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Vee Dub Nut's 68 Westy
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Vee Dub Nut
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 22, 2015 2:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yarkle wrote:
NICE!!! great job!

I am envious of the dry climate buses, but i chose my habitat, SO I guess I cant complain..well, my wife chose it for me, so I guess i can, just not to her.

Ive had really good results with the rustoleum "professional" rattle cans, it really is forgiving of my lack of painting skills.

My sons bus is a 69, needs alot more work than yours, hopefully it will come out as good. I'll be following this thread to steal your ideas!


Thanks Yarkle... I'll be watching your thread as well. Such a great story with the father son build. Plus it's always nice to see how other folks approach things. Gives me ideas too.

And yes, dry climates do wonders for these things. Best I can tell it's been in central Texas all its life. It's in incredibly good shape for being in largely original condition, and I attribute that to where it's lived, and some good PO's.
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Vee Dub Nut
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 22, 2015 2:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

notchboy wrote:
Hell Yeah Cool


Haha... I'm digging the all terrains for sure!

Bala wrote:
Glad you started a thread on it! A keeper for sure.
Awesome work so far!


Thanks Bala! Looking forward to getting out in it soon.
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Vee Dub Nut
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 25, 2015 6:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Took it out on its maiden voyage today... Made a quick run to the fuel station for a full fill up, and then over to the insurance office for some quick pics. Ran without a hitch.

Heading out

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A few nice weather shots before being put back away

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Plan to pull the axles this weekend and inspect the CV joints. Need to see if I can replace just boots (the current ones are wasted), or if I need full axle replacements. I'll also be pulling all the drums off and determining what I need to refresh the brakes. It looks like one rear wheel cylinder is leaking. Everything works, so maybe just some wheel cylinder kits and new rubber lines will be all that's needed.
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Bala
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 7:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

As long as your CVs are quiet and you're not having any issues you should just need new boots/grease. They are pretty robust.

Are you driving with the Jalousies open? Or just for the pix?
Bouncing around with them open will wear them out and cause rattling and it's just bad for them in general.

It's looking great though!
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Vee Dub Nut
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 10:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Been a quiet couple of weeks in the thread, but lots of dirty work behind the scenes catching up on many years of back maintenance...

Right now the brake system, rear axles, and rear wheel bearing housings are all disassembled and being serviced/cleaned/repaired as needed.

After inspection, I decided on new rubber lines, wheel cylinders, and shoes for front and rear. Also removed the backing plates and cleaned and painted them. This should all start going back together after I finish the rear wheel bearings.

Some parts are missing here.. Laughing

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Pics of the brakes before disassembly. Overall not too bad. Left rear wheel cylinder was leaking. The fronts had been replaced before at some point (varga branded), but there is some pits on the internals of them that I didn't have much luck honing out, so I'm replacing them again along with the back ones too. (I took a lot of closeup pictures so I could remember how to get them put back together).

Rears

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Fronts

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Cleaning the backing plates

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Painted and drying

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Parts is parts Cool

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Pulled the axles all down. CV joints are original to the bus, dated 9/67. They look to be in great shape and were quiet on my test drive, so cleaning, repacking, and new boots should get me back into service. Ordered some new locking washers for the CV bolts too for reinstallation.

OG CV joint (still some dirt/grease blotches to remove)

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Everything laid out after the parts washer bath. They'll get cleaned thoroughly again before reinstallation.

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Rear wheel bearings where also pulled out and inspected. Overall everything looks pretty good in there. They were nice and quiet on my drive, so I'm just planning a cleaning, repack, and new seals. Seems like new bearing quality can be hit or miss.

I did find that the outer roller bearing race loose in the housing on both sides. I could rotate it slowly in the housing with my fingers, but couldn't pull it out by hand, still had to be driven out of the housing. I've researched this on the forum, and it doesn't seem to be terribly uncommon. I plan to put the races back in with some locktite bearing retainer to keep them from rotating and wearing the housing. This will likely require some heat the next time I need to remove the races, but that should be easy enough to do.

The housings (what a mess to clean these out Shocked )

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Bearings cleaned up and sorted.

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Parts all laid out and ready for the races to be reinstalled.

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I start reinstalling the rear wheel bearings tonight. I'm hoping to work on it a little each afternoon this week to hopefully have it all done by the weekend. I'd like to take it be able to start taking it out on little drives here and there.
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Vee Dub Nut
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 5:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Got both bearing housings reassembled and reinstalled last night. Followed up with the brake baking plates and wheel cylinders. I'll hopefully tackle the rest of the rear brakes tonight.

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Vee Dub Nut
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 6:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Making more progress, but won't be back on the road this week as I'd hoped Crying or Very sad

Fortunately/unfortunately, I decided that I needed to go ahead and tackle the front ball joints. The boots were ripped when I bought it, but I was hoping that some fresh grease and some extra TLC for the short term might let me use them for a little while longer and delay the cash outlay for replacement.

With that in mind I was trying to clean/grease them before installing all the new front brake parts, but when working with them I found excessive play in the lower right joint.

Oh well... guess I'd rather do it all now and not have to trear all back into it later.

Right side arms removed...

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Hoping that I can identify a local shop to press the joints in and out. Shipping completed torsion arms around is pricey.

Did manage to get the rear brakes all put back together. New shoes, wheel cylinders, and rubber lines.

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While I'm sorting the front ball joint issue out, I'll button up the back brakes and get the axles rebuilt and reinstalled. While doing the rear brakes I noted a few more things I need to address with the engine. Got a loose connection on the exhaust to the right side heater box, and the small gauge wiring going to the starter solenoid is loosing its insulation. All easy fixes at least..
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Yarkle
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 9:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

hopefully ill get the weld busler thread updated soon and explain it, but IF you remove the torsion leaves to inspect and regrease, i found a good way to get them back in. kind of a combination of other techniques previously posted.
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Vee Dub Nut
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 12:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've pulled leaves in a T1 before (twice)... Use a couple of different methods to get the leaves back in without too much trouble. Be curious to hear another approach..

As of right now I'm not planning to going any further into the beam. Everything inside looks nice and clean (and well lubed), so just ball joint replacement and reassemble.

After striking out locally for ball joint replacement (at least any place I had faith that could do the job correctly), I ordered a set of arms from Wolfgang Intl. Should be in my hands next week, so hopefully I can tackle everything else before then and be back on the road by next weekend. Cool
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Tcash
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 1:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Inspect the leaf springs closely. They are none to break.
good luck
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Vee Dub Nut
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 1:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tcash wrote:
Inspect the leaf springs closely. They are none to break.
good luck
Tcash


Thanks for the tip... will do
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richparker
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 3:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice work buddy! you'll enjoy every hour and dollar you sunk into it when you're behind that wheel with nothing but confidence. Enjoy!
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Vee Dub Nut
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 6:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

richparker wrote:
Nice work buddy! you'll enjoy every hour and dollar you sunk into it when you're behind that wheel with nothing but confidence. Enjoy!


That's the plan!
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Vee Dub Nut
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 27, 2015 7:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well first disclaimer.. I'm missing some pictures.

The normal Texas summer temps have finally resumed leaving me not only covered in dirt and grease in the garage, but also drenched in sweat. Needless to say I didn't try to get my phone out and get many pics along the way. I'll get some after shots of some of the missing items in a few days.

But onto the most important update... Its alive once again! The basic summary is a complete overhaul of the braking system, overhaul of the drive axles, and partial overhaul of the suspension.

Starting with the suspension, I was pleasantly surprised that the tie rod ends and steering damper look to have been somewhat recently serviced. As I mentioned in my earlier post though, when getting ready to assemble the front brakes I made the decision that I couldn't put it all back together with the ball joints in their current condition. After looking for some local shops that I trusted to swap the joints, and weighing my options regarding buying the tools and attempting it myself, I ended buying a ready rebuilt set of arms from Wolfgang Intl. I strongly considered buying the tools myself and using the 50 ton press at work, BUT ultimately time constraints won out, so I bought some ready to go and install. I'm pleased with the quality of the Wolfgang arms. I had read a few negative comments here, but that was found for all of the suppliers at one point or another, so Wolfgang won out on price and the fact that they were in stock and ready to ship. In fact, they shipped the same day I ordered them. Great customer service from those guys IMO.

Here are the arms. I thought they looked real good. I was also pleased they use nakata joints in the arms, as the general consensus here was that those were some of the best joints.

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The install went pretty well, and I should be good to go now for sometime. They joints were not noticeably tight, and have felt nice driving and steering so far. I still have some play in the wheel, so an inspection of the drag link, center pin, and steering box are next on the list, but overall I'm pleased with the front suspension refresh.

Final install:

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After the front end was back together, the brakes went back in smoothly. This is the only photo I ended up getting though. After a certain point I was more focused on getting the work done and getting out of the garage. My wife has been super patient with all of the work I've had to do so far, but I was wanting to make sure I finished up early enough to go swimming with the kids and not spend all day in the garage. In short I ended up replacing all rubber lines, all shoes, and all wheel cylinders. The master cylinder seems to be functioning very well. Everything bled out well and I have a nice firm pedal. The brakes have been getting better and better as the shoes have bedded into the drums too. Its no disc brake, but functioning again. I have my eye on a set of wagenswest baby stang disc for someday, but I have a lot of other things to tackle first.

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No pics of the axles right now, but I got the original CV joints cleaned, regreased, and rebooted and installed. I followed the Bentley and left out the spring washer though (I kept them for just in case though). This seems to be a 50/50 split here with folks. I figured there had to be a reason they were deleted, so I went with it. I used a set of Beck/Arnley (sp?) boots from Rock Auto. I'm curious to see how they hold up. I did have to modify the CV bolt tie plates a bit to clear some bosses stamped into the metal portion of the boot itself. Pretty minor, but another thing that took some time. I bought a set of Schnor (sp?) spring washers from McMaster going back together, and used the new triple square bolts that came with the boot kits.

In the end though, all the work and sweat was worth it. After taking a 1/2 day on Friday and all day Saturday in the garage, we were able to take it out for a first small trip on Sunday morning. Nothing major distance yet, but we loaded up and went out for breakfast and a short drive through the local countryside. It was sure nice to start enjoying the ride some. I'm sure we will start venturing out further and further as I build up confidence in the rig.

Dropped by my office to pick up some stuff on the way... Watching the reactions from folks out on the road is a lot of fun.

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Out in the "wilderness" again LOL

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Enjoying the drive

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Hope yall enjoy the pics!
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 27, 2015 8:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Awesome read, and helpful views of the suspension and brakes. I just did drag link, steering coupler, brake hardware+soft lines and shoes myself. I need to do ball joints, front shocks, and tie rods still. After that, a pair of front shocks and it'll be good as new!

Looks great! Keep it up!
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 27, 2015 9:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice clean up brother Cool
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 27, 2015 9:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Man, I bet that thing just floats on the road now
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 27, 2015 10:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is great! I'm doing a lot of the same stuff on my 68 Westy. I need to service the slider mechanism like you did and replace the door seals while I'm at it.

Keep it up!
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Vee Dub Nut
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 27, 2015 10:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

secretsubmariner wrote:
Awesome read, and helpful views of the suspension and brakes. I just did drag link, steering coupler, brake hardware+soft lines and shoes myself. I need to do ball joints, front shocks, and tie rods still. After that, a pair of front shocks and it'll be good as new!

Looks great! Keep it up!


Thanks... I'm anxious to check further "up" the steering system to find out where my play is coming from. Hoping to not have to bite the bullet on a steering box right now, but we'll see.


notchboy wrote:
Nice clean up brother Cool


Thanks! I've enjoyed reading through your threads as well.

Brian wrote:
Man, I bet that thing just floats on the road now


It does ride very well. I don't have much to compare it to, but its considerably better than my lowered Beetle Laughing It does soak up the bumps in the road quite well. I plan to eventually install new shocks. The current front shocks look newer than the rears, but have no idea how old they are. The rears are air shocks that look pretty well shot. I'll eventually get those swapped out for some new KYBs or something.

Campin68 wrote:
This is great! I'm doing a lot of the same stuff on my 68 Westy. I need to service the slider mechanism like you did and replace the door seals while I'm at it.

Keep it up!


Thanks! Its been a lot of fun so far. I feel like I'm finally over the hump now and can start enjoying it. Still a LOT of things to do yet, but the major multi-week/weekend repairs should be under my belt now. Now I can focus on the little projects here and there.
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 27, 2015 11:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you do need a steering box. You can convert to a late 73-79 box.
Installing 73-79 TRW Steering Box in a 68-72 (demon1018)
Late Bay Steering Box to Early Bay

Types of things to look for.


Link


Link


Link


Good Luck
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