Are My Fulcrum Plates Okay? - With Photos!

[foshejh]

First of all, thank you to everyone on this forum! The information that I find here on a regular basis is wonderful! It is great to have such a community.

Please see the photos below. I am working on the transaxle, and trying to determine if the fulcrum plates are in the correct location. As to the background, I purchased this 1966 Type 1 several years ago, and I am slowly working to restore it to original condition. When I purchased the car, I spent a day or two to get the engine running, and drove it only several hundred feet. The tires were barely holding air, and I did not know how safe the car was, hence the reason for not driving it further... It is a fairly original car, but I have no knowledge of any of the parts or systems of the car. I immediately started the tear down, with the thought that I was going to redo everything anyway.

In no uncertain terms, I have been fairly rough with this swing arm transaxle. I have moved it around the garage on furniture dollies, picked it up several times by the axles, etc. Even when I was trying to get the main axle bearing off, I used the axle tube as a "slide hammer". After doing a lot of reading on this forum, I understand what an issue it is to have the fulcrum plates in the proper location, prior to reassembly. Even after assembly, one is not to pull out on the axles, for fear of having the fulcrum plates drop behind the axle.

Even after everything that I have done, it appears to me that the fulcrum plates are still in the proper location on this side of the transaxle. Can anyone verify this? I certainly don't mind tearing into it further, but is there a reason to? Also, there is approximately 3/8" of play in and out if you push or pull on the axle. I understand that the axle is supposed to move in and out without the axle tube in place, but I thought I would provide this information to help determine whether the fulcrum plates have fallen behind the axle. Thanks in advance for your help and input!

[61SNRF]

From your photos, they look to be in place.

To verify, lift up the axle and swing it back and forth, you should see the fulcrum plate's curved sides become more visible as they rotate inside the side gear.

Also, if one had fallen behind the axle, the spade end of the axle would be closer to the snap ring, and you wouldn't be able to pull the axle in and out as much as you state.
_________________
-Bruce

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

[foshejh]

61SNRF,
Thank you for your quick response. Yes, the curved sides of the fulcrum plates can be seen as the axle is moved. Since this is the case, I think that I am going to stop the de-construction and start the reassembly from this point. If anyone has any reasons that I should pull the axle, please let me know. Thanks again for your help!

[drscope]

You may want to take a look at the spade on the end of the axles and the face of the fulcrum plates just to make sure they aren't badly worn.

You can't see that unless you pull the axle out.

I mean you are RIGHT there.
_________________
Mother Nature is a Mean Evil Bitch!

[50ate]

Yea man take the c clip off and pull the axle out and see what they look like.. All you can say from your pics is that there there....not much more work to get em out cleaned up and check em out

[Hotrodvw]

All of those parts wil continue to live if you have clean oil in the box...............that looks nasty.
_________________
'67 Sunroof
Eric

78x94 with IDA's....oober fun

Horsepower is an addiction........Addictions cost
lots of money!

Hose & Fittings

[foshejh]

Thank you again for all of your comments above. I will continue with the disassembly and pull out the axles to take a look. This is certainly not a big deal at this point, and I may find a problem that I am not aware of. Since this is my first time, I just wanted to get the advice of those who have done this many, many times. Thanks again, and I will report back on my findings!


Thanks,


-John Foshee

[foshejh]

Well, after digging further into the transaxle, I was able to find some potential problems... Can you please help determine my next course of action. On one side of the trans, I found the axle and fulcrum plates to be in very good condition, with only minor wear. On the other side though, I found much more wear on the fulcrum plates and wear of the axle. I have included the photos below of the worn side only for reference.

On the worn side, it appears that parts of the fulcrum plate have been sheared off. I found small piece of metal in and around the side gear. It took quite a while with a magnet to collect all of the small metal fragments. I also had a very difficult time removing the side gear from the transaxle, because the little pieces of metal had "welded" themselves around the side gear and prevented it from easily pulling out. I had to remove the other side gear first and use a drift to knock out the stuck side gear. The gear is in good shape, but I now just need to file down some of the pieces that prevented it from easily being removed.

I now have two questions:

1.) I will be replacing the two worn fulcrum plates. Should I also replace this axle shaft?

2.) Both axle shafts have different numbers and letters stamped on the end. I have tried searching the forum for answers, but I have not found the answer yet. The axle in the photo has the number "10" and the letter "H". The other axle has the nuber "12" and the letter "T" stamped into the end. Should these both be the same, or is there a reason the two axles have different letters and numbers? Yes, they are both the same lenght... I thought that both axles had never been removed, but the worn fulcrum plates had the VW logo stamped on both ends. The non-worn fulcrum plates do not have anything stamped on them. It seems likely that I am not the first person to have removed the axle with less wear. Can you help me figure out this mystery?

As always, THANK YOU for your help!

[glutamodo]

Those fulcrums look worse than the axles. I've seen far worse on both of them. Do both sides of the "spade" on your axle ends look the same?

Were you getting any noise from those? Usually once you take up the slack they are silent, but when moving away from a stop, you'll hear a "... click" noise when all of the play is taken up. I was getting that out of my 62 bug starting last year - and so decided to buy new side gears and fulcrum plates. Last spring I installed them, and I was surprised to find my parts looked in pretty decent shape, actually. However the new side gears and fulcrums worked, no more click noise!

[Tom Mohr]

Where is the best place to purchase the fulcrum plates and side gears from?

[glutamodo]

The ones I bought were these:

http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C26-301-150-11

http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=VWC-113-517-191-1

[Dougy Dee]

You've opened up quite a can of worms...

If the side gears had pieces 'welded' to the outside (as you state) the diff probably requires replacing as well. How galled is the bore the side gear resides in?
Also carefully check both of the side gears for signs of cracking.

Good luck.