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  View original topic: front beam interchangeability
radrob Tue Jul 06, 2004 10:02 pm

the right front suspension is totaly siezed on my girlfriends 64
im thinking the inner bearing or whatever it rides on has some apart
anyone have any ideas
should i just change out the beam
someone told me that they are interchangeable he said he has a beam out of a 67 in his 59
and to buy a 65 to 67 beam
anyone have any advice on this
ive had bugs for the last 18 years but never a bus

Jawohl Tue Jul 06, 2004 10:43 pm

I think they are the same from 64 to 67.

chrome Tue Jul 06, 2004 11:17 pm

i hate to say it but change the beam, by the time you do the bushing change you could have changed the beam, 66-67 beams came from the factory with a front sway bar and bigger diamiter bearings on the outer end, the brakes are the same, link pins are too, good luck!!!

jeremyrockjock Wed Jul 07, 2004 4:35 am

55 thru 69 are the same bolt pattern.

radrob Wed Jul 07, 2004 7:35 pm

thats what i was thinking
is this as easy as in a bug
just unbolting the steering coupler and and mounting bolts?

Jawohl Wed Jul 07, 2004 8:23 pm

You will undo cables, brake hoses, drag link, ect. In my opinion the worst part of the job is the shift rod coupler, these things suck ass. I would arm yourself with a cut off wheel and just slice the coupler in two halves. I wouldn't try heating it, soaking it with magic rust soak, beating on it, or anything else. Simply pre-order your new one, complete with set screw and bypass the brain damage, that you'll get by trying to remove the coupler by normal means. Beyond that, it's pretty straight forward.

pyrOman Thu Jul 08, 2004 7:05 am

Jawohl wrote: You will undo cables, brake hoses, drag link, ect. In my opinion the worst part of the job is the shift rod coupler, these things suck ass. I would arm yourself with a cut off wheel and just slice the coupler in two halves. I wouldn't try heating it, soaking it with magic rust soak, beating on it, or anything else. Simply pre-order your new one, complete with set screw and bypass the brain damage, that you'll get by trying to remove the coupler by normal means. Beyond that, it's pretty straight forward.

I've done this before. You can use the same tube if you "slice it" diagonally, so when you either weld it or "couple it" together it will go exactly the same way as it was originally. It'd be extremely dificult to do that if you cut it straight across.

chrome Thu Jul 08, 2004 8:06 am

the 68-69 beam is a ball joint not a king/link which is in your 64, the ball joint beam will widen the track about an inch on each side as well as raise the front end about an inch as well

Long-roofs Thu Jul 08, 2004 8:13 am

Heat is the key on getting the shift rods apart up front. I just did a '60 crew cab last week, the set screw came out okay but the rod wouldn't seperate. Some patients and soaking works, if not heat works really well......



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