sticking, frozen 68 VW bug brakes

[r***@harbornet.com]

I just restarted my '68 (one owner) bug after it sat for over a year
unstarted. That took some work. Got it started and after replacing
two rusted spark plugs, it runs smoothly on all four after it warms up.
It runs better each time I restart it now.

All the wheels freed up except the driver side rear. It is stuck so
hard, the wheel prevents me from driving forward, even an inch. I
rocked it back and forth dozens of times by moving from forward to
reverse, but no luck. I even towed it a short distance, and it just
drug that wheel.
What's the secret to free frozen drum brakes?

Cheers,

Rousslang

[Speedy Jim]

Post by r***@harbornet.com
I just restarted my '68 (one owner) bug after it sat for over a year
unstarted. That took some work. Got it started and after replacing
two rusted spark plugs, it runs smoothly on all four after it warms up.
It runs better each time I restart it now.
All the wheels freed up except the driver side rear. It is stuck so
hard, the wheel prevents me from driving forward, even an inch. I
rocked it back and forth dozens of times by moving from forward to
reverse, but no luck. I even towed it a short distance, and it just
drug that wheel.
What's the secret to free frozen drum brakes?
Cheers,
Rousslang

It has happened to almost everyone and each has his own trick.

For ones like this that are solidly locked, I like to remove the
wheel and rap the drum with a mallet/hammer. The vibration breaks
the rust bond to the shoes. Some folks claim you can do it by
hammering on the wheel or the lug bolts or the axle nut.

You can *try* to simply loosen the adjuster stars, but I bet it will
be an exercise.

HINT: Never apply the hand brake when storing the car or even when
parking overnight if it is damp.

Speedy Jim
http://www.nls.net/mp/volks/

[Jim Adney]

Post by r***@harbornet.com
What's the secret to free frozen drum brakes?

If this car has the brake adjuster holes on the INSIDE of the brake
housings:

Crawl under the car and pull the plugs out of the inspection holes.
The inspection holes are the two OUTER holes of the 4.

Take a big punch and hammer and place the end of the punch in one of
the inspection holes and against the side of the brake shoe. Hit the
punch with the hammer.

If you get a big springy SPROINNNNGG. then that shoe is loose; move on
to the next shoe.

If you get a solid hammer blow, then repeat until that shoe breaks
free.

Repeat until all the shoes (2 per wheel) are free.

Don't use the parking brake for long term storage.

-
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Jim Adney ***@vwtype3.org
Madison, WI 53711 USA
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[unknown]

Post by r***@harbornet.com
What's the secret to free frozen drum brakes?

Move south where it's warm.

Seriously, are all of 'em really stuck or maybe is it just the rears because
you left the emergency brake on? If it's the emergency thing, just bang the
rear brake drum arm with a hammer.

[Jan Andersson]

Post by unknown

Post by r***@harbornet.com
What's the secret to free frozen drum brakes?

Move south where it's warm.
Seriously, are all of 'em really stuck or maybe is it just the rears because
you left the emergency brake on? If it's the emergency thing, just bang the
rear brake drum arm with a hammer.

If your bumper mounts can handle it, JUMP up and down on the rear bumper
so the rear suspension is forced to travel as much as possible. Has
worked for me several times.

Jan