repack the good bearings and refit.

If money is tight, you can place sand paper in the drum, facing inward, then rubbing the new shoes against the sandpaper this will remove the high spots, remove the sandpapers and clean with clean air, and reinstall.

This will bed the shoes and maximize your braking until they are seated.

Herman

The front wheels use tapered bearings, which come in pairs, and are matched. Each wheel has an inner and outer pair. The tapered raceways are pressed into the drum and the roller bearings fits into the raceways. I use a brass drift to knock the old raceways out. That way there'll be no damage to the drums. Take your old raceways, grind the outer circumference down a bit to use it to knock in the new ones.

BEARINGS ARE PROBABLY ONE OF THE LEAST EXPENSIVE OF THE FIXES YOU WILL END UP DOING ON YOUR CAR AND ALTHOUGH NECESSARY MAY NOT BE CRITICAL. BRAKES HOWEVER ARE CRITICAL AND SO IT MAY BE A GOOD IDEA TO GET THOSE SORTED AS SOON AS FINANCES ALLOW.
MY ADVICE WOULD BE TO TAKE YOUR OLD DRUMS/DISCS TO BE SKIMMED AND YOUR SHOES TO BE RE-LINED AS THERE IS A VERY GOOD CHANCE THAT THE NEW SHOES WOULDN'T HAVE ENOUGH ON THEM TO TAKE UP THE PLAY/SPACE. (THIS IS OF COURSE IF YOUR VEHICLE IS OLD AND HAS HIGH MILAGE ALREADY AND HAS THE ORIGINAL HARDWARE ON IT)
FORTUNATELY THESE ARE BOTH JOBS THAT YOU CAN DO THE FITTING/LABOUR ON YOURSELF WITH BASIC TOOLS AND SO YOU CAN DO THEM ON A LIMITED BUDGET.
I KNOW YOUR PAIN AS I AM IN THE SAME BOAT. JUST KEEP DOING A LITTLE BIT AT A TIME AND YOU WILL BE SUPRISED AT WHAT YOU ACHIEVE.

GOOD LUCK AND SAFE TRAVELS!

MARK

Price to skim 4 drums and re-line all shoes are around R500 on average.

I just don’t have the money right now, will have to wait until next month but I do appreciate the advice. I want to do the bearings at the same time. Might have to do the aft slave cylinders, too, I’m not sure what kind of condition they are in but the front ones were quite leaky. Gonna see if I can get a rebuild kit somewhere, the new ones I bought don’t seem as well made as the older ones so I’d like to have a set on hand just in case