[T3] Rear brake shoes

Jim Adney jadney at vwtype3.org
Sun Mar 9 14:26:07 PDT 2014


On 8 Mar 2014 at 17:24, Mark Fuhriman wrote:

> Years ago I bought a set of brake shoes for the rear brakes of my '69
> Fastback.  I don't remember where I got them, but I finally decided to
> install them today.  Once they were on the car I was disappointed to find
> that my drums would not fit.  Seems the lining on these new shoes is a
> little too thick. 

I'm going to agree with the others here: If the shoes look like your 
old ones, it's unlikely that they are wrong. Relined shoes are 
sometimes available in an oversize, for drums that had been turned, 
but that was seldom recommended for our drums. If that's what you 
have, I'd expect to see some marking, like "OS", stamped on the box, 
after the part number.

To check, remove one shoe and place it inside a drum to see if it 
fits nicely all the way around. If it's oversize, there will be a 
small gap at the center of the arch. What we'd normally see would be 
a nearly perfect fit, with a slight amount of excess clearance at the 
ends of the linings, indicating that the drum was worn slightly 
larger than the linings. It's no problem if the drum is slightly 
larger than the shoe.

Otherwise, check to make sure you have the adjusters retracted all 
the way, the parking brake all the way released, and the pistons 
fully retracted. You've already made sure the new shoes were not 
installed skewed up or down a bit.

Finally, it may be necessary to remove some of the rusted lip from 
the edge of the drum to allow the shoes to clear. I've never had to 
remove metal from the shoe itself, and I wouldn't recommend that.

I have good shoes here if you need them. Is there a number on the box 
you bought?

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