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Wed May 16, 2007 2:44 pm

I have a 66 Bus with a rear hatch/door...what ever you want to call it. Anyway I opened it yesterday and it stuck open. It is held to the roof clip by two hinges and a very high tension spring system. The drivers side hinge is fine. The passenger side hinge seems be to binding up. When I compare the two hinges, the passagner side hinge seems to be a little more straight where it should be curving a little.

Anyone have any similar problems? Any advise would be appriciated.

Wed May 16, 2007 5:37 pm

I am familiar with your problems. The issue is that their is a oval connector deal on the hinge that has unfortunately been rounded out. You can use a screw driver and push it back (hit with a hammer) while someone else closes the hatch. It will shut. But to fix the problem, it won't be as simple.

Wed May 16, 2007 7:15 pm

Read your Bentley, the fix is outlined in there. The rear hatch of our '66 deluxe is torn off.....I've read through it but have yet to make the repair.

Wed May 16, 2007 7:48 pm

I just recently made this very repair. I had to take the door spring assembly completely apart because one of the "turkey Wings" broke off after the P.O. tried to force the hatch closed after the bushings wore completely out. It is not an easy repair and I found the Bentley Manual to be of little help. Do a Google search for "VW Tool 709" You will find a picture of the tool that VW mechanics use to make the repair and a pretty good set of pics showing how to pull it off . You can PM me for more detailed help in fixing this problem. The toughest part I found is finding replacement parts.

Good Luck,
-Pat

Wed May 16, 2007 8:09 pm

Be aware that the tension on those springs (torsion bars) when the hatch is closed can be quite amazing. Think about it, approx. 6" offset to nearly take all the weight of the hatch door. If you assume the hatch weighs around 50 pounds with the glass, and is around 2 feet high, then the springs carries roughly four times the weight at the 6" point, or around 200 pounds of force.

Be careful.

Wed May 16, 2007 10:33 pm

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

Pat, I'll check out the search and PM you when I get closer to the job. Hopefully this weekend.

Thanks Jason

Thu May 17, 2007 8:33 am

j.pickens Quote: Be careful.

Especially if the hatch is off and you're messing with the arms. When they are closed if you try to open one it will pop into an arc backward, up, and into your face, if it is there, and split you open like a cesarian section.

Thu May 17, 2007 5:58 pm

you defiently want to remove the springs with the arms in the upper position. the bently shows you how to remove the spring rods and in what order, which is important for safety. i found the best way is sitting in the back of the bus, when you remove the hinges from the slots they will want to spring toward the front of the bus so just keep a good grip on them. you might also want to get some mechanics gloves to keep from skinning the hell out of your nuckels.

Sat Apr 26, 2008 5:33 pm

I took apart my 1966 westy's rear hatch today. Looks like I need to replace the bushings in the middle hatch lever piece just on the passenger side. Where do you get a replacement bushing? How about the pins? Anywhere?

Sat Apr 26, 2008 7:18 pm

Ragman wrote: I took apart my 1966 westy's rear hatch today. Looks like I need to replace the bushings in the middle hatch lever piece just on the passenger side. Where do you get a replacement bushing? How about the pins? Anywhere?

I pulled the stuff off a bus I was cutting up. You might try a wanted ad in the classifieds, I would be surprised if someone didn't have some of these pieces around that could send them to you.

Fri May 02, 2008 5:05 pm

I am getting ready to make this repair anyone have a pic of one that is correct myhinge arms "turkeylegs"? seem to be a little pigeontoed I dont have another to look at. a pic from the rear seat looking back would be great. S

Thu Oct 15, 2009 6:36 pm

Anyone have any of the clevis type pins in good condition laying around or know if VW still sells them?

Wed May 08, 2013 8:10 am

Bumping this topic back to the top because my rear hatch is broken, and apparently has been for a very long time. I honestly had no clue it was supposed to work differently, until my friend Ragman came by and was like "dude, you're missing pieces."

So, apparently these bits are kind of hard to find. There was a complete assembly but I missed it by 10 minutes.

What I am wondering is if I can substitute an early Bay rear hinge assembly? I know that the dogleg hinges themselves are different, Splitty is stamped steel and spot welded together Baywindow is one solid cast steel piece, but I measured the rear hatch it is the same distance between hinges!!

The other difference because of the different dogleg hinges is that the splitty hatch uses 13mm m8 headed bolts, and the baywindow hinges use bevel bolts, like for front door hinges. Luckily I have a lot of those bolts.

Thanks!!

Wed May 08, 2013 10:57 am

Ian wrote: Bumping this topic back to the top because my rear hatch is broken, and apparently has been for a very long time. I honestly had no clue it was supposed to work differently, until my friend Ragman came by and was like "dude, you're missing pieces."

So, apparently these bits are kind of hard to find. There was a complete assembly but I missed it by 10 minutes.

What I am wondering is if I can substitute an early Bay rear hinge assembly? I know that the dogleg hinges themselves are different, Splitty is stamped steel and spot welded together Baywindow is one solid cast steel piece, but I measured the rear hatch it is the same distance between hinges!!

The other difference because of the different dogleg hinges is that the splitty hatch uses 13mm m8 headed bolts, and the baywindow hinges use bevel bolts, like for front door hinges. Luckily I have a lot of those bolts.

Thanks!!

Not sure about bays, but squarebacks use alot of the same pieces as splitties.