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Tue Sep 19, 2006 6:32 pm

Is there a particular tool to use to remove the brake lever pivot bolt? I'm looking to replace the brake pedal spring, and while I can get at the slotted end of the bolt that's exposed to the passenger's side, how on earth do you get a tool in to hold the nut on the other side? There' MAYBE 3/4" space between it and the clutch pedal lever pivot bolt.

PLEASE don't say I have to remove the clutch pedal...

Tue Sep 19, 2006 8:19 pm

It's nowhere near that bad. If you look closely on the slotted side, you will see a snap ring holding a washer on that keeps the brake pedal "arm" from sliding off the pin. Remove the snap ring and washer.
Now loosen the bolt that holds the brake "pedal" to the arm that goes back to the push rod. Now undo the pushrod from the arm and the arm will slide off of the pivot and you can slide the spring on. Now bolt in all up in the reverse order and you have a return spring again!

Wed Sep 20, 2006 11:03 am

Oh boy oh boy oh boy! Can't wait to get home! :D

Wed Sep 20, 2006 3:18 pm

Ok, that was easy. So the spring: How does it hook into the pedal lever? Looks like the straight-ish end of the spring presses onto the body cross beam element behind the pivot. But the hook... does it hook to the large leg of the "L" of the pedal lever, or the the short end? Hooking to the short end has the spring very much cocked without the pedal even depressed, to the large end would have the pedal just free in its most released position.

Wed Sep 20, 2006 3:23 pm

go to the gallery, search the word "pedal" by sumbitter "hazetguy". there are a few pics there that will help.

Wed Sep 20, 2006 6:03 pm

Thank you! You all are a great help!

Wed Sep 20, 2006 7:07 pm

Ok, so not quite done... the rubber seal. I didn't have one, am replacing while I do this. So which way does it go? I'm presuming it is "nipple" up, and it goes on top of the floor. But it seems like it would ride up when you press the pedal and then let it release back up.

Does it go under the floor and seal only when the pedal is not depressed?

Wed Sep 20, 2006 7:34 pm

I cant help you on the seal but I need to replace the spring on my pedal.

Thanks for the info y'all.

Thu Sep 21, 2006 6:14 am

the seal should go under the front floor

Thu Sep 21, 2006 12:51 pm

polo wrote: Ok, so not quite done... the rubber seal. I didn't have one, am replacing while I do this. So which way does it go? I'm presuming it is "nipple" up, and it goes on top of the floor. But it seems like it would ride up when you press the pedal and then let it release back up.

Does it go under the floor and seal only when the pedal is not depressed?
Under the floor, nipple down.

Yes, on the sealing.

Thu Sep 21, 2006 12:53 pm

Great. Thanks!

Wed Feb 09, 2011 8:25 pm

hazetguy wrote: go to the gallery, search the word "pedal" by sumbitter "hazetguy". there are a few pics there that will help.

These pics were a great help but I am still having problems getting a new Wolfsburg West return spring to fit:

The WW spring is bent differently than the stock one. Stock on the left, WW on the right:

Is my old spring sacked that bad, or is the WW spring bent incorrectly? Should I just bend the WW spring until it fits?

Mon Feb 14, 2011 11:07 am

I wonder if they sent the wrong one?

I just noticed the spare one I ordered is like that too.

Mon Feb 14, 2011 11:46 am

EverettB wrote: I wonder if they sent the wrong one?

I just noticed the spare one I ordered is like that too.

OG spring on the left, WW on the right:

The WW spring-bend made the installation impossible for me, it would not fit. Fortunately my OG spring was still good, so I put it back on.

I will call WW today and see what happened there, I thought I was the only one that got a bad spring. The WW spring is almost exactly like the OG but that incomplete bend must be a factory flaw.

I was also able to find a flaw in their license plate seals two weeks ago; they swore up and down it was only me with the problem, until they looked at the rest of their stock, all of them had the same defect.

Mon Feb 14, 2011 12:01 pm

It may be a Bug one?

I've had them send me a Bug part before.
Their stock had been mislabeled.
They fixed the issue immediately with zero complaints from my end.

Mon Feb 14, 2011 12:44 pm

I called WW and sent them pics, they said I was the first person to report having difficulty with this spring, they said they have been making it for a long time now.

The tech I spoke with said he would mount a WW spring on a bus he had there and he would let me know how it fits, or anything special he had to do to make it fit.

Mon Feb 14, 2011 9:55 pm

you have to bend them real hard, your old spring has lost tension and is stuck in a worn out position.

spring looks right, hook is the right way

i have installed 3 of the WW ones and a couple of the "cheap" ones, they all seem to be fine

Mon Feb 14, 2011 9:57 pm

Hello, I am installing my dual master cylinder now and my spring was broken. I am in Mexico now and here is plenty of parts for Bugs and Bays, but nothing for Splits.

When I was shopping today, I bought exactly the same spring WW sent you. So I assume it's made for Bug or Bay.

I will try to install it tomorrow. I will report how it went.

Tue Feb 15, 2011 7:33 pm

Report:

I guess you're more lucky than I am. I investigated today my spring and tried to mount it. It's not possible, but mine is different than yours. It's flipped, like in the mirror. The hook is on the other side that original. I guess the Bays have the pedal connected from the other side.

Tue Feb 15, 2011 7:43 pm

Ian wrote: your old spring has lost tension and is stuck in a worn out position.

what? that is a new one on me.
unless that spring (on the left in the pic above) is actually broken, if you install it properly, there will be plenty of tension for it to return the pedal for a long time.
i have had genuine VW NOS springs, with VW stickers still on them (VW paper stickers, not the vwoa dealership stickers) and they looked like the spring on the left (in the pic above, on the right below).
in the above pic, the spring on the right looks like a poorly made repro, or perhaps a (repro of a ?) bay window spring.

broken spring on left, original spring on right