Front End - Need Procedural Help Reinstalling Stock Beam

[likestoparty]

Good afternoon! I am on day 4 of a so-far very successful venture into my front end. Before the FAQ Nazis pounce, allow me to diffuse the situation. "Yes, I spent four hours searching for this specific step, blah blah blah.." but every single post I found had extensive coverage of getting the thing out and then closes with "obviously, reinstallation is reverse of removal." HORSEHOCKEY!!

I really appreciated the superbly crafted thread on swapping out a stock beam for a hideous narrowed beam by scottyellow67 to double check my work thus far, found here:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=584602

BUT!! The specific step I am baffled by is missing! Scott didn't capture the moment of getting the beam lined up with the holes, and showing exactly how one man can get this stinking thing back up and into the car. He mentions using a rope (but not how), and I can imagine this being tied to the upper torsion housing and guiding the assembly into place while jacking it up and in, but this is purely conjecture.

Does anyone have pictures of their beam either on blocks and about ready to get lined up or a few minutes to detail how to manhandle this thing in there? I am finding the two upper mounts grabbing the rubber pads and preventing me from laterally sliding the beam thisaway or that. And getting that heft onto the frame head precisely is proving to be a bear.

I have tried two methods:
1) Car in the air, lift the beam to it. With the weight of the disc rotors influencing the balance of the beam rearward, it's hard to keep the beam on a wood block, balance, lift, align, adjust, bolt, hold, keep your foot on it to keep it from snapping your femur, etc...

2) get the beam in a position in the universe that it wants to live and bring the nose of the car to it. THis way has worked out to be much more practical for one man to do, using a jack on the right rear for rolling aligninment (in the airplane axis sense) and a jack under the nose to lower it down to the beam.


Situation was, a construction dude RAMMED into my front half necessitating taking all the pretty parts off and banging out dents, etc. So, I decided this was the time to get the complete disc brake front end that I have been using as a back muscle workout machine every time I want to get into or leave my garage workshop for the past year. Old one came out with precision. Did LOADS of rust reversal and painting in there, hopefully buying myself another 15 years with this wonderful machine.

Now. Everything is ready to go back together. I would really appreciate your advice. I would also love to show you pictures of this, but my garage is remotely located in Capitol Hill, Seattle, and I am limited to using my phone once I leave this cushy internet connection. Hoping one or two of you have done this before and won't need them. Thanks!
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1960 Beetle - 1600SP - DC-to-Seattle Coast-to-Coast Veteran - Flat towed behind an El Camino Seattle-to-Dallas Dec. 2018. Daily Driven 50 miles every day.

[c21darrel]

Ive done it by myself. I wouldnt again. I had car set on stands. No gas tank, and used a come-along in garage roof beams to raise and lower, plus a floor jack under neath for fine tuning. It was next to impossible to keep the beam from pivoting out of position. It was a bear of a job doing it solo. Find help.
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GhiaBuild
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=481184
1967 DC build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=693583&highlight=67+dc
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[DuaneL]

I would agree with find help. though if you have the resources you could build a Front Axle Cradle for Garage Trolley Jack as described http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/tools7.php tool 610 or 613. I had a hard enough time installing a bare beam by myself with just a floor jack I can only imagine how hard a complete beam would be (well actually I did once do it in 1990 but that was a baja with a one piece front end with the front end removed and even that was very hard)
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1971 std bug, 1776, ACN Super Stock 34-3, dvda dist, 27x8.50 14 tires

[drscope]

Don't want to make you cry after all the work you went through but this is why i like to bolt the NAKED beam in place and then load all the parts in. It's much more manageable that way!

I helped a buddy a few years back build a tool for his floor jack that worked pretty well.

Most big floor jacks have the jack pad that can lift off the jack. It stays in place by a short spud on the bottom that goes into a hole.

We got a piece of round stock that fit in the jack hole for the jack pad and stuck up a little higher then the height of the beam - maybe 18 inches.
Then we welded a hook we made out of 1/4 x 2 inch strap to the top of the round stock.

We could place the beam on the hook and the upright round stock would keep it from being able to rotate. It worked pretty well.
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Mother Nature is a Mean Evil Bitch!

[likestoparty]

Yes! I can see, the next time I'll be using a friend! And a bare beam. And I'll cut the front end of the car off to make it easier. my snag was there was swollen rusted metal under the brake fluid tray the required some filing to get flat.

I just got the son of a bitch in there. The key to doing this alone was putting a block under each steering knuckle where I wanted to put it then I put a floor jack under the sway bar, making it easy to control the pivot and placement of the whole beam. Putting it under the sway bar gave me a little extra a wiggle with by the flex of the bar. A good solid kick to the top right shock tower convinced the top mounting holes to squeeze into their rightful place.

Next time! If I must do this alone the cradle trolley idea will be incoporated! Just goes to show you you only learn by doing.
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1960 Beetle - 1600SP - DC-to-Seattle Coast-to-Coast Veteran - Flat towed behind an El Camino Seattle-to-Dallas Dec. 2018. Daily Driven 50 miles every day.

[61SNRF]

Remove only the right tie rod and steering stabilizer, you can do it drum to drum by yourself if you scratch one of these adapters up to fit your floor jack

I made a mistake in the specs though, all pipe material and fittings should read 3/4", and not 1/2"

P.S. It's just a Hillbilly copy of the VW factory fixture.
Check out the Technical Archives, Tools for local manufacture here on TheSamba.com...
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/local_manufacture.php

...or the Bentley manuals for references
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-Bruce

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

[likestoparty]

Wow!!! That thing is way more clever and simple than I thought it would be. I can't wait to make one! Thanks for that.
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1960 Beetle - 1600SP - DC-to-Seattle Coast-to-Coast Veteran - Flat towed behind an El Camino Seattle-to-Dallas Dec. 2018. Daily Driven 50 miles every day.

[drscope]

The deal we had made was very similar to the one pictured above, but we only used one upright and hook. That allowed you to rock the beam a little if you needed to get things to align.

Also in the above photo, it shows the fixture on the back side of the beam. We used ours from the front side of the beam.

But regardless, glad to hear you got it in there!
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Mother Nature is a Mean Evil Bitch!