[Vwdiesel] The sad story continues..... Brake problems

[mark shepherd]

IMO the stub axle may have been damaged by a binding bearing rotating it's 
inner on it.[Perhaps the result of the initial 'service error' ]
This happened to me on one of my most recently acquired Quantums. It 
knackered the brake pads and caused me to change the slave cylinder twice in 
the mistaken belief that the shop had sold me a duff leaking cylinder.
Inspect the axle. There is a trick of creating a knurl by punching dots to 
buy a little time. Don't overdo it or the inner face of the inner bearing 
wedges on and drum won't come off without an extractor/ Birmingham 
screwdriver

Look here is the knackered stub I must have shown it before somewhere...
http://img162.imageshack.us/my.php?image=imgp5008iv6.jpg

Mark(UK)


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Craig Osborn" <cosborn at epix.net>
To: <vwdiesel at vwfans.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 13, 2008 6:25 AM
Subject: [Vwdiesel] The sad story continues..... Brake problems


> You may all remember my story last week about the bad drum brake job and 
> the
> "cooked" wheel bearings.. IF NOT the story goes like this,
>
> A few days ago, I heard a thumping noise coming from the rear passenger 
> side
> wheel of my '81 pickup.  Never having messed around with drum brakes, I 
> went
> to a franchise muffler/brake shop to have the noise investigated.  I was
> informed that my brake shoe had broken into pieces.  I authorized a repair
> that included brake shoe replacement on both sides, and a new wheel 
> cylinder
> on the passenger side (because the bleeder screw was broken off).  I
> additionally requested a brake system flush (power bleed) since I have 
> only
> owned this vehicle for around 10,000 miles of it's total 200,000 miles and 
> I
> was not sure how old was the brake fluid.
>
>
>
> I paid the bill and proceeded to drive the 50 mile commute to work the 
> next
> day and immediately noticed a drag that felt like the brakes were on all 
> of
> the time.  I also felt a vibration and heard a faint whining noise.  Upon
> arriving at work, I felt the wheel and noticed that the wheel was very hot
> on the driver's side rear, but not on the passenger side rear.  It didn't
> seem so bad as to prohibit driving, so I elected to drive the 50 miles 
> home.
> When I arrived at home, I noticed smoke coming from the "hot" wheel, that 
> I
> assumed was bearing grease burning off or brake shoes smoking.  I
> immediately took the car back to the shop.  They put it on the lift and
> announced that the bearing was "fried", but that there was nothing wrong
> with the brake job that they had done.  He said that the mechanic may have
> over-tightened the wheel bearing and caused the problem so he agreed to
> replace the outer bearing.  He said the inner bearing/race was OK. He also
> said he "backed off" the nut so as to loosen the pressure on both back
> wheels so the problem wouldn't reoccur.  I drove about two miles home and
> felt the same drag and noticed the wheel smoking again.  I took it back to
> the shop and they said they will look at it tomorrow.
>
>
>
> NEW INFO STARTS HERE ...
>
> After a bit of arguing with the shop manager he agreed to replace all the
> bearings.  When I called him later that day to see how the job was
> progressing, he said that he discovered a problem with the brake hardware
> and that he replaced all of the springs with yet another new set.  He said
> that this was the source of my brake overheating problems.  He also said
> that after disassembling the drum and bearings that he cleaned and 
> inspected
> all of the bearings and found that only the outer ones were damaged.  He
> said that there would be no benefit to replacing all of the races and
> bearings.  I agreed to this.  When I picked up the truck he said that the
> wheel was spinning freely and that he test drove it for about 5 miles and
> everything was fine.  He did not charge me for anything.
>
> When I drove it home, I immediately noticed a bearing whine coming from 
> the
> rear.  The brakes did seem to be fixed.  I thought - That's it I'm done 
> with
> this shop! - I will renew the bearings myself.  Today, I did renew the 
> inner
> and outer bearings/races/oil seal on both rear wheels.  I took it for a 
> test
> drive and it was very quiet.  I thought that everything was great until I
> went about 20 miles then I noticed a vibration coming from the rear 
> wheels.
> I pulled over and found the driver's side rear wheel was smoking and very
> hot to the touch.  I let it cool a while and drove home very slowly.
>
> I need some help to try to figure out my next move!
>
> What would make one drum brake self adjust to the point of engagement 
> while
> the other doesn't?  Should I try adjusting (loosening) the hand brake 
> cable
> as it seems to engage after one click upwards?  Could the fact that there 
> is
> a new wheel cylinder on the trouble free side and an old one on the side
> that is giving me trouble cause shoe engagement?  Does the self adjusting
> wedge hardware ever go "bad"?  What happens if I disconnect the self
> adjusting spring?
>
> Any other suggestions welcome.
>
> Craig
>
>
>
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