they all bite till you bleed.....

so today, well really this week, has pretty much sucked beetle wise. The brakes went out on me on july 4th then I fixed them. And since then my ebrake had been working till this morning.
I heard a weird noise obviously from the ebrake cables and just decided to ignore it cause it stopped making popping noises unless i hit a bump in the rd. Well I work off of Windy Hill so the rds suck, anyways i hit a bump and thats when everything hit the wall.
It was like a bomb. Ebrake cables everywhere in half and a jerkin to the right beetle. The cable on the right side (passenger) snapped and wrapped up around the axle and im guessing broke brake lines cause i have brake fluid everywhere now. So had my bug towed to Dallas to my bf's shop. Im not really happy to tell the truth. Im probably loosing my job now cause ive missed work like 3 times this week cause of problems.
Anyone know how to replace the cables? And also do you have cables? lol.

ouch. sorry to hear that. i'm not too sure how the cables wrapped around the axles. the only thing i can think of, is maybe the cables snapped right where they enter the backing plate, came loose, and wrapped around the axle, and in turn, smacked the crap out of the brake hose, thus cutting them, and thus brake fluid everywhere. but you really won't know untill you get the rear wheels off, and see whats going on. e brake cables may be the least of your worries. You may have to replace your entire brakeing system, but again, you won't know till you get it all apart. good luck.
-Mike

That sucks!!

Replacing the cables is pretty much straight forward. I am guessing you may need to possibly replace some of the hard lines or maybe the flex lines depending on what all got taken out. I know it is probably a long drive, but I bet Clyde has cables in stock as well as the other stuff you might need.

Melanie, I can take care of all that.

Update:
lifted up the bug at the shop and saw the damage. Wasnt as bad as i thought. The cable ripped all the way out of the sleeve that runs under the bug and was just hanging out. The tire wouldnt hardly budge though.
I took the tire off (had very little trouble taking off the axle nut with my new $60 tool) and the hub and found where the carnage was. lol.
The cable wrapped around the inside of the hub taking out the springs and totally breaking the ebrake system. It also bent the long metal rod that goes between the pads and tore the rubber on a 2day old wheel cylinder. lol
Ill post the pics once i get home.
I went to orielly and got a warrenteed wheel cylinder and ordered a drum repair kit which has all the springs and doo-dads for both rear wheel's for $6.
So today was productive- Cant wait to drive my bug again.

and i just remembered i didnt take the left cable off. Doing that now. lol

the drum repair kit usually only comes with the springs, and hold down clamps. its not gonna have the flat metal bar that goes between the shoes, or the long ebrake lever, that pushes against it. That will either have to be ordered seperate, or if you just hppen to have a spare around from a junk car or something.

So the cable eyelet wasn't hooked on the lever, and caught on the inside of the drum as it was spinning?
Wow.

^ pretty much.
Wierd thing was is that after the brakes were fixed the ebrake worked great for a couple days. I was only having seat trouble (seat keeps moving back on its own instead of staying where i can reach the pedles. LOL)

This pic is before the brake job. (leaky wheel cyl and no pad.)


This is the ebrake cable (part that is bolted inside the car)


This is what came off with the hub.


this is the damage. lol


My new bug!

doesn't look to bad. just replace all the broken parts, and you should be fine. did brake fluid get inside the drum, if not your shoes might be ok, just check to make sure they aren't cracked, and that they didn't get bent. from the looks of the ebrake arm that goes attached to the shoe, it may have gotten bent.

The clip that goes onto the pin that holds the e brake lever, on may have broken, causing the lever to come off (evidence, by how only the side of the bar the lever goes on, is bent down), then it caught on the drum, and broke the cable. just a thought

The clip that goes onto the pin that holds the e brake lever on may have broken, causing the lever to come off

I agree.
That's just crazy. Never seen it happen before. Glad you didn't get hurt.

yeah it wasnt as bad as i thought was just shocking. The pads seem fine- but some springs are messed up and some parts bent.

just make sure, the flat part of the shoe, where the springs and everything touch isn't bent. i doubt the actuall friction material got damaged, its the flat part the wheel cylinder touches, is where i'd be worried about. if that lever got ripped off, and bent the fat flat bar that goes to both shoes, i would be very suprised if the shoe didn't get bent in that area.

I just noticed this, but in your "BEFORE" pic, you had one of the adjuster "feet" on backwards (the part that actually touches the shoe at the bottom). If you look at them closely, the slot thats cut out for the shoe, is at an angle, and if you put them on backwards, they will still work, but it will pound the crap out of the end of the shoe, and the adjuster over time, and you'll have to constantly adjust the brake shoes (i learned that the hard way, lol). if you look closely at the pic, where the adjuster touches the shoe, you can see where the slot is deeper on one side then the other. its actually just one of them is backwards. the slot is cut at an angle. it looks like you have it on correctly, in your "after destroyed" pic. but its hard to see.