Working on the handbrake install on a '55 & '56, both Oval's have later gearboxes grafted onto year correct pans.

Looking through photos etc of stock vehicles it seems that the handbrake cable should come out of the frame horn, over the axle tube, turn and enter the brakes at the rear of the backing plate.

Now both the Oval's here have different gearboxes and the backing plates fitted have the handbrake cable hole at the bottom front. So this means that a handbrake cable would have to do a complex 'S' shape to turn enough to get to pointint at the entry point through the backing plate.

So the question is what's the common solution to this. Is it to flip the brakes over so the entry point moves from bottom front corner to rear top corner. And if this does work, do you use the same handbrake cable or does it result in needing a different cable length.

Thanks

If the old gray mater serves me well i think you put the later handbrake cables on.

Andy W

Thanks for the reply.

I've been digging a little deeper and on the 56, although the front mount has been reworked to use a late T1 front mount, the actual gearbox must be a fairly early unit. (twin drain bolts - not allen head and twin filling bolts) which made me look at the drums for their part numbers and under a load of gunk the part numbers seem to reveal that they're pre-57 rear drums so maybe after all, someone has just mounted the braking plates 180 degrees out?

Flipping them over would make the rears pretty much like these with two return springs rather than three.

https://https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/manuals/6_56beetle/60.jpg