Front Axle Disassambly and Restoration Questions

[Scandell]

I have started taking my front axle apart in hopes to efficiently inspect it for damage and clean and paint it. I have been following both the Bentley and the Muir book.

I am to the point where the only thing left on the beam are the torsion arms...I took one of them off...and got scared. The leaves are pretty intimidating. Do I NEED to take them out and inspect them too? If so, should I clean the inside of the beam somehow...and put in new grease?

The top of my beams have some rust pitting. Should I bead/sand blast the torsion beam and the arms? If so, do I have to avoid putting media on the actual smooth connection shaft? Should I blast or wirewheel the arms while they are in the beam?

Can I just ignore the insides altogether?

I need an injection of courage from you guys!

Any help would be appreciated.
_________________
"Come on over...and we can work on it together."

[Clara]

Yes, you need to take the leaves out. clean and inspect them. Sometimes there are broken springs. When you have them out it will be clear if they are broken.
If you are going to get the beam sandblasted, you need to clean out the inside of the beam afterwards, as sand WILL get in there. Even if the orifices are taped off (and it should be if you are blasting it) Sand is not a good lubricant. It will need to be thoroughly cleaned out before and afterwards.

clean out the inside with rags and a stick. You will probably find the old grease is dirty and nasty. re-install clean good parts in a clean beam with lots of clean new grease. Grease is good! Don't fear the grease!

You can wire wheel the torsion arms clean. If you don't have a bench wire wheel go buy one. ~$40 at home depot, it comes with two stones, change over a stone for a wire wheel. Use it to clean bolt threads too. I don't know how I lived without one. Leave the part that goes in the beam alone, don't wire wheel or blast that. You can hang them up to paint them black.

If you are getting the beam powdercoated, you will need to remove the red bushings that the trailing arms ride in. They shrink during the baking process, and afterwards are crap. This results in a very unsafe ride.

After powdercoating, either the good used ones or new ones will need to be installed. NOS ones need to be reamed in line with the special bus only 4ft reamer.

For this bus the beam didn't get removed or painted, but was cleaned out inside, and the arms cleaned and painted, rebuildt spindles, new brakes, new tie rods and swing lever kit.
I like the way painted drums look:

_________________
The Obsolete Air-Cooled Documentation Project http://oacdp.org/

[Campy]

I removed the leaves on one of the bus frontends that I rebuilt and painted; for the other ones, I did not remove the leaves. If you are going to shoot a media on it, remove the leaves: the media goes all over. For mine, I scraped off all of the caked on material, blew it off, cleaned it down to the paint, then, if it needed painting, I reoved the paint using a twisted wire wheel on an angle grinder. After blowing it off and cleaning it with wax and grease remover, I scuffed the metal up so the paint would stick, then painted it with my favorite rattle can paint: Plasti-kote engine enamel. I've, also, painted things like shift levers, brake and clutch pedals, brake drums and plates, and cooling tin with it. That shit really sticks and looks good.
_________________
Don't worry; be happy. (Baba)

[quartermilecamel]

who carries plasti kote engine enamel? Was thinking about doing my engine tins but didnt this time. I had the 3 week drought of not driving my bus and had withdrawls
_________________
Waiting for santa to drop off funky green. I can wish can't I????

[Campy]

Pep Boys used to have a lot of Plasti-kote paint but, a number of years ago, it was replaced with Duplicolor crap. I figure that the corporation got a better deal for Duplicolor. I couldn't find Plasti-kote anywhere in Chico; I went in a store in Paradise and a clerk ordered three spray cans of black Plasti-kote engine enamel for me. That shit really sticks and is the best rattle can paint that I have ever used. If you have to, order some cans of the paint.
_________________
Don't worry; be happy. (Baba)

[sub-hatchtim]

i took my beam to a local machine shop had them boil it it got rid of 98% of the paint and crud from the outside as well as most of the grease from the inside, painted it with black gloss appliance paint super durable paint hard to scratch levels out nicely and fills voids had spindles rebuilt by aaron over at wide five to stock spec's new king pin new tie rods both adjustable sure made a huge difference in ride and handling
_________________
58' pg/sg silo fridge westy
58 Dove blue singlecab
76 911S

[Scandell]

MAN there is a lot of grease in these buggers. So messy! I think I AM going to find a shop to hot tank/boil it. I am actually feeling a little discouraged. I wish I wouldn't of pulled the leaves out. I now have to pop the welds off the ends of them...clean the inside of the beam...and carefully slide them back in one by one...

I read AFTER I pulled the leaves out that they are extremely hard to get back in. I should of sand blasted the beam while the arms were still on...now I have rust work to do WHILE worrying about the open greasy cavities.

All of my leaves look great...and the grease is dark brown/black...but looks great besides. I just created a lot of work for myself for nothing.

This is definitely not a job for a noob like myself.

I need help.
_________________
"Come on over...and we can work on it together."

[Campy]

As I noted earlier, I removed the leaves from a bus frontend, once, and I never did it again: it was a pain in the butt putting them back in. Don't use a media blaster when a frontend has not been disassembled; the media will get on the ends of the frontend.
_________________
Don't worry; be happy. (Baba)

[Clara]

I have sometimes found broken leaves. Made me want to take them out next time and check them if the spindles are off.

Taking the leaves out is definately a messy job. Lots of rags!!!! You need lots of nice clean grease when you put it all back in there, too.

Didn't seem so tricky to put the leaves back in last time I did it. hm.

If you have the open ended tariling arms like in the 63 in my pic, you want the welds on the ends. (or maybe the center leavs can walk out? ) If the leaves were really gritty and lumpy in between I have once broken them loose, cleaned each one, lightly greased and stuck them back together in a trailing arm, and had my local welding pro re-weld the ends before installing.
_________________
The Obsolete Air-Cooled Documentation Project http://oacdp.org/

[Scandell]

[BarryL]

For home cleaning you can go to a large appliance parts seller if there's one near you and buy a refrigerator coil cleaning brush. It is a bottle-brush on steroids with a two foot toilet plunger handle. Get a gallon of Coleman Fuel and several huge pieces of cardboard to soak up the mess. Find the tray of your choice to keep dipping the brush in to clean the tubes out. Keep rinsing the brush and use the whole gallon. Do this where there is no one to bother with the fumes and yourself keep upwind. Make sure there is nothing flammable or an ignition source. Put a rag over the end of the brush when you pop it out on the side your standing or it will pepper you with gunge. The cardboard will dry out and you can toss it. Then clean the tubes with almost straight Tide and rinse with water. Maybe a product like Purple Power from a car parts store would be better but the white gas cleans like magic on grease.

[sloans265]

[slow36hp]

dont over think it no need to scrub the inside of the beam spotless so you can then pump it full of grease.
wire brush in a drill or on a grinder will get it clean enough to paint
to reinstall the springs i use a nylon zip tye on the spring stack to keep it together, position it a inch or so from the end and once it is in the center block it easilt slides to allow the spring pick to go in all the way. from there it stays in the beam for the next restoration
_________________
1958 custom camper
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=483656
1957 oval
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=426468&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
1957 dd kombi
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=186478&highlight=

[Campy]

Don't use gasoline as a cleaner. The "hot" tanks have a caustic liquid in them.
I still like a scraper, wax and grease remover, twisted wire wheel on an angle grinder, and sandpaper for getting it ready for paint. The bus frontends that I have restored using this method look awesome.
_________________
Don't worry; be happy. (Baba)

[Scandell]

[sub-hatchtim]

how can it ruin a beam ??? its made of steel machinist's use this process on machined surfaces with out any negative affects i think you have been mislead
_________________
58' pg/sg silo fridge westy
58 Dove blue singlecab
76 911S

[Snoop Bob]

I can definitely see where it would ruin the stock bushings, but if you are replacing those, I am not sure what else.
_________________

[Campy]

The center pin has two bushings; the whole frontend would have to be stripped before it was put in the caustic liquid and left overnight, then rinsed with water and thoroughly dried, inside and outside. Save fifty bucks and clean the inside using kerosene and rags, and a scraper on the outside. Either way, a twisted wire wheel wold have to be used on the outside if you wanted an even surface by taking it down to bare metal.
_________________
Don't worry; be happy. (Baba)

[Snoop Bob]

[sloans265]