Fan belt and being prepared

[67rustavenger]

[Starbucket]

Sounds like the spare belt and basic tools wins the beer

[HippyTom]

A belt in every Bug and a VW tool bag that goes in whatever car I'm driving. Spare coil, points, distributor, fuel pump...you never know.

[VW_Jimbo]

[73SlowBug]

I voted yes, but I've been real lazy lately. I used my spare when i changed my belt about 3 months ago. I never replaced it. Going to get a new one in there right away. I have spares, but I just never remember to put one in my vw. This has reminded me.
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Daily driven....Slowly.

[VW_Jimbo]

[VW_Jimbo]

[74Shovel]

I used to do a lot of back country exploring in an old Jeep CJ7 alone. As a result I learned to be prepared for any minor breakdown. Basically, I didn’t want to spend the night on a mountain because a $10 part failed. I always carried a front wheel bearing kit, fan belt, a hose repair kit, lengths of electrical wire and an assortment of terminals, bailing wire, electrical tape, and a few other things. Currently, in my bug, I have a new belt, points, condenser, fuses, and a variety of tools, including a test light. In the past you could walk into just about any parts store and they would have most common VW replacement parts on the shelf. It’s not that way anymore, so my in-car parts stash also ensures I don’t have to wait a day or more to get a part which could fail at any time.
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Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

'78 Super Convertible

[VW_Jimbo]

[VW_Jimbo]

[goober]

Yep, have belts, tools and flashlights.

I carry at least one new belt. (Dayco L335 - not a Bug belt but close enough - smaller to spin gen and fan faster - doesn't last quite as long) I also carry 2-3 of the best of my old belts.

I carry a small box of tools to be able to do light roadside repairs. With the exception of switching out a couple of distributors and a fuel pump over the years, I've never had to do much roadside repairing.

I have a ton of flashlights. Every time I pick up a trinket at Harbor Freight I get a free flashlight. If you get the free round black 3-AAA light, look for the single round (not flat) LED bulb. It throws the best light. The multi-LED oval-ish blue free light is great to flood an area like when you need to replace a fan belt or change a tire.

[bluebus86]

[HippyTom]

My next step is to scour the pawn shops for cheap tools to make a tool bag for each car.

[joey1320]

[HippyTom]

I dug through buckets of rusty tools at a pawn shop and came up with a whole set of metric Craftsman sockets and a lot of Craftsman wrenches for less than $15. Picked up a bunch of extra cheapy 10 mm and 13 mm wrenches too for $3. A quick clean up and soaking and they’re good as new.

I’m a pawn shop junky.

[joey1320]

[HippyTom]

Was at an estate sale a couple weeks ago and picked through the garage and gathered a box of tools (screwdrivers, adjustable wrenches, staple guns, and various other hand tools) and got it all for $1. Score.

[joey1320]

[VW_Jimbo]

Welł, had some time today to take care of the Bug. Drove over to Pierside parts and got to see Randy! He got me 2 new belts, some dialog and a few laughs! Always a positive experience!

Got back to the house. Went out to the garage and adjusted the valves. Two tight ones. The rest were normal. One of them, actually the very first valve I went to adjust, #2 exhaust was a bear. I loosened the jamb nut and slide my feeler gauage in, it did not want to go, so I back unscrewed the stud. Slide the gauge in, then had to tighten the stud, just a tiny amount, nice drag on the gauge. By hand, I then turned the nut till it was against the rocker arm. Got my wrench up in there, then the screwdriver. Gave the nut a slight tightening, double checked the gauge, still good. Gave the nut another nugde and nothing. No more resistance, just kept turning. Pulled the stud out, pulled the nut off. The nut was not good, but the stud had no more threads in only the area where the nut was. Never seen that before. Went to the parts stash. It was always the nut. Found an old rocker arm assembly, on the spare parts shelf. Pulled one stud with a nut. Installed it, adjusted it and tightened it. No issues!

With that completed, I installed a new generator belt. Started the car up and drove it to the beach with the wife, so that we could get a walk in. Car ran good! Got it spinning up around 8000 to see if the belt was going to have an issue. No issue noted! I like it that way!!!!

Now, I did by a second belt and threw it under the hood. Threw a screwdriver in there too. New flashlight, came in a two pack, so 2 new lights got thrown into the glovebox.

Lesson learned!!!...................again

Heres the belt that got us home. Go figure. 6 months old.

And there it is on the car.

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Jimbo

There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!