TheSamba.com :: View topic - Bus Center Pin Replacement (Long, MANY pics)

Thu May 14, 2009 10:39 am

bastardbus wrote: On the recommendation of a thread on the Samba I bought one of the adjustable reamers. The adjustable reamers suck for this application.
+1

I have an adjustable, and have done several bushings with it, but I would prefer to have a solid one.

Can anyone answer the straight vs spiral question?

Thu May 14, 2009 11:23 am

scvw wrote: .00738" might not seem like much but to a machinist like me that is a mile. I don't make ANYTHING that sloopy no matter what my tolerance is. I personally would just bite the bullet and rent/buy the correct one. Do the job once and do it right the first time. My .02.

Really? That sloppy; how could such a small fraction of a ONE millimeter make that big of difference? Sure I could understand 1-2 millimters but ~less than one tenths of one millimeter? I'm not being a smartass, I'm truly trying to understand how that little of difference could make any difference... Please elaborate.

Thu May 14, 2009 11:56 am

my thought (again, we all know buying the 24mm is the RIGHT way) was that 7.38 thousandths of an inch under (tight) could be carefully honed off of the centerpin.

BUT, if you plan on doing many center pins, just buy the 24 mm long flute hand reamer and call it a day.

Thu May 14, 2009 12:13 pm

sled wrote: my thought (again, we all know buying the 24mm is the RIGHT way) was that 7.38 thousandths of an inch under (tight) could be carefully honed off of the centerpin.

BUT, if you plan on doing many center pins, just buy the 24 mm long flute hand reamer and call it a day.

I actually read the post and in my mind I understood that the .00738" would be "oversize" but when Campingbox posted I went back and saw my mistake. :oops: There is no way in hell that you will beat that 24mm center pin in that 15/16" reamed hole and expect the pin to pivot properly and unless you have access to an engine lathe you couldn't "polish" .00738" from the pin and expect it to maintain straightness or roundness. It would work if you did turn the pin down to the smaller 15/16" size but think about all this effort expended when just getting the proper 24mm hand reamer would solve it all and the job would be done properly. A friend just purchased the correct one from Germany a few weeks back, a little expense but if you rented it out you could recoop your cost rather quickly or loan it out to friends and enjoy the good karma.

Thu May 14, 2009 12:49 pm

chrisflstf wrote: Chucking reamers dont have the taper built into them that a hand reamer does. Makes starting/aligning the reamer more difficult, since it was designed to be mounted in a machine.

Also curious about using the spiral reamer also - Any Machinists want to comment?

I read yesterday that reamers should never be turned backwards when removing (unlike a Tap). They should be turned CW and pulled back at the same time. Turning them CCW dulls the cutting edges

The straight flute reamer draws itself through very nicely, doesn't want to feed as fast as a spiral flute reamer

Thu May 14, 2009 3:45 pm

sled wrote:

BUT, if you plan on doing many center pins, just buy the 24 mm long flute hand reamer and call it a day.

When I bought mine a few years back it was around $100 shipped. I forget where it came from but it does work great though.

Wed Jun 10, 2009 4:12 pm

sled wrote: BUT, if you plan on doing many center pins, just buy the 24 mm long flute hand reamer and call it a day.

Just ordered Mine today from these guys . http://www.metricmcc.com/ . Got it for $128 . I'm building My third beam and the core had a bad bushing Oh well . IMHO there is only one tool for the job and that is the right tool . This one happens to be a little pricey .
I was told By the salesmen that the spiral ream is supposed to leave a smoother finish . I bought the straight anyway . I'll have it tomorrow .

Wed Jun 10, 2009 4:54 pm

Did mine with a straight, used Jon's "Hazetguy"'s instructions, had no problems, drove the bus 800 miles after doing it, still steady as a rock!

Thu Jun 11, 2009 10:38 am

So my 65 bus needs a centre pin replacement. What place sells a good kit for a reasonable price?

Are German centre pin kits still available or have these been offshored to China, India etc??

Thu Jun 11, 2009 11:34 am

I think that it was Bus Depot that I bought a couple of German center pin kits from for $35 plus tax each. That was some years ago, though.

Thu Jun 11, 2009 11:51 am

velvetgreen wrote: So my 65 bus needs a centre pin replacement. What place sells a good kit for a reasonable price?

Are German centre pin kits still available or have these been offshored to China, India etc??

The one I bought from Wolfsburg West last year was German.

Thu Jun 11, 2009 11:57 am

Thanks all I checked WW and it doesn't say where they are made. Cheers

Thu Jun 11, 2009 12:04 pm

///Mink wrote: velvetgreen wrote: So my 65 bus needs a centre pin replacement. What place sells a good kit for a reasonable price?

Are German centre pin kits still available or have these been offshored to China, India etc??

The one I bought from Wolfsburg West last year was German.

I did mine a few months ago and it was German also.

Thu Jun 11, 2009 12:38 pm

I think the one I got a few months ago was brazilian. I don't remember for sure though. Maybe I'm thinking of the link pin kit.

Sun Jul 05, 2009 1:15 pm

Nice thread. I wish it was around when I was starting doing these xx years ago. I just wanted to chime in and let everyone know what they may experience that I haven't seen brought up here and a couple of tips of my own.
I have done dozens of the pins. I'll start out by saying make certain you line up the bolt hole perfectly. I use a small single led light and a mirror to see through the bolt hole. Missing the threads and ruining your bolt is no fun.
For grease I like to use Castrol chassis grease. You can buy it in tubes at Pep boys to fit your grease gun. It is the best grease for this application and for greasing your beam and cables.
Also, I've found it easier to use feeler blades for measuring the bushing height for the top bushing. I think the measurement is a little more than a feeler blade pack goes up to so what I do is pick two blades that add up to the measurement, stick them up there and feel for flush. This works very well for me and you don't need an expensive depth tool.
I made a tool out of an old pin. I ground the outside edge off of the old pin so that it is the same diameter as the bushings and then shortened it to about 2 inches. I also drilled and tapped it so that I can install the top bushing with a stud, thick washer, and nut to draw it in controlled and slowly to the measurement.
What I ran into when I went to do it on my own bus the bushing was a loose fit because either the pin had seized itself to the lower bushing and had begun spinning in the beam, or I bottomed out my bus on the pin at one point which is very possible with the way I've driven my bus.
What I did to fix the problem was with the new bushing ready to go in (it was a loose fit at this point) I used a feeler wire set to measure the gap. My gap seemed mostly front to rear. Once I knew my gap I cut a feeler blade that was a thousandths or so bigger than my gap. I test fit it once and pulled the bushing back out with my tool then mixed up some j-b weld. I went up a thousandth because I felt it was not as tight a fit as the top. I installed it with j-b weld, blade sideways about an inch long, to flush and reamed the bushings to fit. I have been running my bus with this for almost 10 years now and things are peachy so I'll deem it a valid fix for those of you who run into it. I'm certain the blade trick was the fix and the j-b was a bonus. I like to use blades for shimming things...
Good luck on your pins! Get ready to get dirty, they are a mess!
Christopher

Mon Jul 06, 2009 10:56 am

Just thought i'd add a word of warning to anyone who wants to replace their bushes on a cb beam, the tube in which the bushes sit is machined sort of like a stop, so that the top bush goes in from the top and the bottom one goes in from the bottom.
This makes it a nightmare getting the bushes out as you can't pull them both out from the bottom or use the tool and knock them both upwards. The step is also very similar to the thickness of the bush so trying to tap the top bush up is proving difficult.
Thought i'd better warn people with cb beams, although as these beams are fairly new most will not have come across this problem yet. Mine was a loose fit from day one,
Col.

Mon Jul 06, 2009 2:12 pm

Quote: Can anyone answer the straight vs spiral question?

straight are generally for using by hand,
spiral are machine reamers the spiral flutes help clear the swarf .

Mon Aug 03, 2009 12:08 pm

I dont know if many folks are still interested in a straight flute 24MM hand reamer, but I can get them locally for 80 a piece.

I am ordering one for myself, if anyone else wants one let me know. Takes about a week to get and then I can ship them out.

Mon Aug 03, 2009 1:17 pm

For what it's worth, I have German center pin kits in stock all the time.

$50 shipped

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=720182

24mm straight flute reamer is what I use with no issues. I've loaned it out ona couple occasions for the DIY guy and they had no problems either.

Mon Aug 03, 2009 1:45 pm

thanks greg. Where did you get your reamer? and what did you pay? I had a hell of a time finding someone who could supply them for a relatively reasonable price (not from the UK)