Front Suspension: how far to go & how to proceed?

[epowell]

[61Scout]

[epowell]

Finally got some paint on the suspension parts. I got a lot of the rust off, didn't do a perfect job, but then again a lot of people just put the parts back in without even a good cleaning.

The only thing I am concerned about is if I put too much paint on the spindles - If there should be paint there so need to where the rotor spins?

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www.edwardpowell.com

[Merian]

I sure hope you used a rust reducer on the remaining rust before painting!!
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[epowell]

Česká odrezovač.
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[epowell]

Starting to deal with the RR-egg-holes. I am wondering if these holes have in the past been welded up meaning now having a thicker than stock thickness to that wall? Does anyone know how thick that bulkhead plate normally should be? Mine is now about 1/4" (5mm).

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[epowell]

STEERING ALIGNMENT:

Question about steering (probably obvious):

I have removed this steering rod, and I realize now that I did not do it with the steering wheel at TDC. It is way off TDC in fact. Once I get all my suspension and steering stuff back in is there a simple way to get the steering back in the proper ball park.

My guess is to roughly put it back in the way it was (the problem is that I was not aware that this steering ROD turns many many many times with just one turn of the steering wheel, so it is going to be tough to match up the rod with the wheel. I KNOW what the ROD should look like but not exactly where the steering WHEEL was).

So once it is all back in, I guess that I first SET THE WHEELS STRAIGHT AHEAD, then detach the ROD again > turn the WHEEL to TDC > then re-attach the ROD?

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[ZsZ]

[epowell]

Aha!!
I had the steering wheel off some time ago and someone had made a nice marking there to indicate "correct" steering wheel position > therefore in order to keep this steering wheel mark accurate, perhaps the best thing to do would be to:
1) rotate the steering wheel (steering rack is out of the van) back to TDC.
2) rotate the steering rack (out of the van) back to TDC.
3) install steering rack and all should then be at TDC.

...good plan?
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[ZsZ]

[epowell]

Wonderful! I feel much more confident with this info! Thanks!

Yes I found that TDC mark on my steering rack. Turning the input shaft I can make the shaft pass that TDC mark 4X, but 3 or those 4 times are OBVIOUSLY very far off TDC, whereas one of them is clearly CENTER, so that's the one! Bingo!

So with this mark at TDC, the steering wheel at TDC, and the TIERODS adjusted properly, all should be well!

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[ZsZ]

[epowell]

Very logical, straight-forward, and easy - as is everything on these wonderful vans, once you know how it works!
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[epowell]

So.... slowly making progress...

I decided to do something about the RR "egg-holes". I know my 'solution' is pretty amateur and one day I will have a welder to fix this properly, but I am guessing that for now this will be OK. I fashioned two small pieces of aluminum to fill up the gap worn down by the old RR. I then epoxied these little pieces in place. I know that the whole thing will be tightly clamped together between those 2 huge RR washers, therefore when the epoxy cracks and breakes down, there will be nowhere for it to go and those pieces of aluminum will remain there preventing the RR to shift position.

My main question at the moment is HOW THICK is that bulkhead supposed to be originally? I think someone in the past has thickened it... if it is too think then I need to reduce the length of the RR sleeves.

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[crazyvwvanman]

I just measured one without damage.
It was about 7-8 mm thick.

If you make the center plate very much thicker than stock the sleeve should then be longer than stock, not shorter.

I don't think that adding some bits of soft metal is going to help anything for long. Why not call out a mobile welder to put some steel back where it needs to be? Around here they would drive a small truck with a diesel generator that powers an electric welding machine.

Mark

[epowell]

Thanks Mark... still not yet sure how I will deal with this, but if I get something there that will hold well for a year or so, that won't be so bad as I am planning on buying a welder soon.

- - -

Next up, another exxperiment/amateur fix: I glued on a couple of very thin pieces of sheet metal to thicken my sway bar in order to tighten up the downlink bushings. In fact I widened it from 20.5 to 22.5 and now the bushings are really nice and snug.

This also tells me that using 19mm bushings (without the sheet metal thickeners) on my 20.5 sway bar would work well... so I will keep a close eye on these bushings and if they start to fail or those sheet metal pieces somehow come out, I will remove them and use the 19mm bushings.

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[epowell]

This is what my washers look like.

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[epowell]

Got the steering rod de-rusted and painted... feels nice to me.

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[epowell]

QUESTION ABOUT INSTALLING U.C.A.:

So since I had to get very aggressive while removing the UCA long bolts, I unfortunately completely lost track of the previous adjustment that bolt had with respect to its CAMBER alignment.

Perhaps I am asking too early since I have not yet fully digested this article - https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=396113&highlight=and I do plan on utilizing this DIY alignment method at least to get the thing in the ball-park.

Otherwise does anyone have any basic advice regarding how to install the UCA bolt? I guess as a very minimum quick adjustment there should be a very slight NEGATIVE CAMBER (tops of the tires slightly tinting inwards when viewed from the front).
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[61Scout]

Excuse me while I channel my inner TK this morning...

The issue with the hole in the frame from the radius rod is that you can't inspect it. So how will you know when it's worn? The soft aluminum and brittle epoxy won't hold for nothing in there. Consider the force it took to make the egg shape in the steel in the first place. Also, consider the fact that you will have to disassemble, repair properly, reassemble, and realign. That's a lot of wasted time. Furthermore, each worn component places more stress on the other components within that system. I just have to wonder where the savings are vs calling a mobile welder now to do the job properly and just be done with it all. A mobile welder would place a copper pipe in there to keep the shape of the hole, weld in the worn section, then grind down the sides to be flush. All in all, it would take maybe a half hour to an hour for each side. Not addressing this properly now is a complete waste of time. The current repair on the van is a hack job, total b.s, will never hold. Get that crap out of there now and fix it right. Quit f-ing around.

The thickening of the sway bar ends has more promise. But that's not right either. I have to wonder why not simply use the correct parts? I suspect it's going to be squeaky.

Usually I would recommend a guy drive the vehicle for 50-100 miles to allow suspension components to settle in before aligning. But in this case of this van, just go get it aligned. You'll have a hard time seeing the angle visually, especially with tires on. Just line it up as straight up/down as you can get and drive it right over to the alignment shop.

-Kevin
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1986 Westfalia Weekender Wolfsburg, RJE 2.3
1985 Tin Top, Subie 2.2 + 5MT
Floppy Mirrors no more: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=653018&highlight=
Remove the front spindle nut with ease: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=679567&highlight=
Remove the rear wheel bearing housing without messing with the big 46mm nut: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=679507&highlight=

-Nec Spe, Nec Metu