Gary's 1959 Single Cab Project

[VW Truck]

I got most of the wiring out tonight. As I pulled it out I documented and compared it to the manual. Everything was where it was supposed to be! I should get the new harness tomorrow.

One odd thing, or maybe not, the jacket of the main bundle running to the back of the truck was full of oil. Once the jacket cracked, oil came out.

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My 1959 Truck

[VW Truck]

Found some side gate latches and cleaned them up and powder coated them white.

They are in pretty good shape!

The top one is bead blasted. For comparison.

Powder coated and ready for baking.

All done. Now to find the catches.

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My 1959 Truck

[VW Truck]

I found a couple of the side gate latch parts in the Samba classified. Here they are powder coated white. Waiting on some fasteners to install them.

I took out the steering box. The output shaft bushings are worn. There was no gasket between the body and cover. And it got stuck when turning left. I determined that was because of a bad adjustment. It doesn't look too bad! I am looking for a rebuild kit.

My son and i took out the front end. Since there isn't much stock on the truck I am going to keep this beam and add disc brakes. I talked to a fellow from Wolfgang and he told me that I can put '73 or later spindles and use stock bus disc brakes.

Here it is mostly disassembled. Next I'll get the parts cleaned and powdercoated.

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My 1959 Truck

[crukab]

Holy SHIAT, you are gett'en down & grubbie w/ that Front rack !!

Keep the pics coming !
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Tom

My Pops:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=604100&highlight=
I know you will always be with me, rest in peace with no more pain. 8/13/14.....

In the yard right now:
'51 Dodge 5 window truck
'65 Bug
'66 Singlecab
'82 Rabbit Truck Diesel from CALI
'86 Doublecab W/T
'91 Vanagon carat/wolfsbrg.Tiico
'88 Dodge Ram pickup
'11 Jetta Wagon

[mandraks]

[SamboSamba22]

[VW Truck]

Thanks!
I'm replacing:
Shocks
Steering damper
Sway bar bushings and clamps
Tie rods
Drag link
Ball joints
Torsion bar needle bearings
Torsion bar needle bushings
Bump stops
Bump stop clips
Link pin and bushings
Bearings
Zerk fittings
All seals
Missing or stripped fasteners

Brakes:
MAN! There are a ton of choices! I'm told that I can get '73 or later torsion arms then use stock rotors, hubs and calipers. But this doesn't seem to be that much different in price to say a Saco kit
http://www.bustoration.com/Disc-Brake-kit-1968-to-..._2025.html
But, it would be a lot less than a CSP kit.
https://www.wolfsburgwest.com/cart/DetailsList.cfm?ID=211698502

There is so much information about this that it's a bit overwhelming. What I am finding is that I need to make sure the kit fits whatever size and bolt pattern my wheels have. I'm still reading about it. Advice is appreciated, but I am not asking anyone to do the research for me.
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My 1959 Truck

[VW Truck]

Here's a better exploded view.

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My 1959 Truck

[VW Truck]

I got the needle bearing and inner bushings out. I made a puller tool for the needle bearing and it worked very well. I will reuse the bearings as they are in good shape.

I made this out of aluminum

Then just cranked it out.

I had to use an extension to give room for the bearing to pop out.

After I drew up the tool for pulling the inner bushings, a nice TheSamba member sent me a PM of a link to the tools VW designed for this when he saw my question about trailing arm wear. I modified the design a bit and made this.
Tools: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=587243
Wear thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=681630&highlight=

It bent. Which made the bushing extra hard to pull out. After this, I stacked 2 together and the inner bushings came out no problem. If I make any more they need to be a harder steel. I just grabbed whatever I had in stock.

After that I reused the needle bearing puller and removed the outer bushing (micarta?). If you are wondering why I removed them, I think there there was excessive wear on the trailing arms.

On the smaller parts, I bead blasted them then powder coated them black.

Before

After bead blasting

After powder coating. I also did the Pittman Arm and both spindles.

I just got back from vacation and the VW Santa showed up!

Brake upgrade!

Before cleaning and straitening some metal. I hope that heater insulation isn't asbestos!

After cleaning. Next I need to figure out how to bead blast this area. I'll rattle can it gray when it's clean. I'd like to learn how to weld too so I can re-weld that tang that someone bent up.

As for the beam and sway bar I will take that to a bead blasting shop, then get it powder coated.

Next, I need to find new inner bushings for the trailing arms. I'm debating on whether to machine the real installation tool. I do have the right sized bar in SS 17-4PH. in stock. I'll change all the brake lines too (metal and rubber) because they are all in bad shape.
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My 1959 Truck

[zuggbug]

Very nice work
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SOUTHERN INTEGRITY AIRCOOLERS
58 15 window
56 westy

[SamboSamba22]

Making fantastic progress. Awesome job thus far.
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The Bus Barn Ltd. Co.

Oct. ’67 Double Cab (’68 Crew Cab)
[url=http://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-44412.png]Click to view image[/URL]
March '69 Delivery (Panel Bus)
[url=http://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-44414.png]Click to view image[/URL]

[sgellis]

[BulliBill]

[VW Truck]

Bead blasted and wire brushed the front undercarriage. There are some rusted out spots under the fenders, but the rest of it seems pretty solid. I put 2 coats of Rust-Oleum primer then 2 coats of Rust-Oleum gloss gray.
It came out not too bad IMHO.

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My 1959 Truck

[ernstben]

Beautiful! There's just something about a nicely cleaned up undercarriage.
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Ben

'63 Ghia Coupe Project
'59 Panel Project
'56 Ragtop Project

[VW Truck]

Got some more work done on the SC.

The adapter for the new dual circuit master cylinder didn't fit over the boot they sent.

I opened up the counterbore to Ø1.76 x .51 deep

Hardware painted and powdercoated,

The old brake pin had some wear, but I couldn't find a new one. So I machined a new one out of SS 17-4PH900.

Reassembly has started! There's always road bumps with old cars. There was a divot where the accelerator linkage pin installs.

I used a cupped washer I saved from the shock tower on my wife's old Acura on the right and a nut on the left (hidden) then cranked the nut on the right to draw the divot out.

It worked pretty well! It's almost flat.

The new accelerator linkage.

The rebuilt steering box is installed along with the new dual circuit master cylinder.

The new metal front brake lines are installed. Those were fun to bend. I picked up a Harbor Freight tube bender. It worked pretty well!

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My 1959 Truck

[VW Truck]

I just got some pictures from the bead blaster. The beam should be off to the powder coater soon!

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My 1959 Truck

[VW Truck]

Here is the beam after powder coating.

Some of the seal holders were beat up.

I beat them back into shape with a hammer and mandrel.

The seal holders after powder coating.

Washing the beam one last time before assembly. I used a brush and extension that came in a dryer vent cleaning kit. I spun it in a drill. It worked great!

I made a stand to hold it for assembly. Hopefully I can lower the truck down on top of this once everything is installed.

Installing the link pin.

I made my own inner bushings out of Delrin. I talked to Nate at Wagenswest and he told me that Delrin is what they use a lot of the time.

This is the tool I used to install the bushings. I pounded them into the tube until they were in the correct location.

Here's an exploded view of the front suspension with the upgrades. Looks like I lost a couple bolts. Only three of the inner bushings are shown as one is already installed.

Today I made a guide to keep the reamer straight when I ream out the inner bushings.
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My 1959 Truck

[hydro50]

I'm totally watching how your ball joint/disc front end works out. I stuck with ball joints and later drums on my 57sc for now. Ready to test drive any day. Norwalk Someday will go OG but need to drive for a good while first. I figure that the German engineers were constantly improving the VW's so why is it so wrong to take advantage? Couldn't really care how much it's worth.....for now.

[VW Truck]

I lucked out and found this brake compensator lever from a TheSamba user. Here it is cleaned and powdercoated:

The parking brake cables were too long.

Time to cut them off.

I used 1/8" ferrules to shorten the cables.

I couldn't find a new pin so I made one.

All done!

That's what I thought. Something was sticking in the parking brake handle not allowing the button to spring back up. Of course the pin was stuck. I used a hacksaw blade cut in half and a vice grip to cut the pin. It took 4 halves and about 30 minutes.

I didn't even take the time to look for a new pin. I just made one and put a grease fitting on it.

Now the parking brake is done!
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My 1959 Truck