Edit: This swap works in the same way the polo disk upgrade work except it's a bit easier to find parts because nobody wants drum brakes
Drum brakes when fitted with new hardware are designed to last 200,000 miles. The polo 6n2 bearings are projected to last 100,000 to 140,000 miles. That means no more regreasing/adjusting the bearings ever again.
To give you an idea of what polo parts to buy here are some links
New Stub axle VW part number : 6Q0501117
https://www.mecatechnic.com/en-GB/1-rear-stub-axle-for-polo-9n_GH27610.htmNew bearing VW part number : 6X0598477
https://micksgarage.com/search-oenumber?oenumber=6X0598477New 200 mm Drum VW part number : 6X0609617A
https://www.micksgarage.com/search-oenumber?oenumber=6X0609617ANew 180mm Drum VW part number : 6X0609617
https://micksgarage.com/search-oenumber?oenumber=6X0609617Just find a set of mk3 200mm drum assemblies, take off the mk3 drum, use the drum backing plate and mk3 brake shoe internals, attach the polo stuff and blam! You have a full set
UPDATE: The MK2 standard backing plate and drum internals should work. I test fitted the stub and the polo bearing but did not have the part numbers for the 180mm drum until recently. Based off the part dimensions the 180mm drum should fit but proceed at your own risk. The 180mm polo drum has not been tested yet
Update will follow as the parts come in
Things I know will bolt up:
Vw Polo 6n2/9n3 drum stub axles
Vw Polo 6n2 bearing/hub
Vw polo 200mm 6n2 drums
Things that also bolt up:
Vw mk3 200mm drum internals and backing plate
One thing you need to do is remove the abs ring on the bearing for everything to physically fit. I just used a flat head screwdriver to remove mine.
Edit: The drums are the same dimension as the Mk3 drums. This is going to work
Finished! The swap worked! You can use MK3 drum backing plate and brake hardware with the polo sealed bearing and drum!
No issues yet
My rear tires are thanking me by not wearing into weird out of round shapes
I am very happy with this setup. The rear bearing issue was going to be the make or break point on whether I kept the vw. No issues in the snow and no more fiddling with worn out bearings!
I wish I had seen this years ago for my Mk2 Golf GTD. I hated that 1974 vintage bearing set up. Never seemed to get better than 30,000 miles, no matter what I did.
Late to the party.
I incorporated this upgrade into a rear suspension rebuild performed just last year on a Caddy project. Used the Caddy OEM backing plates, brake shoes, and hardware with the Polo stub axle, wheel bearing hub, and brake drum. All parts fit together as though it was part of the original design. Works well. One less maintenance item to be concerned with.
When I looked into doing this upgrade, it seemed that there was one other possible option to considered. The MK2 Caddy 9K Panel van has very similar 4 X 100 wheel hub bearing setup as the 6N2 Polo. In fact I asked a UK vendor I know to compare the wheel bearing hubs of the MK2 Caddy and the 6N2 Polo. The vendor stated they were exactly the same except externally for the axle diameter, which is 30mm. MK2 Caddy uses same stub axle as MK4 Golf/Jetta. I ended up not experimenting with this mix of parts and instead went with the ‘proven’ Polo 6N2 setup. If someone else is looking to do this upgrade they may want to consider experimenting with the MK2 Caddy wheel bearing hub, Mk4 stub axle, and Polo 6N2 brake drum.
MK2 Caddy wheel bearing hub part number - 6K9501477
The mk2 caddy/ mk4 golf/jetta rear stub is not the same bolt pattern to the beam unfortunately
