Aircooled VW South Africa

The drums on my Fleetline are now totally F'ed for lack of anything more specific as a description.

The entire system was overhauled a year ago, and drum-wise, they were skimmed.

No doubt these things were skimmed a dozen times in their Life.

Braking is now becoming an issue, and even at the best of times, stopping is not very reassuring.

Until someone brings in kit from Brazil, which I'd like in on, can anyone recommend...

1. Somewhere in ZA to buy NEW drums to fit my Fleetie...

or...

2. Fig ...will the drums off of an early Bay', with some sandblasting, fit my bus - as a temporary fix?

N.

Bus drums are the same front and back from 64-70 AFAIK, so early bay drums should work fine. I have not tested this for the fronts, but the rears are definitely interchangeable.

There's a local company called Alfa that makes brake drums. Some years ago I got a brand new set of drums for my 63 Beetle, so maybe they also make bus drums. The only issue I had with the 63 Beetle repros was the absence of the wheel bearing oil drain hole on the drum circumference, which is easily drilled by a machine shop.

A lot of brake places skim the drums as a matter of course when replacing shoes. This is not necessary and means your drums will wear out earlier than they should. So long as your braking surface is not badly scored, there is no need to skim drums every time you replace shoes.

I tried the local brake companies about a year ago, notably because I had a contact working at one of them at that stage...

No luck - anywhere!

I'll check out the front drum story - thanks!

I had the brake place give me my drums to have skimmed/rebonded...I took them elsewhere as I had a credit due to me there.

They were in need of it...now they're at the end of their Life.

I'm wary of importing drums from Brazil as they're not exactly feather-light...

N.

BTW, Merlin, maybe you should tone down your driving style somewhat.

I last replaced the brake shoes and skimmed drums on The Rat in 1998; about 50K km ago, and they still stop just fine.

I live in Sandton.

Have you driven here in the last 5 years?

The bug is the toy, the Fleetie is treated with respect.

The brake pads are fine; it's the drums that are an issue.

I can assure you, driving with you in The Rat has shown me just how slowly I do drive in my bus.

*DUCK!*

N.

Hahaha.

Yes, I do drive The Rat pedal to metal most of the time. And my brakes still last more than a year.