Project Slowly Underway: Berrien 295

[Vanapplebomb]

Well, sticking with my vision of some yellow accessories with a black frame, I just couldn't pass these up when I saw them.

I plan on cutting the metal snubber mounts off from between the torsion arms and re-welding them above the upper torsion arms. By doing this I can set up the front arms for more upward and downward motion. By lengthening the shock towers I can use the longer bus shocks for more travel. The end result would look something like this. Hey, why not

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1800 Type 4 Berrien 295

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=487021

[nitrous nut]

i thought the 295 had a bend at the bottom of the windshield bars and the warrior had strait bars. i just picked up a 295 with bent bars

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

i guess im just wondering what i have for sure
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i got the stickers, travel and the hp

throttle in a bottle

[Vanapplebomb]

The warrior is also a 95 inch wheal base. They are pretty much the same thing. The only difference is that the rear torsion is attached differently. The warrior was made to be easier to weld the back end to without fancy jigs because most people that buy the warrior nock down kit don't have the proper stuff to set it up...At least thats what the guys at berrien buggy told me.

if you look on their web sight, the 295 and warrior both have straight fronts...in fact, they all do.

Maybe on their older models that was the case, but it look like everything they have now seam to have strait fronts.

As far as how the rear torsion is welded in...I don't know. I wouldn't be able to differentiate between the two.
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1800 Type 4 Berrien 295

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=487021

[Vanapplebomb]

Got a pair of stock trailing arms a while back. They have a little rust, but its only surface rust and will come off easy.

These are later model trailing arms, so I will have to re-drill them for the early dual spring plate pattern, but thats no big deal. I also need to trace out some cardboard templates so I can make gussets to reinforce the trailing arm.

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1800 Type 4 Berrien 295

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=487021

[Vanapplebomb]

Well, here it is. Looks pretty grungy. You know what that means...time to gut it and rebuild!

This shows the inner seal which is completely shot. Now you see it...

...now you don't.

Once this puppy is out of the way, it exposes the large snap ring that retains the inner ball bearing.

Next the snap ring was removed with a pliers.

Now you can drive the bearing out with a punch through the outer end...once you clean up some grease, that is. I found a 1/4 inch punch to work best. Obviously I already removed the outer roller bearing and the spacer. If it is still in place, just remove the roller bearings inner race so you can pull out the spacer and then weasel your punch in there. Notice the two notches in the bearing seat that let you easily set the punch on the bearings outer race to drive it out. Don't try to drive it out only from these two points. Once you knock it off the seat through these points, work the punch around it in a circular motion, taping evenly all the way around until it pops out...at least thats what has worked best for me.

So you don't have a punch? Make one. This is my poor mans punch that is made out of a long spike (about 10"). It was left over from making a retaining wall out of 6x6 planks in our front yard. It was the perfect size, 0.25 inches. All I did was grind the point off and quench it. 2 minutes later I had a nice punch. At first the tip mushed a lot as seen in the picture. I reground the end, torched it, and quenched it in water. That seams to have done the trick. Good old blacksmithing tricks to harden steel.

And here is the bare trailing arm.

Great success
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1800 Type 4 Berrien 295

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=487021

[Vanapplebomb]

I experimented a bit with the trailing arms today. I laid out and drilled the spring plate tab for four bot dual spring plates. Looks like it will work good. Time to repeat the process for the other trailing arms spring plate tab.

The mild steel tab drills really easy. First I center punched and center drilled the location of the two new holes on the tab. Then I used a 1/2 inch bit for the center hole, and a 27/64 inch bit for the other hole. I tapped the 27/64 inch hole for a m12 1.75 pitch bolt. I'm not sure if the original german bolts were a 1.75 pitch, thats just what I had on hand.
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1800 Type 4 Berrien 295

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=487021

[Vanapplebomb]

In the process of re-driling the tab...

First I bolted on the trailing arm through the two common holes. I made sure I had the plate pushed all they way down until the bolts bottomed out.

Then I scribed the hole outline, found the center of the bolt location and then center punched it.

Next I center drilled the punch marks to make a nice starting point for the drill bits needed to drill out the holes to the proper sizes. Center drilling helps keep the bit from walking on the surface. I then cleaned the shavings up with a strong magnet.

Ready for drilling! The top hole was drilled to 27/64 of an inch for a m12 1.75 bolt, and the middle one 1/2 an inch.

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1800 Type 4 Berrien 295

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=487021

[Vanapplebomb]

Here is the tab re-drilled and tapped.

M12, 1.75 pitch, 25mm long, class 10.9 bolt.

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1800 Type 4 Berrien 295

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=487021

[Vanapplebomb]

I just got new drive flange seals for the transmission. I went with a pair of 60x36x15mm German seals made by Elring.

I also got a new seal for the shift shaft on the nose cone. How on earth do you get that little seal out anyways?
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1800 Type 4 Berrien 295

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=487021

[tdonaldson]

Be honest: Did your snap ring in the rear hub come out easy enough that you snapped a pic real fast, or did you pose that?

By the time I get that snapring out I'm normally about to the point where I'm feeling like shoving the thing off it's jackstands and hope I can roll it far enough on three wheels for me to set it on fire without jeopardizing the house.
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"If you had a beer can in your hand the beer would have stopped it, alcohol is a natural force of good that keeps you from getting hurt, unless you're city people...."

[Vanapplebomb]

The snap ring came out really easy.

My snap ring pliers wasn't strong enough, so I used a regular needle nose pliers. The first time I tried to get it out it snapped right back. The second time I was able to grip it better and it came right out with no fuss. It sure is a finger work out to compress it though. Those are heavy snap rings! Once I had it out I took the picture because I didn't have to work to compress it anymore.
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1800 Type 4 Berrien 295

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=487021

[tdonaldson]

Lol, okay then!

I actually broke two pairs of snap ring pliers in the process of removing three of those rings. I don't have any needle nose that small though. Maybe next time I'll go shopping first.

I think the people at my local auto parts store think I occassionally just take things home and smash them. They seemed pretty suspicious when I returned the second pair of snap ring pliers.
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"If you had a beer can in your hand the beer would have stopped it, alcohol is a natural force of good that keeps you from getting hurt, unless you're city people...."

[Vanapplebomb]

Yup, I hear ya on the broken snap ring pliers. I twisted the ends of mine pretty bad. Good thing they are replaceable. Luckily, the pliers itself held together.

I actually didn't use a really fine needle nose pliers to pull the ring, as you can see from the picture. Those are pretty big holes in that snap ring. The pliers I had just fit in them. I think the knurled ends are what made the ring pretty easy to grip.
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1800 Type 4 Berrien 295

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=487021

[Vanapplebomb]

These are the new drive flange and nose cone seals that I got.

The first order of business was removing the old seals. This is a neat little trick I learned for removing large seals. Carefully drill a small pilot hole in the seal, then screw in some coarse wood screws. Be careful not to get the shavings near the bearings. To remove the seal, just pry on the screw heads. Try it, it works wonders.

New 60x36x15mm German Elring seal. The seals I pulled out of the transmission were 9mm thick. I opted to replace them with the later style 15mm thick seals. The inner sealing surface is exactly the same.

Before I put them In, I cleaned the seal bore in the transmission well, and made sure the seal was nice and clean. Then I lubed everything up with grease. I filled the inside of the seal, and spread a thin film around the outside of the seal, and the inside of the side cover bore.

I found out through fellow samba members that when installing the late style seals, you drive them in until they seat against the differential bearing race. To instal it evenly and drive it in, I used an old bearing race from a worn out roller bearing I had laying around.

Next, the type 2 conversion drive flanges were slipped on and clipped into place.
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1800 Type 4 Berrien 295

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=487021

[Vanapplebomb]

While I was at it, I replaced the seal in the nose cone bushing. I was expecting it to be a lot harder than it really was. Someone suggested I remove the whole nosecone, and someone else suggested I try to pull the bushing. I decided to start by trying to pull the bushing. Surprisingly, It came off quite nicely. I gripped it with a channel lock pliers with some cardboard over the jaws to protect the soft brass, then twisted it around as I pulled gently.

Here it is, out of the nose cone.

Notice the outer edge of the seal is just plain metal. Also note the three chisel marks used to keep the seal in there.

I then punched the seal out from the back side of the bushing. Here you can see the bushing, the old seal, and the new seal.

I still find it interesting that the original seals outer surface was raw metal. Notice the new one on the right is rubber coated all the way around.

For those of you who want to know what kind of seal I got, here it is. It is a 24x15x7mm Vicor Reinz seal made in Germany.

I cleaned the bushing and the new seal off, then lubed up the seal, both inside and out with grease. I also put grease in the bushing. It looks like a lot of grease in the picture, and it is...don't worry, the extra comes off when it is refitted. The seal was driven in with a socket.

I took a chisel and punched those three spots along the edge to help retain the seal.

I made a poor mans extension to fit over the shift shaft by taping a holow tube (an aluminum bushing thats to small for my cross shaft ) to my socket, then drove the bushing and seal back into the nosecone.

The final result:

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1800 Type 4 Berrien 295

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=487021

[pafree]

great tech tips. keep up the good work and having the patience to take photos and share.

[Vanapplebomb]

Your welcome man, and thanks for checking it out.
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1800 Type 4 Berrien 295

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=487021

[Vanapplebomb]

Well, at this point in time, I could paint my transmission, however, I am not satisfied with my main input shaft seal. I got a new one for good measure, and though it fits, I don't like it. There is no dust lip on it, and that makes me a little uneasy. It is also rather thin, and that scares me because I don't know if it will take too kindly to the misalignment of the main shaft. I ordered a second one from a different vender today, so I guess I will see what I get. Until then I will just leave the first replacement I got in. If what I get is what I am looking for, then I will replace it. If it isn't, then I will just leave the other one in there.
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1800 Type 4 Berrien 295

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=487021

[Vanapplebomb]

Well, I got my new main shaft seal. Long story short, I like it a lot better than what I had before. I ripped the old one out so I could instal the new one.

Here you can see the clear difference. The first one I got was much thinner and had no dust lip.

When I do seals, I like to make sure everything is lubed up really well. To accomplish this I packed the inside with grease like normal, but I also put a small amount of grease on the main shaft so the seal would pick it up as I pushed it on over the shaft.

Then I seated the seal very slightly deeper than flush

Then I reinstalled the throw out bearing guide with the original nuts and serrated washers.

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1800 Type 4 Berrien 295

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=487021

[Vanapplebomb]

I have been getting a little impatient lately because I haven't had much time at all to work on any of my projects. Hopefully that will change really soon.

I am hoping to get the snubber and shock mounts cut off my rear trailing arms tomorrow so that I can make some cardboard templates for gussets. I may even be able to start cutting up parts of my front beam like the snubber horns and the shock towers...but that all depends on how much time I actually get.
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1800 Type 4 Berrien 295

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=487021