Nothing is ever as easy, or as clear cut, as it seems. The rear brake fiasco continued this summer.
Last year bleeding the brakes after the new master cylinder was installed was a real pain. I finally got those brakes bled, but not until both my son in-law and I exhausted ourselves. I tried several different approaches until I found one that worked. One would think bleeding brakes would be a piece of cake on an old beetle, especially one that has had as many new brake lines on as mine. Nope!
So, let’s forward to this year. Click here if you want to get caught up. There was a ton of brake fluid coming out of the brake line until I hooked it up to the new wheel cylinder. Then, Tammy pumping the brakes did absolutely nothing to purge the line of air. Therefore, I bought a brake bleeder vacuum tool. This is identical to the one I used on my 1975 Xs650 Yamaha, and it worked great.
That actually got the brake fluid to come out of the bleeder valve. However more trouble awaited me.
I had previously adjusted the rear brakes before I began bleeding them. Now once I bled them the brakes were tight on the front shoe and the rear brake shoe could not be adjusted. I could not move the brake sure out any further to make contact with the drum. It seems as if I was not quite centered. So, my solution was to take the car for a drive, apply the brakes and then try again.
Shockingly, the minute I put the car in reverse and stepped on the brakes, the pedal came up, and to be honest, they are the best brakes I’ve had since I owned the beetle.
My guess is that the shoes somehow centered in the drum when I applied them – who knows. However, I am glad the brakes are working and there are no fluid leaks. One thing is for sure – I have not enjoyed this! Nothing is as easy as it seems!
So, now after two years of dealing with these brakes, can I move on? Hard to say but I will let you know!
