Brake Line Replacement

Vanagon, , , ,

This fall I got the Vanagon into running shape and went to take it out for a test drive when I pressed in the brake pedal and it just slammed to the floor, no pressure nothing. I popped the instrument panel cluster and found a bone dry hydraulic system reservoir. I say hydraulic system because the clutch and brake cylinders are run off of the same reservoir. Before I fix the master cylinder I decided to go through the brake system and do some minor upgrades and check for any other potential issues. I started off with replacing all the brake lines with some nice braided stainless steel upgrades.

It’s a fairly simple process at least until you go breaking things.

Tools

  • 14mm Open Wrench
  • 11mm Flare Wrench*
  • Lug Nut Wrench
  • Jack & Supports

*You’re going to need a flare wrench in this application to get those 20+ year old brake lines separated, if you try to use an open wrench you run a high likely hood of stripping the hard line bolt, as I did.

Instructions

  1. Break Lug Nuts Loose
  2. Raise and Support Vehicle
  3. Remove Wheel
  4. Remove one end of flex connector from the hard line. I found it easier to remove the flex line closest to the vehicle first. Now you have options to quickly cap the brake hard line to not loose a bunch of fluid, or in my case I was replacing the master cylinder and I drained out all the brake fluid first for each individual line through the bleeder screw. If you do go with the cap it quickly option make sure to keep an eye on the reservoir level.
  5. Remove the other end of the flex line.
  6. Install the new Line.
  7. If you choose the quick cap option now would the opportune time to bleed that corner of the vehicle.
  8. Re-install the wheel.
  9. Rinse and repeat until finished.

Issues I Ran Into

I ended up stripping one of the 11mm fittings on the hard line located on rear trailing arm of my van. I ended up having to spend a couple hours with a small hand saw removing the old line and then another hour trying to get the slightly small 20″ hard line that I bought from a local autoparts store to work in this application. I had to replace the brake retaining spring due to me damaging it in the sawing action.

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Here’s the shiny new line, clip, and flex line.

References

AutoCAD Zoom Extents Issue

AutoCAD, Drafting, , , , ,

So I’ve discovered a minor issue with AutoCAD doing a zoom extents on a layout tab (paper space), where the zoom would inexplicably move the whole drawing over towards the right and sometimes up for no reason. Every time you would zoom extents the drawing would move farther to the right. I’ve verified this issue in both AutoCAD 2012 and 2013. A simple REGEN would fix the issue but eventually it would creep back in.

Here’s the Permanent solution:

image00ss1

Go into the Options in AutoCAD > System Tab > Layout Regen Options > and select the Regen when switching layouts radio button > Apply

And now you’re set, now whenever you’re switching tabs AutoCAD is performing a REGEN.

 

CV Joint and Transmission Issues

Vanagon, , , , , , ,

Got the Van back from the glass shop this week and we took it on a little camping trip with the pups.
image

When we got to our destination I noticed we had some grease coming out of our CV joints and the bottom of the transmission looks like its been soaked in goo. So the next thing on the list is to do maintenance on the CV joints and try to pin point the leak from the transmission.

image

Here’s two complete set of instructions for Vanagon CV joint Maintenance.

http://volksweb.relitech.com/cvjoints.htm

http://www.benplace.com/cv_joint_maintenance.htm

 

Tools:

This kit looks like a good place to start: http://www.gowesty.com/ec_view_details.php?id=23862&category_id=3691&category_parent_id=

And four boots: http://www.gowesty.com/ec_view_details.php?id=24056&category_id=3691&category_parent_id=

wpid-img_20140723_073420.jpg

As for the leaky transmission.

It seems like the first step is getting the transmission open and draining out the fluid, since I don’t know the last time that it’s been done. A majority of sources recommend Red Line MT-90, so that’s what I’ll end up using.

This article goes through the ins and outs of doing an oil change, apparently no matter what you should get the fill plug off first. It’s a beast and if you take the drain off first and aren’t able to get the fill plug out you’re dead in the water.

A great write-up on how to change out the drive seals where this leak is most likely coming from: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249639

And all the parts and tools to get you down the right path can be found here.

Or if I’m lucky it could just be the transmission breather hole is plugged.

Be sure to check that the atmospheric bleed in the top front of the trans is not blocked before starting on this job. If it is plugged (quite common) then it will make brand new seals leak. And if it is plugged and your seals are leaking, unplugging it will often cure the leaking without needing to change the seals.

More info on that here and here.