TheSamba.com :: View topic

Fri Feb 26, 2016 3:25 pm

Oh.... I know this is a well hashed topic..... Go ahead beat me up, post 600 links to existing posts if you want to......

But........

Who the heck put a phillips screw on an adjustment point that CANNOT be accessed with a screw driver!?!?!?

This innocent lower pivot point is loose and floppy.......

And to tighten it is this phillips screw...... But you see that flange edge? No way to get a screw driver on that screw!

Why didn't they install a bolt where you could use an open end wrench?!?!?!

Sheesh!!!!! Time to pull out the needle nose vise grips!

Ok..... Irate rant over....... Thank you for your patience......... :lol:

(BTW I love my iPhone that enables me to take photos like this!!! )

Dave

Fri Feb 26, 2016 4:41 pm

why not add this to the Design Defects thread - if you can find it

Fri Feb 26, 2016 7:10 pm

I had no idea there was a way to tighten this post...interested to see how,to remedy this horrible 'tease' of fresh, cool air that we can't have because the vent window WONT STAY OPEN!!!

Fri Feb 26, 2016 7:29 pm

I did the same recently. Was almost tempted to pull the vent window assembly out but resisted and just used the thin nosed vise grips and all the patience I could muster. Auto engineers don't care what you have to go thru to fix the stuff they design, at least it seems that way sometimes.

Tom

Fri Feb 26, 2016 7:43 pm

Very easy to put a skinny vice grip on that thing.

pics in my gallery

Fri Feb 26, 2016 10:22 pm

I had my fun with that, but I won't link to my account of it, because I don't want to give djkeev a coronary.

:shock:

MY problem with the driver's side wing window is, that although I, too, got it tight, with my literal blood, sweat, and tears, and had new rubber seals installed, I don't like to use the wing window these days because of THE WHISTLING.

If I get it just right, it's quiet. But if I don't get it just right... It is one of the most ANNOYING sounds I have ever heard and it doesn't stop.

I queried the bodymen who'd worked on Winston. They said there was enough wear on the hole the pivoting pin rotated in--over Winston's three decades of existence--so that the whole assembly had just room enough to sag, and whistle, if everything wasn't lined up JUST so... and there wasn't much they could do about it.

Drat.

The other issue is that I retrofitted the front doors with that rubber strip on the top leading edge, the 'Upper Door Lip seals' that GoWesty sells:

http://www.gowesty.com/product-details.php?v=&id=23590

that the older Vanagons didn't have. The idea was to diminish wind noise. Despite glue, and clamps, and more glue, and more clamps--the ends of both pop off every time I open the doors.

:evil:

Aggravating. It is not beyond all possibility, now that I look at the NEW pictures, that I needed to mount them still lower down on the front door edge.

Best!

Sat Feb 27, 2016 6:08 am

Thanks for that GW link.

I may just order those seals Monday during the GW leap day sale and save shipping.

Items like this tend to vanish over time. I notice GW hasn't any front side window seals in stock right now! :shock:

Dave

Sat Feb 27, 2016 9:12 am

I feel your pain. My mind was blown the first time I took off the door panel to tighten that screw. I heard it was just a phillips screw so I figured it would be right there with easy access - nope! Those German engineers make me scratch my head and/or curse sometimes.
In the end I did what was already said in some of the other posts - used some pliers to turn it as much as possible. Much better!

Sat Feb 27, 2016 10:04 am

I have a great idea. Take the vent out out and replace it with a Hex screw that you can get an end wrench on and then you can fine tune it.

Stacy

Sat Feb 27, 2016 10:20 am

16CV's wrote: I have a great idea. Take the vent out out and replace it with a Hex screw that you can get an end wrench on and then you can fine tune it.

Stacy

IF..... I were replacing the Vent Window seal, that is exactly what I would do. ^^^

But I'm not going through all that just to install a hex bolt.

Now I have been eyeing my phillips bit collection thing If I cut off the bit tip really short and then weld it to a narrow 1/16" steel bar..... I could have the stubbiest phillips screw driver ever!!

Drill a hole in the bar and weld the bit in from the rear so as not to bugger the phillips slots while welding...... :idea:

Can I make it thin enough to engage the screw with that metal flange right there????

Dave

Sat Feb 27, 2016 11:05 am

My comment ,was a little "Tounge in Cheek" .

Stacy

Sat Feb 27, 2016 11:09 am

I'da thot that the screw (with whatever kinda head) shuda bin installed the other way round. Then a hole in the inner pannel (behind the door card?) cudda tightened it ez.

Just my Canadian 2 cents worth (and we don't even use pennies any more 8)

Sat Feb 27, 2016 12:15 pm

spitsnrovers wrote: I'da thot that the screw (with whatever kinda head) shuda bin installed the other way round. Then a hole in the inner pannel (behind the door card?) cudda tightened it ez.

Just my Canadian 2 cents worth (and we don't even use pennies any more 8)

Oh! You mean like the wing adjustment screw was for the Air Cooled Beetles.....

They even had a 10mm hex head....... Progress! :roll:

Dave

Sat Feb 27, 2016 1:01 pm

won't a right-angle screwdriver work?

Sat Feb 27, 2016 1:25 pm

djkeev wrote:

Can I make it thin enough to engage the screw with that metal flange right there????

Dave

The thickness of those pliers of mine that you posted up (thanks for that ), that's about how much space , in total, is available.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I can't imagine it possible

Tue Mar 01, 2016 4:24 pm

The Vent window is tightened...... No Blood....... No tears ....... No throwing of tools against the wall.......

It was rather anti-climatic......... Slip a needle nose vise grip up there and make many very short turns.

I have two pair of needle nose grips and I started with the small pair..... Vise Grip 6LN ....... but it kept slipping off the round head, mildly frustrating it was!

I switched to the larger pair ...... Vise Grip 9LN ........ The jaws were the width of the space the screw head occupies and it was a hassle free swing, swing, swing affair until it was tight.

Dave

Tue Mar 01, 2016 8:10 pm

I tightened mine while I was replacing the passenger side seal. Pretty much have to take the entire door apart to replace that rubber or get to that screw with a philips. New rubber didn't help with the whistle. The real fix for the whistling passenger vent window only cost me a dime. A penny would have worked but this is not a place where I wanted to be cheap on repairs :wink: I also thought it would be nice to keep the silver theme on the trim.

-d

Tue Mar 01, 2016 10:52 pm

I will say that much of the fun I had was the result of the fact that the flat piece on the bottom of the pivot had fallen off and was in the gunk in the bottom of the door. I never found the original screw, either.

:shock:

Thank you very much, before I forget, djkeev, for some useful, well-illustrated posts.

Best!