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Tue Feb 24, 2004 8:42 pm

I noticed this a few weeks ago when we had snow up here and the roads got rough and choppy with ice. When I drive over any rough surface it seems that the A pillar on the passenger side moves quite a bit. It doesn't seem to be as bad on the drivers side but maybe its the angle. At first I thought there might have been some repairs to the nose in the past that had weakened the structure on that side but I can't see any broken welds or rust forming. Any one notice this on their bus? I know that all cars are going to flex but this seems a bit extreme.

Tue Feb 24, 2004 10:53 pm

Is it the A pillar or the passenger door flexing at the latch? The A pillar is majorly welded to everything that is important in a bus. Windshield surround look tight or can you see flex movement?
Colin

Tue Feb 24, 2004 11:10 pm

Thats what I thought at first but it appears that the window suround is actually moving towards the door frame and the door is staying stationary. Might be an illusion though. I don't know, I'm most likely being paranoid, but I was wondering if anyone else had ever noticed this.

I've tried rocking the bus from the outside and can't really see any flex in the door or the window. The doors are solid on the hinges with no up and down movement when I try to lift them while open. I had the windshield replaced last summer and there was zero rust in the sill so I know its nice and strong there. Being a Westy I suppose some more flex is expected with a big hole in the roof even with the extra braces in the roof frame. I wonder if not having the belly pans would have something to do with it? It doesn't look like the pans where ever there even though I do have the BA-6 furnace. I've never been able to find out if all Westies came with the pans originally.