66 bug front end questions

[a65l]

So, ball joints are wasted and I'm disassembling. Things are going pretty well, up untill...

the torsion arms won't come out. Every video/etc I see, they just pull out. I understand I may need to do some "persuading" to get them loose, ok, I'll deal with that.

But.

I'm supposed to have suspension stops, right?

I don't see any.

[a65l]

Forgot to mention.. front end measures 31" wide, so I don't think it's narrowed. Car is new to me and something of a mystery, so no idea what's up with it.

Oh, and I don't think there's any issue with these ball joints... right? Good for another 25k...

[61SNRF]

Yeah they're supposed to pull off but it looks like the last guy beat the upper control arm on with a hammer, notice how the metal is mushroomed?
That means you may have to beat them back off with a hammer.
The why is the question.

No stops on a BJ front end. The shocks have the bottom stops built onto the top of shaft.
_________________
-Bruce

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

[a65l]

Well, they're off. LIttle persuasion with a hammer and a 2x4 and off they came. Lots of interesting looking "grease" in there, looks like it got wet at some point and a little rusty, but that may just be the grease. I swear for just a few sister screwing minutes I actually considered just doing the driver's side.. thepassenger ball joints feel pretty good. But damn if they don't lack lube fittings... so....





Of course the other side just slid off, like the're supposed too. Probablly not enough grease in there, either. I see some surface rust inside, but not on the bearing surfaces.


Heres' a question... will a harbor freight 20 ton vertical press have enough ass to push those joints out/in? I've got a coupon...

[a65l]

There they are...

Should the shock mounts be a bare stud, or is there a sleeve over the stud? Trying to decide if the metal insert from the shocks is what I'm seeing, or if it's supposed to be there....

[61SNRF]

Shock studs should be bare. Very common for the shock bushing sleeve to get stuck on them.

Not familiar with the HF press but even 10 tons is probably more than enough.
_________________
-Bruce

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

[ashman40]

[AoxoMoxoA]

Since you already have the trailing arms out, I’d just bring them to a local brake shop and have them press ‘em out.
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'66 Beetle 1300 / Bahama Blue

[a65l]

Appreciate the replies. I looked at the removed shocks, and there's no bushing in the lower eye so I guess that's my answer... I didn't want to start marring something up if it needed to be there.


It appears to me that the passenger side balljoints were R&R'd at some point but the drivers side were not. Someone being cheap, I would guess. I meant to get a closer picture of the upper driver's side joint, as it appears to have been installed incorrectly, but it's been like that for who knows how long. The joint made it's own clearance, eventually, but that side must have been pretty stiff riding. In fact, now that I think about it, on the way back with the car I did a couple of hard braking checks. It seemed that the passenger side front suspension dove far more than the driver's side. The driver's side locked the brake up first, so I put it down to that, but upon reflection....

[sportin-wood]

I would also consider replacing the zerk fittings on the beam to make sure grease is able to flow through them and grease your beam up real good. They're available online fairly cheap.
_________________
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Paused 66 project bug
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"Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman. He's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it." --- Jeff Spicoli

[a65l]

Replaced missing zerks, grease flows real good!

Borrowed a ball joint press and got some adapters.

Nope. Those things are in there good, and I don't have -exactaly- the size I need on the back side, so it seems I"m just pushing against the back of the ball joint. I took 'em up to a local shop I trust as much as any shop and asked them to press out the old joints. I should be able to get the new ones in, I've verified that I have adapters that fit them tightly, but for some reason or other the old joints are larger.

[a65l]

Ok. Arms came back from shop and no issues. Time to get to work.

HIt 'em with a wire brush and the bores cleaned up nice and shiny. Scraped some of teh gunk off as well. Really, they should have spent a day soaking in kerosene and then scrubbed clean, but if I did that then I'd have to do it everywhere, and at this point I'd really just like it back on the road...



I figured the ball joint press would work OK installing. Yeah, I wish. I tried a top and a bottom and both started cattywampus. So, after some further cursing and general pissyness I got a good nights sleep and headed off to Harbor Freight.

That did the trick. The one bottom BJ that had started a little crooked straightned out and pushed right in. The next two went fine, then I got to the top BJ that I had gotten crooked.

Whoops. Well, new one on the way. Not such a setback as it turns out the grease seals I ordered were out of stock. Hopefully it won't be a real show stopper. But at least 3 out of 4 are ready to go... well...

There's still an issue. I solved one with judicious use of a cut off wheel and chisel. The other one... that one resisted my efforts. I had to grind it off and then peel it with the chisel.

Managed to not ding up the stud too badly... I don't plan on routinely jumping anything, so it should be fine.