I need to work on the back brakes of my Ghia - when you can hold the car on a hill without touching the brake pedal you know something's wrong!

The problem is how do I get that black bolt thing off? The manual speaks of a VW tool that screws into the lug holes and removes the bolt.  Where can I get one of these? Can I use any other tool? Can some nice person lend me one?

Thanks!

The thing that bolts into the lug bolt holes is an "anti-torque" tool.  It keeps the brake drum from turning when you try to loosen or tighten the 36mm nut.  A 3 or 4 foot section of strong angle iron will work.  Just drill holes in it so you can bolt it to two adjacent lug bolt holes.  Bolt it on so that one end is resting against the ground and the drum can't turn as you loosen the nut.  If the nut hasn't been off in a while, it will be SUPER tight!   :shock:  It torques to two hundred and something foot pounds . . . and time and heat and rust have a way of adding to the tightness.  If the nut has been off in past couple of years, and wasn't way overtightened when it was installed, you may not need the anti torque tool . . . if you have a good emergency brake.  With the car sitting on all fours, put it in gear, put on the e-brake, block the wheels and see if you can break the nut loose without spinning the wheel.

I've got a couple of 36mm sockets and you're welcome to borrow one, but mine are 1/2" drive.  It's best to have one for a 3/4" drive and have a good 3/4" pull handle . . . and a 4 foot section of pipe for a cheater bar.  For the anti-torque tool, I've used a section of an old bed rail.

If you could get it to the Lafayette Triangle I work a lot cheaper than Lockharts

I've got the gadget from Mainly Foreign, just need something big and heavy to hit it with! Thanks for the offer though.

Car died on us on Saturday afternoon - vapor lock I think.  And now the indictor stalk has fallen off so I can only go in straight lines Oh the joy of a 36 year old car...

I've had a lot of blank looks recently when talking about indicators!!!

"Turn signal switch" is what I think it's called in the books.  It's the stick thing you move up/down to flash your flashers/blinkers/indicators or pull back to flash full beam.

Anyway, got a new one, fitted it, wired it and it works perfectly.  It even cancels when you straighten up again after a turn Modern technology at its best...