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Mon Aug 28, 2023 12:20 am

2019 & 2020

I went though a bunch of parts throughout both 2019 and 2020 so I'm just gonna list them by part instead of jumping around and accurately following the timeline.

For reference, I use a lot of rattle can paint. Most parts are either hot-tank cleaned or hand cleaned first then checked for damages and repaired. I glass bead them and then do a final check for damage. Then they get self-etching primer and either high temp brake caliper paint or high temp engine enamel in either semi gloss or satin black, and finally a bake to cure. Hardware is cleaned, threads chased, then re-cleaned and glass beaded and then if they're good I have them black oxide treated. The pan and engine tin are powder coated and if the price of everything keeps going up I may have to rattle can the body. :shock:

Rear Brakes

Found a set of oval rear brakes. All the bits and pieces (other than wheel cylinders) were there and in good shape. The drums appear quite old and carry a 1034129 part number so I make the assumption they closely match the year of the gearbox. I could be wrong. Drums were steel shot and turned before I painted them.

Backing plates and bits, new FTE/ATE wheel cylinders and ATE brake soft lines, new bearings, axle boots, seals, shoes, and spring kit, NOS e-brake cables and brake line clips, one used and one new slinger, used bearing caps, and OE hardware.

Steering Box

The original steering box was in pretty decent shape under a lot of grease, dirt, and dead spiders. Cleaned up with new seals and gaskets. I've gotta find the right grease ... gear oil seems to weep out.

Mon Aug 28, 2023 8:45 am

Quote: I've gotta find the right grease ... gear oil seems to weep out.

Snow mobile grease.

BTW I am really enjoying this. Keep it coming.

Also I put new drums on my car which did not fit over the new shoes in the back at all, not even nearly so I hope yours went together better than mine.

Don

Mon Aug 28, 2023 9:34 am

I am loving this thread! It is the exact motivation needed for me!

On the steering box grease. I always use John Deer Corn Head grease.

Tue Aug 29, 2023 1:23 am

sunroof wrote: Quote: I've gotta find the right grease ... gear oil seems to weep out.
Snow mobile grease.

BTW I am really enjoying this. Keep it coming.

Also I put new drums on my car which did not fit over the new shoes in the back at all, not even nearly so I hope yours went together better than mine.

Thanks! It'll keep coming until I catch up to real time. :) Then it'll slow down.

I did have a bit of a problem getting the drums on. 3 things I needed to fix.
-I had an adjuster in upside down. :oops:
-The steel section of the new shoes was a bit thicker than original so the spreader bar was binding up in the slots and the shoe was binding up in the adjusters.
-The ebrake was hanging up a bit and not allowing the shoes all the way in ... if I remember it right the brake lever that lives behind the shoe was not releasing properly.

Tue Aug 29, 2023 1:33 am

VW_Jimbo wrote: I am loving this thread! It is the exact motivation needed for me!

On the steering box grease. I always use John Deer Corn Head grease.

Glad it's motivational :D

Funny, I've got a John Deere store close by and I only know that because I have John Deer diff. carrier bearings. At the time they were the only ones I could find that cross referenced.

Tue Aug 29, 2023 6:11 am

Quote: I did have a bit of a problem getting the drums on.
-The steel section of the new shoes was a bit thicker than original so the spreader bar was binding up in the slots and the shoe was binding up in the adjusters.

I ended up having to grind the ends of the shoes down to fit into the adjusters. Not happy with the new shoes!

Don

Tue Aug 29, 2023 8:11 am

RustPatch wrote: VW_Jimbo wrote: I am loving this thread! It is the exact motivation needed for me!

On the steering box grease. I always use John Deer Corn Head grease.

Glad it's motivational :D

Funny, I've got a John Deer store close by and I only know that because I have John Deer diff. carrier bearings. At the time they were the only ones I could find that cross referenced.

Are those carrier bearing for a VW split case transmission? I have been on the hunt for a few bearings for the transmission rebuild, which is approaching rapidly. I have slowly been collecting parts and still need to get the carrier bearings. Last time I looked at Weddle they did not have any, but I have not circled back around, yet. But just knowing I can get them from another source. Woo hoo! Thanks!

Tue Aug 29, 2023 8:59 am

Quote: Are those carrier bearing for a VW split case transmission? I have been on the hunt for a few bearings for the transmission rebuild, which is approaching rapidly. I have slowly been collecting parts and still need to get the carrier bearings. Last time I looked at Weddle they did not have any, but I have not circled back around, yet. But just knowing I can get them from another source. Woo hoo! Thanks!

Here is the bearing cross reference:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/bearingref_t1_kg_t3.php

I took the numbers to a local bearing supply and they were able to supply all of them, for cheap! The diff carrier bearings were the most expensive at around $25 per each.

Later:

So I dug up my invoice:

6304-2RSNR $17.71 ea
6205-2RDC3 $7.41 ea
6306-2RDC3 $18.70 ea
6210-2RS $24.12 ea
for a total of $135.91
cheap like borscht.

Don

Wed Aug 30, 2023 12:58 am

sunroof wrote:
So I dug up my invoice:

6304-2RSNR $17.71 ea
6205-2RDC3 $7.41 ea
6306-2RDC3 $18.70 ea
6210-2RS $24.12 ea
for a total of $135.91
cheap like borscht.

That is cheap! I paid $135 for just the diff. carrier bearings from John Deere ($55.70 ea + tax CAD).

Wed Aug 30, 2023 1:45 am

Front Axle

After a lot of debating I decided to stick with the stock suspension ... for now. With the idea that it's easy to change later if I'm not happy with it. I did decide on 2.5" drop spindles though. Essentially I made the choice, at this point, to go all stock except for the ride height and possibly tire size. All easy changes later.

It started off looking a bit rough but the number on it lines up with it being original. I did find a few cracks in some the welds: they're all welded back up, one leaf in a bundle was broken, one of the bubble shock bolts didn't survive the torch, and none of the shock bolt lock plates survived. I had the plumbing plugs in the end to keep it clean while blasting it. POR15 with metal prep.

I learned that drop spindles don't fit with oval brakes so I had to make a minor modification. It was a lot of test fitting and filing back and forth as I wanted to remove as little material and create as few stress risers as possible.

Wed Aug 30, 2023 8:23 am

RustPatch wrote: 2019 & 2020

Cleaned up with new seals and gaskets. I've gotta find the right grease ... gear oil seems to weep out.

John Deere cornhead grease.
It is a non newtonian fluid and ideal for steering boxes.

https://www.greenpartstore.com/John-Deere-Special-Purpose-Corn-Head-Gun-Grease-AN102562.html

Sat Sep 02, 2023 2:01 am

Riff Raff wrote: RustPatch wrote: 2019 & 2020

Cleaned up with new seals and gaskets. I've gotta find the right grease ... gear oil seems to weep out.

John Deere cornhead grease.
It is a non newtonian fluid and ideal for steering boxes.

https://www.greenpartstore.com/John-Deere-Special-Purpose-Corn-Head-Gun-Grease-AN102562.html

Thanks for the link!

Sat Sep 02, 2023 2:54 am

Front axle

All of the steering parts looked good, including the tie rods and ends which just needed a really good cleaning. I bought king pin reamer and did it myself, obviously all new seals everywhere that needed them, and new king and link pins.

Unfortunately during installation of the link pin bushings in one link arm I discovered that the arm was twisted and "crushed" where the link pin bushings live. It was the one arm I couldn't get the king pin out of with my press so I had a shop remove that one. I guess things didn't go well. :lol: So I had to replace that link arm. You can just see the twist where the one link arm doesn't sit flat on the bench compared to the replacement.

Original tie rods.

At some point I lost one of the original dust boots, but someone on here makes nice replacements. 3 new on the left and original on the right. In the installed picture the new one is on the right and original on the left.

Everything went together well but there is almost no spring in the front end at all. I haven't figured out what is wrong yet, but it's still very stiff.

Sat Sep 02, 2023 3:10 am

Back to the future for a sec ...

In real time we're having an issue with the rear bumper mount. Trying to get the rear bumper mounts installed and the only position to have the mount in, that the actual bumper bracket sits correctly, is WAY out. I've ordered a pair of mounts from Wolfparts for comparison but can't imagine that these mounts are that far off. I haven't been able to find much info on installing these yet but I'll keep digging.

Sat Sep 02, 2023 11:45 am

Really enjoying this thread. Great work!

Sat Sep 02, 2023 1:18 pm

Those black ones SUCK!

Get those parts from WolfParts. Way thicker and correctly fabricated.

Also, my original passenger side mount was welded to the body about 6mm below the inner wheel well.

Sat Sep 02, 2023 2:01 pm

I got the ones from Wolf Parts and they were perfect. This pic of body dimensions helped get things lined up along with fitting fenders and bumper brackets to ensure everything was setting where it needed to be....

Sun Sep 03, 2023 11:06 am

wayne1230cars wrote: Really enjoying this thread. Great work!

Thanks! :D

VW_Jimbo wrote: Those black ones SUCK!

I didn't think they'd be that bad. Oh well, Wolf Parts on the way!

VW_Jimbo wrote:
Also, my original passenger side mount was welded to the body about 6mm below the inner wheel well.

That seems really strange but I have no idea how mine were mounted originally as it had these in it ...

tehillah1 wrote: This pic of body dimensions helped get things lined up along with fitting fenders and bumper brackets to ensure everything was setting where it needed to be....

Awesome, thanks! That pic is going to be so helpful!

Sun Sep 03, 2023 4:07 pm

Front Brakes

I picked up a set of oval front brakes. The drums were in good shape and were actually dated 1956, which I thought was pretty cool. Steel shot and turned, new bearings and seals, hardware kit and shoes, ATE classic wheel cylinders and ATE soft lines. OG backing plates and original hardware with the longer one for turn stop on the driver's side.

I originally wanted to twist the safety wire, as I'm more used to it, but didn't like how it turned out so I went with the original way. I used stainless 0.032" aviation safety wire. Also what I used for the reverse gear and shift coupler. The coupler is original and seems to be OK but only a road test will tell for sure. I'll probably end up replacing but it's fine for the time being.

I found that the Febi link pins stuck out a little too far and made contact with the backing plate so I filed the end of it off. I think it was a combination of the drop spindles, the thicker head on the Febi pin and a slight distortion of the backing plate. I had posted on here back when I was installing everything.

The master cylinder on the car was aftermarket and in rough shape but I cleaned it up and I'll keep as a spare. I replaced it with an ATE Classic master cylinder, the only difference between it and the original is that the base is threaded. I thought about using it the way it was with the longer original bolts but they got thread bound due to the shoulder with no threads. So I reamed out the holes in the MC and put in the bolts and nuts as original.

When I set out to install the rear spring plates I had very little clue as to what I was doing. I read a lot and figured it out but I'm not so sure that I've set them where I want. From what I had read, I figured that if I set them at between 7 and 8 degrees I should be in pretty good shape, a little lower but not too low. We'll see when it's done. I may need to adjust or just put in adjustable spring plates (which is what everyone told me to do ... but I really wanted to learn this part). Zeroed on the tunnel, 7.7 degrees on the plate on both sides.

Right now, with it on the ground, the engine in, and the chassis almost 100% complete the rear wheels are still slightly positive camber. I hope it is OK but I'm starting to worry it might be too low but at least the height is the same side to side.

More to come ...

Sun Sep 03, 2023 5:09 pm

It's a drizzly Sunday so I'll post another.

Horn

Starting with the bracket ... I had read that the original ones were a little hard to find so I really wanted to save it (in general I've been trying to save as much original stuff as I can). There was even a smidgen of original paint under the undercoating. unfortunately the mount bolt had sheared off as soon as I touched it when originally removing the horn. :P

I didn't want to torch it as I didn't know if it would damage the bracket so I carefully drilled into the bolt and proceeded to break not just 3 easy outs, but I broke the same one twice as well.

I hate that type of easy out but my favourite extractor was no match either. So I ended up drilling the bolt until I could chip the pieces out while trying to do as little damage as possible to the threads on the nut welded on. In the end, I won.

The horn itself wasn't working and I can't remember anymore if it just needed to be adjusted or if I stole bits from the spare horn pile. I know I robbed a couple screws that were in better shape but not much else. I ended up getting it to work and cleaned it up.

I don't know if I've got the tone 100% correct, but it does work. :D