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Manfreds78bay
Samba Member
Joined: February 27, 2009
Posts: 754
Location: PNW
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 Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 10:46 am Post subject: Post Front Suspension Rebuild Questions |
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Hello All,
I'm about done with my front end rebuild. She got a new beam, ball joints, tie-rods, and drag link.
Once everything is done, what next? Do I need to get an alignment? Will it be okay to test drive? My plan is to make sure the tie rods are the same length as the old ones. I bought two adjustable tie rods. What should I pay attention to during the install as far as setting up the steering?
I have a trip coming up over the 4th of July weekend and I want to make sure my rig is safe to drive with all new front end components.
Thanks.
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1978 2.0L FI Campmobile
1982 AMC Eagle SX4 4.2L FI |
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airschooled
Air-Schooled
Joined: April 04, 2012
Posts: 12722
Location: on a bike ride somewhere
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| Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 11:04 am Post subject: Re: Post Front Suspension Rebuild Questions |
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| Manfreds78bay wrote: |
| Once everything is done, what next? Do I need to get an alignment? Will it be okay to test drive? My plan is to make sure the tie rods are the same length as the old ones. I bought two adjustable tie rods. What should I pay attention to during the install as far as setting up the steering? |
That sounds like a good start to getting the parts installed, but you will need to follow the correct procedure to get your steering set up correctly. You could get it until the wheels and steering wheel are straight, and you could drive it and feel good, but it would ruin your steering box and maybe other things. It would be a shame to spend all that time/money just to make a worse problem. Your service manual has the correct steps to take, but the steering box must be centered first.
The box needs to be able to rotate freely to do this. You can do it now while everything is disconnected. Then make sure the pitman/drop arm is installed on the box correctly; there are notches on the arm and shaft that need to line up.
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Manfreds78bay
Samba Member
Joined: February 27, 2009
Posts: 754
Location: PNW
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| Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2014 9:58 am Post subject: |
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I've been calling around to alignment shops and keep getting turned down. They say they can't do my alignment because my vehicle is not in their computer.
I found a shop mentioned on the Samba that is close to my home relatively speaking. He was nice enough to tell me that what they are telling me is hog wash. He said that all the computers can be over ridden to input specific specs or just tell them to look up a 93 Vanagon, which should be pretty close.
I'm just going to show up to a shop early on Saturday with my Bentley and just argue them down.
Wish me luck.
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1978 2.0L FI Campmobile
1982 AMC Eagle SX4 4.2L FI |
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Skoolieman
Samba Member
Joined: January 31, 2011
Posts: 573
Location: Chattanooga TN
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| Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2014 10:48 am Post subject: |
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Why not do it yourself. I just did mine and it was a lot easier than I would have ever imagined and made a huge improvement-not to mention I saved 60 bucks
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'69 Westfalia Camper~Cassidy
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Manfreds78bay
Samba Member
Joined: February 27, 2009
Posts: 754
Location: PNW
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| Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2014 10:52 am Post subject: |
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I'm taking a a long trip up to the Michigan UP over the 4th of July weekend. I've never done it before and I don't want to guess at something and ruin all my new parts. If I had more time to play with it I would learn it.
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1978 2.0L FI Campmobile
1982 AMC Eagle SX4 4.2L FI |
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Desertbusman
Samba Member
Joined: June 03, 2005
Posts: 14655
Location: Arizona
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| Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2014 2:26 pm Post subject: Re: Post Front Suspension Rebuild Questions |
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| Manfreds78bay wrote: |
| My plan is to make sure the tie rods are the same length as the old ones. I bought two adjustable tie rods. |
It was a mistake pretending to outguess VW and putting on 2 adjustable tierods. One nonadjustable tierod as was stock is there for a reason that you have poopooed 
Don't adjust your tierods based on how they were before. Maybe the prior person working on it didn't know what they were doing either.
You want to adjust the LH tierod to the exact same pin to pin length that a stock nonadjustable tierod has. Sorry, I don't remember the dimension, you'll have to do some homework. And then adjust the toein per the book with your adjustable RH tierod. It's critical to adjust the drag link so the steering box is centered like we have outlined in detail in the past.
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wcfvw69 
Samba Purist
Joined: June 10, 2004
Posts: 13389
Location: Arizona
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| Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2014 6:25 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, you should get it aligned correctly. You removed the eccentrics from the upper ball joint. They affect the camber and a little for the caster. As Desert Bus stated, you need to also set the toe in/toe out as well.
Any reasonable alignment shop should be able to align it. It's not rocket science.
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GMATech
Samba Member
Joined: September 03, 2012
Posts: 220
Location: South East Pennsylvania
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| Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2014 7:22 pm Post subject: |
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Do not attempt any sort of alignment at home. Maybe just to get it in the ballpark, but alignment equipment measures the wheel angles to the hundredth of a degree. You want it to be accurate for tire life and proper handling.
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Manfreds78bay
Samba Member
Joined: February 27, 2009
Posts: 754
Location: PNW
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| Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2014 8:54 am Post subject: |
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So after calling around to a lot of shops, I finally got a hold of a reasonable person. He told me to just drive in without an appointment and give the guys the specs. Which I did and it worked. I went to a local Firestone shop who turned me down on the phone. But when I pulled up with the specs they seemed happy enough to help me out.
I did 1000 mile road trip this weekend without a hitch.
Thanks for the help.
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1982 AMC Eagle SX4 4.2L FI |
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