Front End/Rear End Suspension, Brakes, and Steering Redo

[Love My Westy]

I began at 8 am this morning tearing down my front end suspension and brakes.

I have rented a stall at the Wrench It Center www.wrench-it.com/
in Salt Lake City. It costs $249 for a week or $325 for a week plus unlimited access to their tools. I went for the $325 and I'm glad I did because otherwise you have to rent them by the hour and it would be a hassle to always worry about returning the tools quickly and then possibly needing them again later. A week rental is from 8 am to 7 pm Monday through Saturday, so 6 full days.

I got a lot done today, both sides torn down to the steering knuckle, upper and lower control arms and the brakes removed. I still had between 1/32" and 1/16" left on the original brakes at 140,000 miles. The rotors are really worn.


Tomorrow, Phatveedub is going to drop over and help me with the upper and lower control arm bushing, and I'm going to replace my steering rack. My
friend Dan is going to help me by rebuilding my brake calipers.

I could not get the nut off the rear hubs, so I called Chris at VC and he is sending me the tool to remove it. The Wrench It Center did not have anything big enough.

All in all, I feel great about the progress I've made and the fact that I didn't strip or break anything. I can't wait to get my new spring and shocks and everything else installed.

Here's a few photos:

[j_dirge]

Aweseome!

That was the most rewarding job I have done on my van thus far.
Keep posting, because I think you'll have plenty o' lurkers following.
_________________
-89 GL Westy, SVX.. finally.

-57 pan f/g buggy with a 67 pancake Type 3 "S"
"Jimi Hendrix owned one. Richard Nixon did not"
-Grand Tour, Season 1, episodes 4 and 5

[insyncro]

I wish more people would completely disassemble everything, clean all the parts and build it back up with new bushings and bearings.

Getting it aligned will be a breeze.

Kudos

[joseph928]

Looks great, keep it up so you don't run out of days. And the rear axel nut is a bear! I cary a 3/4" drive , and use the handle on my high lift to get it off. Also cary a spare hub with new bearings in it, never know!
_________________
1987 syncro westy tin top sun roof , GW2.3, rear locker, decoupler, Gary Lee tire rack & winch mount, lift, south african grill, big brakes , rhein alloy ,15 BFG AT, Fiamma 10 foot awning ,140 watt rear 85 watt front solar , mppt, truckfridge, automatic fire extinguishing system, tencent oil cooler, And a RMW SS exhaust! - 1971 bug convertible 1776 engine- 2010 Subaru turbo - 1993 Toyota 4x4 truck - 1999 Harley 95 CI, big bore, Andrews cams . Also 80-84- vans. Stock 65 sunroof bug.

[gl98115]

That self service garage looks awesome. Apparently there is one near Seattle, but it is $200/day.

http://selfservegarage.com/
_________________
'87 faux-Syncro Westy w/ 2.3l GoWesty WBX

[randywebb]

[edgood1]

[240Gordy]

[Volksaholic]

I've got a socket that fits the rear hub nut and a 2', 3/4" breaker bar with another 2' of extension, if you'd like to borrow it. You may need to put the rear wheels back on and drop it to the floor, put on the parking brake, and put it in gear, if the hub nuts are over torqued, or you might be able to break it loose with the socket and an air wrench with just the parking brake & in gear. PM me if you're interested. I'm in Cottonwood Heights.

Paul
_________________
1988 Wolfsburg Edition, 2001 Subaru EJ251

[insyncro]

[Love My Westy]

Thanks for the replys. I worked solid from 8 am to 7 pm again today, still taking things apart. I heated the tie rod ends to get them off, only to find out I couldn't get the tie rods free from the old rack. There was a spanner tool that they had but the tie rods were too long to use it as the tie rod had to fit inside a cylinder that was closed with a 1/2" hole for a breaker bar on the end. I called up Chris and ordered their complete tie rod kit and will return the ends I had already bought.

phatveedub came over and helped with removing the upper control arm bushings and installing the new ones. My friend Dan took my brake calipers home to rebuild them.

One of the mechanics there came in with a socket that fit the rear hub nut and another had a 1800 lb 3/4" torque wrench. It didn't take him more than 5 seconds each to remove those nuts. Amazing what you can do with the right tool.

That opened up a whole new can of worms, removing the rear brakes, shocks, springs and CV joints so that I can remove the rear control arms.
I have the pasenger side control arm ready to come out in the morning.

All in all, I felt a little more overwelmed today. I did install one new rear brake cylinder just so I could feel like I'm turning the corner. I hope I can start reassembling things by tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks for everyone's advice and offers of help. I did purchase the best German bushings and Ball Joints. I hope they do last a long time. I probably won't be doing this job again.
Sorry I don't have a lot of pics tonight. I'll try to get some tomorrow.

[Syncroincity]

Makes me miss the Air Force... the base had an auto workshop that was basically free, with every amenity you could imagine.
_________________
'86 Syncro CHC Top AAZ Turbodiesel
'04 Passat Variant 4Mo 5MT

Vanagon Build: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=466866&highlight=

[MarkWard]

I have a memory of the inner vanagon tie rod on a manual rack. I recall a tab or something that acts like a "lock" to keep the tie rod from coming loose. I could be wrong though. Worth pulling the boot out of the way and checking. I could also be wrong. An open end wrench was all that was required to loosen the inner ball joint.
_________________
☮️

[randywebb]

[randywebb]

this stuff?

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/LOCTITE-Silicone-Lubricant-5E201
_________________
1986 2.1L Westy 2wd Auto Trans.

[insyncro]

[insyncro]

[Love My Westy]

Day 3. The first thing I did this morning was to finish the removal of my rear control arm. I couldn't get an air wrench on it so I used two long 1/2" extensions and a breaker bar. I was able to crank on it from outside of the wheel well to loosen it.

After removing the rear control arm, I compared my new bushings with the old and they looked so much smaller. I asked the mechanic there what he thought and he said they looked like the wrong ones, so I called Chris at VC who assured me that they were VW from Germany and they were correct.
He also empressed on me just how hard they were to put in. I made a quick decision based on what I had read and heard about the rear bushings lasting the life of the vehicle, what Chris said about the difficulty installing them, the fact that my old ones look great, and the fact that I have a whole lot of work to get done before Saturday and I can't afford any delays. I decided to skip the new rear control arm bushings and keep working on the other projects.
So I moved on.

I reinstalled the control arm and the CV joints on both sides (unfortunately I had undone both sides while I could still use the emergency brake to keep the shafts from turning, I should have only undone the inner CV on one side and pulled the control arm with the shaft still connected) I had removed the brakes from one side and installed a new brake cylinder before going home last night.

phatveedub came over and helped install the upper control arm bushings. Dave is a great guy. They are now ready to spot weld.

I installed a new VC spring and a new KONI shock before moving on to the other side.

I had to remove the old brake lines from the drivers side. I have found that it works better to remove them if you cut the old line so that you can fit a 14 mm box wrench over the fitting which gives you more torque and better grip than the 14 mm open end wrench. I was able to get all of my brake lines offdoing this. I used PB Blaster beforehand.

I had a tough time getting my new brake line installed because the old spring clip blocked the hole where the new line screwed in. I couldn't get enough movement in the old metal line to make it work because the mounting for my
ADDCO rear sway bar was in the way. I had to undo the sway bar before I could move the brake line and finally got it hooked up.

My friend Dan returned my newly rebuilt front brake calipers and helped me install one side of my rear brakes. After he left I installed the other side by my self. Now I know how to do that, although if these brakes last 25 years like the originals, I'll never have to do it again. Note how much brake lining was left after 140,000 miles:

I'm feeling better about getting it all done by Saturday now. I hope to get the ball joints replaced and the lower front control arm bushings pressed in tomorrow.

[highsierra]

LoveMyWesty,
This is a great post! Having just done most of this same stuff to my van, I can appreciate what a great reference (and eye-opener) this is for anyone looking to tear into this job. Thanks for the step by step testimonial and keep it up!

[Love My Westy]

Day 4. First thing this morning after just getting started, the mechanic who had brought in his own big socket that removed my rear axle nuts came over and wanted the socket back because he had just lost his job. I told him I had just finished the rear brakes last night and was about to put the hubs back on if he could wait so I went and found the other mechanic who owned the 1800# air wrench and borrowed it so that I could torque the big nuts back on. I got the job done just as the other guy wanted to leave. Talk about good timing for me, not so good for the guy who lost his job.

On day 2, we had tried to press in one of the lower control arm bushings and managed to tear it. They are very difficult getting them started. I think we pushed it too far after we had it mostly in. I had Chris overnight me a new one and I wanted the mechanics at the shop to install it as well as remove and press in the lower ball joints. After discussing all of this with the mechanics, they were hesitant to do either and would not be willing to stand behind their work if they messed up a bushing or ball joint. I was dissapointed in this as they had told me originally that it would be no problem for them to do those jobs if I paid them.

They suggested I take it to a big machine shop just a few blocks away and have it done there. That shop told be that Vanagons where one of the vehicles they didn't work on and suggested I try an alignment shop a coupe of blocks from there. That shop didn't feel like he could do the bushings either but could do the ball joints but not until Friday night. That would only leave me Saturday to get the whole front end back together, bleed the brakes and be able to get it out of the shop by 7 pm. Oherwise I will need to pay for more days at the shop. I had to make some decisions.

First, I remembered the 2-piece urathane bushing kit (which I had forgotten about) that Van Cafe sells. I called Chris and he is overnighting it to me and I will send the rubber bushings back.

Second, I decided to hold off on the lower ball joint until a later date. The old ones are still in good shape, so I will save my new ones until I really need them. They are FEBI and I might not be able to find them in the future.

I went back to the shop and spent the rest of the day cleaning and painting parts.

Spot welds to keep upper control arm bushings from rotating

Painted upper control arms

Cleaned up radius arms using wire brush on grinder.

Painted steering knuckle.

Painted lower control arms.

Pressed in new sway bar end link bushings. Note the red urathane bushings are being reused as they are still in good shape.

New tie rod assemblies arrived today.

Attached left and right brake lines.

New manual steering rack. It turned out that I could press in the bushings by hand.

Note that the bushings are installed with flat sides vertical.

Steering rack with tie rods and boots and ends installed.

I couldn't resist the urge!

Tomorrow I'll start putting the front end together again.