Hi All,
Am a newbie here being mostly focused on my Early Bay but am a recent new owner of a 69 Notchback "Vern". So Hi.
This afternoon I had a local tyre shop fit some new tyres to some 8 spoke wheels from CIP. Awesome they did look. Anyway.......
1km down the highway at slow speed thankfully, my rear left wheel literally fell off. I was able to pull over and get a call to the tyre shop to come and help. All thoughts firstly were on lug tightening or lack thereof. Turns out when we reassembled everything (drum came off too) that the wheel / drum interface was the culprit. There is a ridge or a lip on the rear drum that interferes. with the spokes and keeps the lugs pulling up tight. There is not much in it but enough to a big problem. Photos here..

Picture of the same drum as mine from a manual. So it seems mine are in fact stock.




So I guess apart from letting CIP know there is not a blanket "they will fit Type 3's" I was wondering if I could get some good advice from you guys.
I was thinking some machining could be possible on the drum but maybe that would perhaps compromise things. Not much is needed from my eyeballing;
An adaptor was suggested but that is not strictly legal;
Or maybe a new drum without the ridge. I did see one on eBay http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/VOLKSWAGEN-TYPE-3-1600-68-73-RDA-Brake-Drums-Rear-... and CVD https://www.classicveedub.com.au/cvd_new/part_detail.aspx?parts_id=14247  that looked not to have that ridge but would that fit straight up.

Anyway any advice and experience with similar issues I would appreciate it.

cheers Shaun

Yes, that is the good thing about type 3 brake drums, You don't have to undo that very tight large axle nut like on a beetle.

You would need to look at the inside of the original brake drum to see that machining that ridge off wouldn't have any effect..?
it was just probably cast that way...
and the new ones are saving on extra weight or metal.. lol
or just redesigned??

a shim/washer etc adaptor plate.. would fix the problem easily too..
although as you say they are illegal.. in Australia

but Porsche 914/916s? had them on the cars from the factory. just a thick washer from memory..

maybe to fix a similar problem.. lol

I would prefer to machine the original brake drums as they were made by VW.. and not by some chinese who don't know what they doing.. lol
very easy to have quality problems there...
and You already know the originals do fit OK...

cheers

LEE

shaun...
the old one, get rid of it... in the bin.
just buy an Original Type 3 brake drum or complete set... stick to what it had.

Lee thanks for the reply.
Shaven, the ones on there look original to me and the same as the one shown in the repair manual I have.
Do you know of a 4 lug original without the ridge on the outer edge of the drum?

as many people have problems with after market wheels and brakes, there are many that have been modified or machined to fit ...
I don't think that ridge is part of any reinforcing...
as it doesn't go always round, but how deep would You need to go?? like 5-8mm may be OK.. or only the outer ridge and not any of the inner ridge...

and 2nd hand type 3 drums aren't hard to find...

but I don't think taking that ridge off would be any problem..
if its only a few mms... and not 15-20mms??

adaptor plates or really only spacer washers here, could already be available.. ??

I have seen them for sale on here at times...

maybe they are used on race or track or off road cars???

cheers

LEE

Check out ebay...

lots of spacers from the UK & the US...

4 x 100 Hubcentric Wheel Spacers

lugs-n-stuff is the store in the USA.

You would need longer bolts too..

Lee

Thanks Lee you have really helped. Am going to work on the drums.
cheers Shaun

They were sitting proud a mm or two where the ridge is/was. The curves of the spokes were hitting the ridge. I bought them from CIP because all up including delivery they were less $$ than the EMPI units but with an extra 5mm ET at 35mm ET. My guess is that extra 5mm is perhaps a contributing factor. On the CIP box and on the wheels themselves was the John Brown Wheels logo which is the Midlands wheels UK brand these days.
Anyway we ground down part of the ridge to get them to fit and I now have about a 1mm or 2 all round from the back side of the spokes and the drum. Thankfully not much was needed to come off and the drums still look pretty solid.
Still am surprised after all these years I seem to be the only guy posting on this. Maybe because spacers are illegal here and not elsewhere perhaps.

Nobody wanted to own it though, Tyre shop had a point but they should have noticed, CIP said not in 40 years had we heard this, must be aftermarket drums.....No not true and bet they will still market as fitting all Type 3's without a warning. Anyway I own it, I fix it. Thankfully it didn't result in people being hurt. Then the whole thing gets real messy.

I put it down to experience. Always good to have a sounding board and you guys helped. Cheers.

I run spacers every day now, makes my wheels sit better, and clear my front calipers when I go to 6 pot.

In saying that, try and always get hubcentric wheels. If you can't there are things called spigot rings which you can use to feel the gap between the bore of the drum/rotor to the bore of the wheel.

get the ridge ground off, thats what i had to do to mine with a set of wheels i wanted to mount

Way back when EMPI was still an American company making Quality parts in the late 60s.

The 8 spokers came out when 4 studders started and were proper 2 piece rims back then.

Quote:

Originally posted by Joel Way back when EMPI was still an American company making Quality parts in the late 60s. The 8 spokers came out when 4 studders started and were proper 2 piece rims back then.

Quote:

Originally posted by Joel Way back when EMPI was still an American company making Quality parts in the late 60s. The 8 spokers came out when 4 studders started and were proper 2 piece rims back then.