Fix that Poptop push bar!

[vanis13]

nice install video and nice that the bar is thicker

BUT it does not solve the cut-though problem it'll just take longer to cut through. the various bushings (above in this thread) on the round/cutting part of the spring section is where the real solution is.
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83.5 Westy with Subaru 2.5, 4 spd manual, center seat, COLD A/C on 134a!, Winter camp heated with an Espar B4 gasoline furnace

www.SuperVanagon.com - some stuff I make

[Kejidog]

It never fails. I end up bashing my knuckles burning my fingers and entertaining my neighbors with some new colourful language only to find Gowesty has made a part to fix this in 4 minutes or less. Oh the humanity!!

I am surprised they never addressed the guillotine that cuts the bar with repeated openings. The welded washers are the rear end of the feline for sure.

One thing that impressed me was using the socket and a clamp to force the snap rings on. If i would have known that from the start i would have been more careful with mine.
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85 Westy Camper "Jeebus"
"new" rebuilt 2.1 with a ten cent stainless exhaust- lovin all the power!!!!

[VdubVanner]

Don't forget the install video that comes with that new bar:
Link



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"Fritz", a temperamental and unforgiving 1989 Westy that proudly bears his German flags and status as a member of the exclusive GoWesty Belly Flop Club.
1989 Westy Makeover: GoWesty 2.3L Engine plus plus plus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

[Ahwahnee]

Nice... and a pretty fair price too I think.

For less than 50 bucks I probably wouldn't have gone to such lengths to repair and improve mine.

[kguarnotta]

For those with bad bars - I just saw the GoWEsty is selling repro bars, with thicker steel -
https://www.gowesty.com/product/gas-struts-for-lif...anagon-?v=
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-Kevin
Lincoln, MA

'86 Triple Knob Syncro w/EJ22
'78 Westy
'69 Single Cab
'65 Kombi - EZ-Camper

[MrTibbs]

I recently utilized the parts from www.werk-4.com to fix my crossbar as well.

Glad I finally got around to the task. By the end of the summer, the pop-top was getting noticeably more difficult to raise and lower...This was exacerbated when carrying a cargo box on the roof, even with lift-assist struts.

Now with the ball bearing-based fix, everything is silky smooth and likely better than when it rolled off the assembly line.

Overall a great piece of kit, straightforward install.

[Jake de Villiers]

Treat write-up on this repair - thanks!

I feel that I need to point out that it wasn't VW who made the poptop bars but Westfalia Werke.
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'84 Vanagon GL 1.9 WBX
'86 Westy Weekender Poptop/2.5 Subaru/5 Speed Posi/Audi Front Brakes/16 x 7 Mercedes Wheels - answers to 'Dixie'
@jakedevilliersmusic1
http://sites.google.com/site/subyjake/mydixiedarlin%27
www.crescentbeachguitar.com
www.thebassspa.com

[pnwkayaker]

I’ve got requests from a couple folks to post some of the pics on how I installed the poptop bearing mechanism from https://www.werk-4.com/vw-t3-westfalia/, hopefully they’ll be useful for somebody.


First, this is how my pushbar mechanism looked before I started dismantling it, doesn’t look that bad, right?

Bzz, wrong answer! As you can see, there’s already a very deep grove in the pushbar, and since it’s hollow, the walls of the pipe were about to be breached. Not shown here (didn’t take pictures) is how I used JB Weld to fill the grove and to add the ACE spacers. Once that’s done, you’ll need to sand/grind the pipe to make it smooth again (might need to remove some extra so that the pipe will correctly run inside the bearings)

The kit is very well thought, and everything shows high quality/workmanship - all the adjustments that I had to made were due to the lack of consistent manufacturing from VW. The kit has 2 different metal plates for each arm of the poptop mechanism, one that goes on the side of the bracket where the welds are located and another on the other side. The portion of the bracket that you can see inside the circle will be removed.

Since you’ll be grinding each metal plate to fit the unique configuration (aka lack of consistent weld/quality control from VW in the 80s) of each arm/bracket, it’s a great idea to label each one, and to also remember if the label goes on the inside or outside

The kit comes with a template that you can use to mark the cutouts and the holes to be drilled (see that I also marked the bracket to match the plates labelled before). I found the template to work correctly only on one arm, the other arm was so out of whack that I ended up using the plates themselves as templates (after they were adjusted to fit correctly). Here you can see the holes already drilled.

The two plates will be joined with pop rivets, I used them as guides to ensure both plates were fitting correctly and were aligned before making any cut (a Dremel tool worked great to adjust the holes sizes and to grind the plates)

After all is done, it’s time to do cut the bracket (a jigsaw with metal blades worked great); in these pics you can see that I also had to grind the welds so the plates will fit correctly.

The reason for cutting the bracket is so that the bearing will fit correctly (of course, it didn't fit so great after the cut, this picture was taken after a good amount of Dremel was applied)

I used 4 long screws with nuts to ensure that the 2 metal plates will remain aligned during the assembly process.

I removed the plates and used a vice and wooden blocks to insert the bearing into one of the plates. Then I used the screws shown before to align the two plates with the mechanism and the same wood blocks and vice (shown in the picture) to insert the bearing in the second plate.

After that, I removed one screw and replaced it with a pop rivet, one by one. The pics below show the final configuration of both arms, I think (though I cannot remember) that I had to reverse the order of the pop rivets between arms so that it would clear the wall correctly. I used clevis pins to complete the installation.

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87 Syncro Westy EJ25 ("Tardis")

Seattle Meetup at Marymoor (link)
A collection of Simple Useful Mods (SUM) (link)

[pnwkayaker]

Looks great, well done!

I think this is one of the best threads in The Samba, there're so many different options detailed and success stories write-ups, that it's almost a no brainer to do preventive maintenance on the poptop push bar before it breaks.
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87 Syncro Westy EJ25 ("Tardis")

Seattle Meetup at Marymoor (link)
A collection of Simple Useful Mods (SUM) (link)

[Kejidog]

Hey all. I am happy to have my bar fixed and it reinstalled in the van. I walked up the street to my neighbour’s house.

We welded the washers on. It was surprising how out of round the holes were. They went pretty easy. Then we straightened the bolt to the bar and tacked it on. Cut the big head off to have it recessed into the bar. Put the broken piece on nice and straight then Filled it with weld, ground it down, and filed it. Filed it some more, and put it all together. The hole for the bar into the hinge was a bit shall we say, beaten in anger to get it all apart. It’s all good though.

The top is nicely taut. Thanks everyone for the info. I smoothed the bar and the washer holes with much filing and a fair bit of polishing with sandpaper Sprayed it with a dry graphite spray and installed everything this afternoon.

I happy.[youtube] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4TYv2PhG89A [/youtube]

Been singing this song all evening.
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85 Westy Camper "Jeebus"
"new" rebuilt 2.1 with a ten cent stainless exhaust- lovin all the power!!!!

[pnwkayaker]

I just finished installing the bearing mechanism from

https://www.werk-4.com/vw-t3-westfalia/umrüstkit-auf-lagerböcke/

my poptop (aided by JackBombay struts) raises and lowers (glides actually) super-smoothly now.

Initially I was planning to install the washer based solution, but I after reading about this solution I watched the installation video (in German) and thought it was a better solution to actually improve on the mechanism (not just repair it) and allow my wife to also raise the poptop on her own (she's shorter than me).


Link


My poptop bar was partially cut (more on one side than the other), so I filled-up the grove with JB Weld and also inserted (and JB-welded) a couple of the ACE spacers mentioned earlier in this thread. I don't have access to a welder so this is the closest I had - it should not be a problem since the bearing is wider than the original grove, so the grove is not getting cut again.

I was constantly taking pictures while dismantling and reassembling everything (planning to post an installation thread) but after watching the pics, I think the above video is far better than anything I can post.

Tools that I used:
- jigsaw with metal blade to cut the bracket
- dremmel tool to grind the freshly cut bracket (and the laser-cut pieces)
- sander to slightly sand the poptop bar to fit inside the bearings (and sand the JB weld)
- portable drill
- pop rivet installation gun

My only recommendation is if somebody wants to follow this approach is to take your time (took me several days to remove/cut/grind/reinstall everything). Also, the kit is awesome, with precision laser-cut pieces, however, VW quality control in 1987 was not that good, so I had to grind very bad welds to reduce their size inside the brackets to fit the bearing, and also deal with not perfectly perpendicular welded brackets. I also had to grind down the laser-cut pieces in some corners since neither of VW original brackets were exactly the same (fortunately, nothing crazy). The linked video shows some of the grinding/adjustment that needs to be done.

Lastly, I also replaced all the pins with clevis pins (installed from the outside to the inside) to allow for easier removal in the future (I didn't repaint the mechanism, and it's something I might do early next year, before camping season restarts).
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87 Syncro Westy EJ25 ("Tardis")

Seattle Meetup at Marymoor (link)
A collection of Simple Useful Mods (SUM) (link)

[Vanagon Nut]

[Kejidog]

[Kejidog]

[Vanagon Nut]

[Kejidog]

[deadaheadub]

[Kejidog]

Could someone give me the length from the hole that the bolt goes through to the end of the bar? Both ends of mine broke off during removal as they were so mangled and out of round. I am going to use 3/4” washer for my uprights and I found a 5/8” bolt to fit inside to weld my ends but I am not sure the measurement of the part that is broken off.

I will post up a few more photos as the work progresses. I haven’t been active on the form lately but came back for this thread

I figure I will drill a hole or two to give the slug some bite to the pole.
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85 Westy Camper "Jeebus"
"new" rebuilt 2.1 with a ten cent stainless exhaust- lovin all the power!!!!

[deadaheadub]

My neighbor welded them right up. I got the steel spacers and zinc washers and he went at 'em. Put a solid steel bar inside the spacer and welded it all together. I did the grinding (not great). I think this should hold up at least another 37 years. I so appreciate this thread as it gave me enough knowledge and confidence to fix this.

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Grateful daily,
Ryan
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Past loves: '65 Bug, '70 Westy poptop, '64 Squareback project, '76 Westy tintop "Loose Lucy", '76 Westy tintop "Sharee"
Current:'84 Westy poptop "Ramblin' Rose- Rosie" w/ 2003 Subaru EJ25 conversion

[vanis13]