Throw out bearing adapter collar?

[gargamel]

Saw this on aircoolednet. I need to replace my broken cross shaft, TO bearing but this caught my eye.

I figured this would be a good upgrade to the more reliable later year throw out bearing. Has anyone used the throw out bearing collar adapter to allow later TO bearing to be used on early transmissions? I know what other parts need to swapped. It is my understanding that the 71-72 clutch cross shaft will need to be used. Wll that simply slide into the transmission with no issues? Same diameter?

For what it's worth, is the early throw out bearing that notorious to fail?

http://vwparts.aircooled.net/Throw-Out-Bearing-Ada...sleeve.htm

[modok]

The early one has really nothing to keep the bearing centered, so if something about the arms or pressure plate is a little funky for some reason then it can wobble around and fatigue. I don't really know of any kind of alignment fixture to check that stuff so it can be a puzzler as to what the cause was.......sometimes
Never had any trouble with the late system.

I did what you are asking about a few years ago. The new "HD" arm broke within a few months since the welds were no good. The collar part is really nice and worked perfect for a few years, but now the seal is leaking and I do not know how to pull the thing out and change the seal. I probably could weld something onto it and pull it out but the trans is near dead anyway, and will be replaced with a later trans.

If your old one is working ok then best to leave it alone, but if it's broke and the trans is great otherwise then go for it, but use a used OE arm or weld the HD one yourself!

[gargamel]

The transmission is a nice row miles rancho but it seems the PO used a cheap Chinese TO bearing.

I also noticed a seller with his own adapter nut he claims it can be removed due to 2 holes on the collar.

I figured I might,invest in going with the older bearing not just to spend money but for more reliability and I need new parts anyways.

I'm on the fence to either buy quality parts or just upgrade to the later TO bearing.

[Dale M.]

Buy proper throw out bearing for cross shaft in transaxle and walk away happy.... Only the bearing quality may be issue.... Its sort of a crap shoot to get decent bearing, and its not related to "vintage" its related to the "source" and "standard" bearing is manufactured to...

Dale
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“Fear The Government That Wants To Take Your Guns"
"Kellison Sand Piper Roadster" For Street & Show.
"Joe Pody Sandrover" Buggy with 2180 for Autocross (Sold)
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All suggestions and advice are purely my own opinion. You are free to ignore them if you wish ...

[W1K1]

I lost my bearing clips once and the my fork broke the second time in two years, so i switched mine out for the sleeve 2 years ago so far so good. It gets daily driven so i would rather not be waiting for parts in the mail to fix it again
_________________
1973 super 2110cc
1965 squareback 1500E-sold
1971 bay window westy- EJ2.5 subi swap

[gargamel]

Its now October and I installed one of these adapters that I bought off of a vendor on this sight. Has some holes on the side that aid in removing (if need be). So far so good. No leaks and I have driven it without giving it any thought.

[epayne611]

I just installed one of these adapter in my 66 bus. Something is not right- the clutch cable is barely threaded on and the throwout bearing is sitting pretty far away from the housing, like it would already be partially engaging the clutch.
Do I need a different arm, or longer clutch cable? Haven't seen this mentioned anywhere else, did not have this issue with the older style.

Ignore the blue webbing I used it to pull the clutch lever while I threaded the wing nut.

[Howard 111]

It's hard to ignore, but I'll try!
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1973 Karmann Ghia
Turbocharged, Fuel Injected
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=531270

[Dale M.]

Does clutch work ok?......... If so drive it..... Does not matter where wing nut is on cable as long as you have full thread engagement...

Dale
_________________
“Fear The Government That Wants To Take Your Guns"
"Kellison Sand Piper Roadster" For Street & Show.
"Joe Pody Sandrover" Buggy with 2180 for Autocross (Sold)
============================================================
All suggestions and advice are purely my own opinion. You are free to ignore them if you wish ...

[epayne611]

Dale, engine has not been reinstalled yet...the throwout bearing is sitting out so far out that I'm pretty sure the clutch will be engaged and get burned up pretty quick. If you look at the second picture you can see how far forward on the guide collar it is sitting.
Wondering if I have installed something backwards or if the new throwout shaft is clocked differently and this is messing things up. Was thinking of getting the longer bay window clutch cable but this is something no one has mentioned anywhere about this conversion so it has me wondering if I've done something wrong....

[66brm]

Did you change the throw out fork to the later style? Looks like the early one still there
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Aust. RHD 66 Type 1
Aust. RHD 57 Type 1 Oval

[epayne611]

Yes that's the later fork, it came with the kit and was advertised as HD, although looking at my old one the welds are def less beefy. Hopefully it holds up. I ordered a longer bay window clutch cable, installed it but it was too long. So I installed another split bus cable and left it with just barely a couple threads. Popped the engine in, was able to adjust a few more threads so it's on there and shifting.
Long day, kind of a pain in the ass conversion.

[modok]

Don't trust the arm.

I bought the same kit, didn't do me much good, that weld broke 200 miles away from home.

[Bruce]

I have seen aftermarket cross shafts with the splines cut clocked wrong. Compare yours with a genuine VW one. Better yet, put a genuine VW one in your gearbox.
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[epayne611]

Well, that's not good. Modok how many miles did you have on it before it broke, and what was your application?
Looks like I'm pulling the engine again

[Dale M.]

Is that after market add on guide tube and late model throw out bearing... Umm... I think I would avoid it and return to original OEM parts, a lot of after market modification parts are not all they are cracked up to be... Some times someones better ideas are not...

Dale
_________________
“Fear The Government That Wants To Take Your Guns"
"Kellison Sand Piper Roadster" For Street & Show.
"Joe Pody Sandrover" Buggy with 2180 for Autocross (Sold)
============================================================
All suggestions and advice are purely my own opinion. You are free to ignore them if you wish ...

[mcmscott]

^^^^^ This is good advice^^^^ I have built 1000's of transmissions and have seen more problems created with this than solved. There is nothing wrong with good oem crosshaft with the arms tig welded in place
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68 Ghia
67 T-1
65 Notch
02 Mexican beetle
74 Thing
15 Long travel rail
07 Nomad
05 f-250

[modok]

Weld broke after a year or so?, only had a 1200lb sachs pressure plate.
I wish it had broke right away, but NO , broke in Wyoming!
It was back in 2009?

Sorry to scare you, but if getting a VW shaft in there solves your angle problem AND possibly avoids disaster of a weld breaking then yeah, I think you might want to try it.

[yamaducci]

I had an early bearing fall off only shifting like a Granny into second gear years ago. It put a hole in the trans case, ruined the forks, bearing, clutch and starter. When I went to stage 4 in my buggy I initially safely wired the bearing onto the forks but then swapped the new bearing and collar in for more reliability. I added the heavy duty forks. Welding them all the way around and adding more metal to reinforce them (Thanks Marktucky for that suggestion) I also added the long throw arm and it feels effortless. I have not run it yet but I am way more confident in the newer style. Some pics are in my gallery.
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My 2498 Turbo Re-Build Thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5578697#5578697

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[epayne611]

Thanks for all the input, I appreciate. I would definitely think twice before doing this conversion, but since the adapter collar needs a special puller to remove, it will stay on for now. I also like the way the clutch engages now, compared to the two previous old style bearings I had. Maybe that's in my head though.

Anyway since the collar is staying, does anyone have recommendations for a different cross shaft? I looked at ACNs, it looks the same as the one I have now but gold in color, although I know John sells good stuff:
http://vwparts.aircooled.net/HD-Cross-Shaft-Shaft-ONLY-1971-72-113-141-701E-p/113-141-701e.htm
CB performance has this one that looks beefier than the one I have:
http://www.cbperformance.com/product-p/4562.htm?CartID=3

I just pulled the engine again last night so plan on doing this now.
Thanks!