And About Those Brakes.........................

[Bookwus]

Hiya All,

I just finished doing some long overdue (I found out!) work on my brakes.

I had noticed that my brakes were starting to pull right and that my front end would lock up on gravel or a wet surface.  Not a good situation by any means.  I was pretty sure that I needed to adjust my brakes and replace the rubber brake lines.  How right I was, and there was more!

I got all my brakes adjusted in pretty short order and went about replacing the rubber brake lines.  Since I was not going to save the old lines I just went ahead and cut them.  Made for easy draining and removal.  What I found was shocking.  Here's a picture of sections of each of the brake lines..................



As you can see, both left front and rear lines are nearly swollen shut.  No wonder I had a pull to the right!  And they looked completely normal from the outside.  To make matter worse, take a look at the metal line to the right rear wheel cylinder..........



It had been flattened at the point where it crosses over the rear torsion tube.  Probably by a rock.  In any event, it was so flattened that it would not allow any brake fluid into the wheel cylinder.  Yikes!  The only wheel that was operating at anywhere close to 100% efficiency was the right front.  I figure that, at best, I had about 50% braking ability.  A very scary thought!

So, the moral of my story is check out those brake lines on a regular basis.  Me?  I'm going to just go ahead and change out those rubber lines every two or three years.  That may be overkill, but I figure I'm worth it.

[68autobug]

Pretty scarey...

I replaced all My brakes and hoses during My restoration...
I had a stainless steel sleeve fitted to the master cylinder
so it won't ever wear out...

One thing... I can lock My two front wheels just about anytime if I hit the brake pedal Hard...
especially on sealed roads that have loose sand or gravel on them
and naturally when the road is wet...
or unsealed gravel/dirt roads...

Lee

http://community.webshots.com/user/vw68autobug

[Bookwus]

Hiya Lee,

Pretty scarey...

No kidding!

One thing... I can lock My two front wheels just about anytime if I hit the brake pedal Hard...
especially on sealed roads that have loose sand or gravel on them
and naturally when the road is wet...
or unsealed gravel/dirt roads...

Before I fixed the brakes I could lock up the right front wheel with "more than moderate" pressure on the pedal.  On any kind of hard surface!  That also was scarey!

Glad I took the time to fix them properly.

[68autobug]

I forgot Mike,
You have drum brakes on the front...
All Autosticks ,imported into Australia ,as far as i know  [1968-74]
All had disc brakes..  on the front..
so, We have no pulling to one side etc...

although with a pipe crushed closed..
that brake is not going to work...
but I've never felt the front brakes pulling since I owned a 1961 beetle with drum brakes...

I've never been able to figure out why North American beetles didn't have
disc brakes....

We never had the brake testing lamp.. or the brake test switches [3 prong]
on the master cylinder..
or the seat belt switches..

cheers

Lee - 68autobug - Australia -

http://community.webshots.com/user/vw68autobug

[68autobug]

After cars are 3 years old [in this state] they have to be examined
by a Mechanic every year, before they are registered for road use.
during the examination, a sensor is placed on the brake pedal
and then the car is driven by the examiner, and the brakes applied..
the machine attached to the sensor prints out a graph
and the pressure needed to stop the car...
so, maybe your brake problem would have been noticed by an examination
as we have over here...

Not all states exam cars every year...
some don't exam cars at all...  but any car can be pulled over, examined,
and put Off the road if faulty...
or a sticker is attached to the windshield if the fault is small
like a blown headlamp or tail lamp..
and the owner has 7 days to fix the problem..

Lee - Australia - State of New south Wales...

http://community.webshots.com/user/vw68autobug