T2 front beam remove help

[cnp]

Kroil should be tried as a penetrating oil. A day or so should loosen up everything. This can be purchased typically at HVAC or hydraulic suppliers.

[hazaa]

[Manfred58sc]

Agreed (on the patching advice). You will like your Bus much better leaving it stock height if you want to really drive it (lowered Bus's do look good on lawns at car shows however..). I would focus attention / money on the engine and brakes after patching the beam. Road trips= great memories
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Fat chick owner/operator

[busdaddy]

Narrowing is to allow lowered wheels to clear fender lips for the most part, if you are staying stock you don't need it. But if you leave off the stops you risk slashing a tire when hitting a raelly big dip, I'm not a fan of stop removal regardless of height.

If I was in your shoes I'd cut/grind out smallish sections at a time and replace them with fresh metal (business card size?), then move on to the next section, leaving most of the structure in place reduces warping, lots of seams to grind is the trade off but it's hard to see the beam in most cases so who cares as long as it's solid? Do remove the bushings or bearings first so you don't cook them.
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[hazaa]

hi, guys didnt wanted to make new post, so decide to ask here.

you all see my beam how it looked and all shock towers is rusted , can i just cut out shock towers ( like you guys do for narrowed front beam) and make shock towers from metal ( like you do on narrowed beam) weld it on my beam?? ( course before take out all bearings and other stuff)??
and if i do so do i need to put rubber stops for trailing arm??

and second question is about narrowing the front beam.
I looked lot of info but my question is narrowing only for those how want to get bigger wheels in the buss and that they can lower the buss? There are no other benefits to it?
because how i understood if i narrow the beam that i need also to put different stearing rod so i compensate that tie rod on driver side is smaller, so it better turns that tire? or i missing some thing

[cmonSTART]

I guess my thought was they looked like the factory did that on one end anyay for assembly.

But, honestly a couple vice-grips would probably work fine too.
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'78 Bus 2.0FI
de K1IGS

[Starbucket]

[timvw7476]

[hazaa]

[cmonSTART]

Has anyone tried to tack weld the leaves back together on one end before removing them? That was one of those hindsight thoughts I had when I did my beam - might have made reassembly easier rather than trying to feed the leaves through one at a time.
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'78 Bus 2.0FI
de K1IGS

[Manfred58sc]

That beam is repairable, its not rusted through in critical areas. clean,weld,re-use
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Fat chick owner/operator

[busdaddy]

Agreed, the critical thing is are the replacement leaves oriented in the same way they were in the donor beam?, you may be better off buying a whole stack, the wear patterns on the ends may indicate how they were oriented.

As for not being heavy, stripping it first does help, but even bare if you were laying under it when it suddenly broke free and caught it with your lip you'll still say it was really heavy (or after that you may say "Iww wwwass wweeeaawwy hewwwyy"), better safe than sorry
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Rust NEVER sleeps and stock never goes out of style.

Please don't PM technical questions, ask your problem in public so everyone can play along. If you think it's too stupid post it here
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[SGKent]

[alman72]

I seem to recall worse beams patched and repaired in a thread somewhere. clean it up well and look for all the cancer before giving up. amIright folks?

[hazaa]

[SGKent]

it wasn't heavy because you took everything out of it. Be sure to mark every part if you plan to use them again because they must go back the same way. The leaves will break if installed upside down after so many years of twist in the other direction.
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[kooper271]

Good work and I'm glad you are safe. The ATF and acetone mix really works great.

[hazaa]

juhuuuuu its f*** done

the rear came off all in one, and i couldnt get it in 2 pcs.

than was time for front

did all how you sad and took of all brakes, than took out top torsion

but in one side 2 slides where broken

few hits and it came off after mixing it in ATF and acetone

i would say that some info is not correct, because every one told me that front beam is very heavy, i took it out and it wasnt so heavy, you can easily ceary it in your garage alone, even from bottom you can take it out, so dont be scared only use lot of mixture to get the rust off the beam when you try to take it out.

after close inspection looks like this beam will not be usable but will need to look for new one

maybe some one in UK or germany have it for sale in here??

also wanted to ask how good is to zinc the suspension parts?? because we have very bad winters in Latvia and i think if i will just powder coat it that will come of in some time.

[lil-jinx]

Put 1 bolt back in on each side,leave them loose,then tap on the mounts hitting all around were it contacts the frame,hitting it inward toward the frame all around where the bolt holes are,go easy you just want to rattle it loose to break away the rust,you will hear it when it starts to loosen,do this to both sides.when it breaks loose put a jack or 2 under it and remove the bolts,then lower it down a little,then you can use a lever under the frame and over the rotor to pry it down,it needs to come straight down,if it drops more on 1 side then the other it will hangup [unless you're under it,then it will drop hard and crush your scull].
good luck play safe.
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1974 Bay Westfalia. she likes to be called Ethel.
1968 Dune Buggy sold dec 2024

1974 parts bus
A smart man learns from his mistakes,a very smart man learns from other's mistakes.

[Manfred58sc]

Keep at it! and keep asking questions/posting pictures. We all improve our skills by doing the work. Some old tires under the beam will "catch" it when it drops.
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Fat chick owner/operator