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Tue Dec 16, 2003 12:16 pm

The bumpers on my 78 have a slight play in them. They're bolted just fine to the mounts, but the mounts themselves allow the bumpers to move up and down slightly (when I lift them from underneath). Is this normal, or do I need to tighten something?

Tue Dec 16, 2003 12:29 pm

The hydraulic shocks connected to the bumpers are worn? Don't know how or if you can rebuild them. I guess they're like regular shock absorbers, when they're worn you get new ones.

Wed Dec 17, 2003 5:20 pm

The front shock can not be rebuilt but-> I will say this is for show cars <- Drill and tap the shock for a grease zerk. Then pump it full of grease and plug the hole or leave the zerk in. The next time you hit somthing hard you will blow out the plug or zerk. www.vwhelp.copm

Fri Dec 19, 2003 10:48 pm

Thanks for advice. As far as I can see, you can't get new bumper shocks. (This seems like one of the dumber features VW added to their late models, though maybe they can save a little body damage in low impact collisions?)

Do people ever replace the shocks with more standard mounts? Or, would that require a lot of special machining?

Sat Dec 20, 2003 7:44 am

They didn't add them because they wanted to. Government regulations mandated 5 mph bumpers. Hydraulic shocks were the current technology in the 70's. Now car makers use foam cell or plastic boxes under a flexible bumper skin to meet the same requirement.