Manx Club

When you swap the cylinders in the drums from front to rear how have you (anyone) changed the bracket for the e brake? as with the larger cylinder the e brake is not able to work... is it as simple as welding some material in the transfer bar? (what ever it is called) I want a e brake for sure so as of now disc brakes are not an option. (on the rear)

just a thought I know they make hydraulic e-brake that goes in line with the brake line going to the rear brakes.

By law, in most states there must be 2 seperate ways to activate the brakes in an emergency situation. Hydraulic and mechanical. :2cents:

Wheel cylinders are the same exterior dimensions. Fits perfectly without any modifications.

Not true for my 59. i had them swapped and the e brake did not work then i put the large ones in front ans the smaller ones in the rear . and it worked... the fronts are about 1/4 '' longer. at least the ones i got from the bug shop.. I found the disc brakes with e brakes from a cable. not sure how it works but at 500$ i am not sure what i want to do now... does anyone here have the disc brakes on the rears ? how good are they? with large tires... as of now i can not lock up any of my tires. i have good brakes but the large tires on front and rear is working my brakes over time and i have to pull the e brake when i need to stop really fast.

Speaking of emergency brakes...The previous owner of my pan welded the parking brake handle down, cut the cables, and made cheap cable driven steer brakes. Can this be easily undone to a regular emergency brake?

I understand that by law one should use the mechanical brake but I dont think they will bother where I live...Puerto Rico. I want to clean up the interior and eliminate the need to cut cables etc etc with regular emergeny brakes... How effective are in line brakes at holding the vehicle? These are line locks right? Where would I find one to fit the bettle lines?

I do know that the Jamar "Park Lock" is known to not want to unlock. Which means it has left several people stranded.

Where would I find a line lock that I can hook up directly to the line going to the rear brakes? No solenoids or nothing, just manual.

Bugpack makes one. Look on page 130 http://www.bugsnbuggies.com/bugpack/bugpack/index.html

[QUOTE="seabeeBuggy"] as of now i can not lock up any of my tires. i have good brakes but the large tires on front and rear is working my brakes over time and i have to pull the e brake when i need to stop really fast.[/QUOTE] It sounds like you have some real brake problems. Your hand brake should make no difference to your stopping ability unless your hydraulic system is not functioning correctly. The first thing you should do is replace all four of your flexible brake hoses. Over time they shrink and greatly affect your brakes. If you haven't replaced them already, they'll need it. I'd also put the larger diameter wheel cylinders back in the front brakes. I've heard of people putting larger diameter cylinders in the rear but never heard of anyone putting smaller in the front. Three quarters of the vehicle's weight is on the front wheels when you brake: why would you reduce their force? There is very little weight on the rear so rear drum brakes should be adequate. If you ever come across a pair of type 3 or Thing rear brakes for a good price, buy them and put them on. Make sure your shoes are adjusted to the point where the drum just turns freely and you've totally bled the brake system. It won't add to the performance but I'd think about a dual circuit MC.

Sound like you have to large of diameter master cylinder for size of wheel cylinders. Are you using a bus master cylinder? If your buggy is built on a 1959 chassis you have wide shoes on the front and narrow shoes on the rear. And yes you cannot just swap wheel cylinder front to rear with that combination. Switching over to later backing plates on the rear 1968 and later will allow the wheel cylinder swap. My buggy is base on a 69 pan with IRS and ball joint front end. My dad swapped the wheel cylinder front to rear on it back in 1970 and it has worked well since then. It uses 17mm wheel cylinders up front and 22mm in the rear with a 19mm tandem master cylinder. The article on doing the swap was in a Dune Buggies & Hot VWs magazine. With the weight transfer on a 80in wheel base bias towards the rear it works great on the street and on the dirt. It has 165R15 tires on the front and 31 10.50x15 tires on the rear. In a panic stop on pavement when some pulled in front of me I was able to lock up all the tires at the same time. Before the wheel cylinder swap the fronts would lock up first and car would go the direction it wanted to.

I believe that with the weight bias of a buggy being so much to the rear, must of the braking is done by the rear brakes, not the front. Many sand rails only have front brakes. There is not enough front end dive on abuggy to transfer much weight to the front. My buggy is on a 67 pan, I would like to swap front and rear wheel cylinders if this would help. Is this a straight swap? Or do I need different backing plates? Does anyone have schematics, or plans for an old fashioned mechanical turning brake set up? Thanks.

Jomama, Come on out for the Orange county breakfast tomorrow morning at the Katella Grill at 9am and we can discuss it more in person.

All of my parts are 100% new less the drums. I had the system checked at a shop for safety. I believe most of the weight is in the rear on a buggy. and the rear brakes need more power to stop. I did not remove the larger unit from the fronts. they will stay I wish to add another large unit to the rear. (unit meaning slave cylinder) I don't remember if the front pads were larger or not. But I would bet they were. I think i will go with the disc brakes on the rear with e brake. they are for 15'' rims unlike the old stuff. there must be more stopping power. what is another 500$?? ugggg... my trans is being rebuilt now with stronger super beetle first. and close 3 an 4 ... the racing axles are on back order. so it will be another month b4 i can put it back together..