TheSamba.com :: View topic - Two teen brothers, and two (slightly older than teen) bajas

Sat Jan 16, 2010 12:18 pm

Hey guys! I've been reading a lot of posts on here over the past couple of months, and thought I would make a build/question thread.

Several months ago, my brother got a 66 baja:

and then slightly more recently I picked up a 68 baja. We decided to work on my brother's first because he has the least amount of time before he's off to college.

We pulled out the carpeting kit and seats to check the pans for some 'minor' rust management, and of course were met with this:

So now we need to replace the floor pans, but we're grateful that we know about the rust, because driving with the floorpans falling off would have been rather unsafe. :shock: And sadly, the days of the manual windshield wiper zip-tied to a rusty coat-hanger are coming to an end...

Yes, those are zipties on a rusty coat hanger! :roll:

My Dad jokes that these are "The worst cars he's ever owned", not for long!

Turns out one of my dad's coworkers, and my favorite teacher back in Middle School is a German wholesale parts distributor, started a vw club, has worked on them for ages, and races baja bugs down in New Mexico. So we've been getting quality tips and parts from him, and we will be getting replacement floor pans from him as well.

After Christmas we picked up the pace on the bug, we emptied the interior, removed the broken windshield and the cracked old seals (we got all of our new glass, but are waiting to put them in until we paint it so we dont have to get new seals yet again, is that logical?), Ground off the rust and primed and flat coated the original seat frames.

Here are the pads

And here is the amazing set of off white upholstery!! Thank you kmann!!

We also fixed the flat tire, figured out how to get it up on jackstands without damaging anything (way harder than we'd thought without the original bilstien vw jack), but now we have an original jack(Thanks to kmann again!), so we're all set.

Lately we've been trying to repair the leaky brake drum on the back left axle. We have the seal kit, and I've been reading the post here: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=390057&highlight=cotter+pin
But we still have just a bit of a problem....
The cotter pin wont come out, try as we might to straighten it, then pull again, its really lodged in there...

We've even tried to get it out by sticking a screwdriver through and both of us standing on one side.... to no avail

And look what happened to our screwdriver!! (Im sorry for the tool abuse, we were getting desperate when we couldn't even cut part of it with wire cutters or branch trimmers) But this was the second screwdriver we tried, the first one wasn't damaged at all

Just how good do you think craftsman's warranties are? :P

So... first question(ok well, first question to you), How would you get this pin out? Cut it with a dremel tool? We're a bit befuddled, in case you couldn't tell by the desperate measures. We were thinking if we cut off the loop end after we shoved it as far out the other side as we could, then we could pull it out from that side. Maybe?

Also, just out of curiosity, the PO said this was actually made as a vw baja, not our sense of 'baja' but like kind of a limited edition beetle sort of thing. What's the scoop on these 'original baja beetles'?

Thanks!

Sat Jan 16, 2010 12:31 pm

just cut or chisel as much of the pin off as is necessary to get the socket on then undo the nut, it will shear through the rest of the pin leaving you with a small piece to drill or knock out once the drum is off.

Sat Jan 16, 2010 12:38 pm

try using a small punch. or if you could get some of the pin stick out of the short side so you can grab it with pliers then you could also drill the center part out (center of the axle, use a drill bit that fits)so you have two pieces of pin and the pull out from ea. side.

Sat Jan 16, 2010 1:04 pm

Grab the bottom of the pin with vise grips, tightly, so the grips are 90° to the pin and pointing at you. Take a hammer and hit down on the vise grips as close to the pin as you can. Make sure you're holding the back half of the grips so they stay flat as you hammer....and make sure the vise grips are tight! A light, sharp blow with a hammer will impart more force on the pin than standing static on a screwdriver.

Sat Jan 16, 2010 1:11 pm

Well?.....have you got it out yet or what :-k

Sat Jan 16, 2010 1:24 pm

Richieboy wrote: Grab the bottom of the pin with vise grips, tightly, so the grips are 90° to the pin and pointing at you. Take a hammer and hit down on the vise grips as close to the pin as you can. Make sure you're holding the back half of the grips so they stay flat as you hammer....and make sure the vise grips are tight! A light, sharp blow with a hammer will impart more force on the pin than standing static on a screwdriver.

True, my physics teacher would cry if he read this and saw I forgot impulse=FΔT=mΔv Thanks Richie!

I think i'll try using the vise grips first, and if that doesn't go it then I'm going to try taking a small nail, filing down the end, and then using that as a punch to hammer it out. thanks a ton guys!

I should be back in a couple minutes with some results

Sat Jan 16, 2010 1:45 pm

Tadahhhh!!!

I went ahead with the vise grips technique cause I figured if that didnt work I could try the nail, but if the nail didnt work I'd be out of luck. Sure enough Richie with a couple satisfying sledge hammer blows It came right out.

Looks just a bit bent eh?

Sat Jan 16, 2010 1:48 pm

Awesome! Now good luck getting that nut off, if its installed right it's torqued to 240ish ft/lbs. :)

Sat Jan 16, 2010 1:49 pm

I have been pulling those cotter pins for 45 years. I use a large pair of wire cutters and grab the head and lever them out.

Sat Jan 16, 2010 2:01 pm

Richieboy wrote: Awesome! Now good luck getting that nut off, if its installed right it's torqued to 240ish ft/lbs. :)

Thanks! Well first it involves me getting a new socket, our craftsman mechanics tool-set wasn't quite made for vws :P

Sounds like an opportunity for some more tool abuse eh? If we cant get it off with elbow-grease, should we slide some pvc pipe over the handle and torque it?

Sat Jan 16, 2010 2:15 pm

You're gonna need a 42 mm 3/4" socket on a 3/4" breaker bar AND 3 or 4 ' of pipe to shift that nut :!:

Sat Jan 16, 2010 2:18 pm

I think you'll want something a little stronger than "PVC pipe" :lol: but yes, you can use a cheater bar to increase the leverage. I use a 1/2" breaker bar with a socket, and the steel tubing from my floor jack as the lever. On the trail, I use a big pipe wrench and a sledge hammer - tears up the bolt but it's effective.

Sat Jan 16, 2010 2:27 pm

ummmmm, 36mm socket on a bug
Unless it has bus redux boxes.

Sat Jan 16, 2010 3:19 pm

Where did I get 42 from, still you all knew what I meant :oops:

Sat Jan 16, 2010 3:29 pm

they also make a cheap tool to use with a BFH. it works great, just have someone put lots of pressure on the cheater bar, then use your BFH to knock it loose. used one for years until i went to 3/4 drive ratchet and socket

Sat Jan 16, 2010 3:29 pm

forgot the link, here are some:
http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&q=vw+axle...CCgQrQQwAg

Sat Jan 16, 2010 3:37 pm

Hitting those with a hammers, can be put flat spots on the wheel bearings.

Sat Jan 16, 2010 3:53 pm

Russ Wolfe wrote: Hitting those with a hammers, can be put flat spots on the wheel bearings.

Hitting the cotter pin with a hammer? Or the bfg nut remover tools?
I dont think it's a bus redux box... How can I tell though?

Also, I'm going to pick up a 36mm socket from sears tonight, and I think I'll probably try to use the arm from my floor jack as well, but here's my question; everyone here, and everywhere I've read says its 240 foot pounds of torque, or that's what it should be anyway. So I put the tire back on and took it off the jack-stands so i wont knock it off when i take off the nut, but when I tighten it back on, how do I know its tightened the right amount? Do I have to use pneumatic tools? Because we don't have any. We have a compressor though if thats the only way to go.

Thanks guys, sorry for all the q's

Oh, and for an update, we got our 5 point rci harnesses in the mail from drtslnger4 so that's exciting :D :D

Sat Jan 16, 2010 4:31 pm

there is also a axle nut/gland nut removal tool that works, so i heard. I've never used one, just my fat ass. and lots of cheater pipe.

Sat Jan 16, 2010 7:41 pm

Barentine wrote: So I put the tire back on and took it off the jack-stands so i wont knock it off when i take off the nut, but when I tighten it back on, how do I know its tightened the right amount? Do I have to use pneumatic tools? Because we don't have any. We have a compressor though if thats the only way to go.

Smart putting the tire on, always good to play it safe, but you might find the wheel offset messes with your ability to get the socket/breaker on. It will depend on your wheels. If you find it that way, put it back on stands, pull the tire and put the breaker on so it's parallel with the ground, and where pushing it down will loosen the nut. By pushing "into" the ground, you aren't likely to knock it off the stands.

Ideally, to reassemble it you'd use a BFTorquewrench that goes to 2xxft/lbs. If you don't have one, I'd use the same breaker bar and try to make it "feel" as tight as it was when I took it off... but reverse the breaker so you're pushing "into" the ground to tighten it.