Mk2 Caddy - Rear Brakes Problem

[DANNY24]

Hi folks.

I've come across a bit of an issue with my Caddy this afternoon. The brakes have always been poor but I assumed they were all like that and didn't suspect any issues as the van had an MOT test a week before I bought it.

The handbrake had got weak so I adjusted it today. When up on the stands, I noticed that the cables would not adjust to the correct point, ie, to when the brakes are just biting.

I locked the foot brake down as firmly as I could and the back wheels spin with minimal resistance. So I'm assuming my back brakes arent working, or, are but only at about 10%.

Oddly, now with the adjusted handbrake, it locks the back wheels when on. It's just the foot pedal that wont lock them.

This is my first venture into car/van brakes but I'm fine with motorcycle stuff.

If it were doing this on my bikes I'd say its air in the lines or a possible leak.

The foot pedal feels fine with no pulsing or pulling to one side.

Do the rears run off a different system to the front with just the foot pedal actuation doing both lines? I ask this as the fronts are fine.

Rear are drums by the way. Front discs. All shoes, etc appear to have life left in them and arent contaminated.

I've got no obvious leaks and I park my van in the same spot every day.

Any help or direction would be appreciated.

Cheers, Dan

[Robin K-S]

They're pants basically.

The rears have a little wedge that is supposed to drop down to take up the slack as the shoes wear, but they rarely drop down. On my old Seat Inca I found that I had to take the drums off 6 monthly to ease the shoes apart for the wedge to drop, they then worked fine for about another 6 months. It did get slightly better when I changed the springs.
VW Caddy MK2 1995-2004 Brake shoe fitting kit spring kit SFK5011C | eBay

Hope this helps

[Crasher]

Pulling the handbrake adjustment up actually makes things worse where the pull down wedge is concerned. This method came out in 1978 on nearly all VW’s with rear drums and it has never really worked as it gets clogged with dust. To set them up, back the handbrake adjustment right off as slack as possible. Have an assistant press any hold the brake pedal and use a sharped rod through a wheel bolt hole (an old screw driver ground to a point is ideal) and pull the adjuster down as far as it will go. Release the pedal and this should have locked up the drum so give it a good thwack with a copper hammer and it should back off and let the drum move with a bit of drag and rubbing noise. If not, back on the pedal and wiggle the adjuster back one step. If this is done correctly you will be astonished how much less you have to adjust up the handbrake.



If the wedge pulls all the way down and the drum does not drag, you need news shoes and possibly new drums.

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