[T3] Type 3 Brake Hoses

[Jim Adney]

Because the correct right rear brake hose for IRS Type 3s is no 
longer available anywhere, I had to find somewhere that would make 
them up for me. Once I found a good source, I've been buying all my 
brake hoses from the same place. For a few years now, I've been able 
to keep all the late Type 3 brake hoses in stock, but I've had so 
little demand for the early ones that I haven't bothered with them.

That seems to have changed recently, so I just ordered a bunch more 
to cover the early years, including disk brake conversions. They 
should be here in a few weeks.

So, if you need hoses for your Type 3, please keep me in mind.

I'll have 6 different Type 3 hoses in stock:

'61-5 Front for drum brakes
'66 Front for disk brakes (also for '61-5 converted to disk brakes)
'61-8 Rear (swing axle)
'67-73 Front (disk brakes)
'69-73 IRS Left Rear (also '68 AT)
'69-73 IRS Right Rear (also '68 AT)

If you need hoses, be sure to tell me enough about your car that I 
can get you the right ones.

While going thru my shelves I also found a few "orphan" hoses that 
I'd love to sell. Special deals on these if anyone needs them:

Rear IRS Type 1
Right Rear late bus

Brake hoses don't last forever. Eventually, they collapse internally, 
blocking fluid flow. The pressure from the master cylinder will 
always be enough to force fluid out to the wheel, but the fluid won't 
be able to flow back. This will cause the brake for that wheel
to stay on and overheat.

There's a very easy way to test for this.

First, make sure your brake pedal has free play and is all the way 
back (relaxed.) Then open a bleed valve. Fluid should dribble out. If 
it doesn't, remove the bleed valve completely, just to make sure the 
problem isn't dirt in the bleed valve. If fluid still doesn't dribble 
out at a reasonable rate, that hose is blocked.

Repeat this test at all 4 wheels, testing each hose in turn.

Front hoses tend to fail sooner than rears, because of the extra 
flexing due to steering.

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Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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