We wanted to have a 5 lug heavy duty braking system on the rear of the Baja. We found some old type 3 backing plate that were straight. 1967 the type 3 had 5 lug drums and the backing plate will bolt right up to a Bug rear trailing arm. The drums, shoes and wheel cylinders are still easy to get. It's just the backing plate take a little treasure hunt through the local junk yard.
We removed all the 4 lug braking parts but we kept the stub axle. As you can see from the above photo we had some work cleaning up the type 3 backing plate. Of course we stripped all of the old parts of so only the backing plate remained. Then I introduced it to Mr. Sandblaster and painted it black.
It fit on perfectly and we used the 4 bolt cap from the old brakes and the Bug outer wheel seal.
We did have to get new brake wheels cylinder and hardware kit.
We also decided to through on a new set of shoes.
Once we all the guts were installed, we put the drum on to make sure every fit correctly. In the photo above to the right, I wanted to show you that since we are not running an emergency brake this leaves a large hole that dirt can get inside the drum. So we switched the backing plates and put the e-brake line cover back on so it will act as a shield. There are still 2 adjustment holes on these drums so some dirt can still get in. Oh well.
The last thing we wanted to do is to run studs on the drums. So we drilled out the threaded holes on the mill. Then we used the press here at Chirco and pressed in the studs. We are now ready to run the rear brake lines and bolt on some rims. Donnie has his eyes on some Centerlines. That will take mowing a few yards.
If you have any questions or comments about Chirco's Project Baja please e-mail don@chirco.com we sure would like to hear from you
