Needle bearings and torsion arm bushings

[70bus]

By the look of them, most if not all of my needle bearings need replaced-though a local shop said they’d do if I didn’t drive it much :)

The workshop manual made a boxed point of replacing the bushings pressed onto the arms…. But where to get them, and what if you lack press and tool? Can the bushing just be polished up or trued and used w new needle bearings?
I suppose I can just slap it all back together and drive while I save my pennies, but while everything’s apart it seems best to grit my teeth and do what I can.

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Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people." - Robert Williams

Raul the 65 singlecab

Karl the 70 nine-seater

[Joey]

I would remove those bushings and just flip them around so the needle bearings have a new surface to ride on. Polish them up with some very fine sandpaper. I removed mine by heating them up with a propane torch them used a hard piece of wood and small hammer to slide them off. Re-install using the same method.
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Joey

‘60 Kombi - '74 Bus - '79 Panel - '65 Beetle

[70bus]

Thanks - I may see if the garage down the street can do it cheap (my vw shop is on break). Is there a reason the top arms are dull and the lower polished?

While cleaning them, the cap popped off one - I thought they were welded on. Bad, or just whang it back in? Or should I take all the caps off to properly clean?

Th e inner bushings look pretty thin, and I suppose should be replaced, but barring the VW reamer, any suggestions to put them in and get the arms back on? I assume the arm will just knock them farther down the beam if bushings aren't reamed first.
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Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people." - Robert Williams

Raul the 65 singlecab

Karl the 70 nine-seater

[mdege]

The sleeves used to be polished all over. But the area which was not used seems to be slightly stained.

I would use chrome polish to get them shiny again.

Do you have noticeable radial play between the bushing and the torsion arm? If not I wouldn't worry about it. If you do have play you should try to get the bushings replaced. If you don't you risk to ruin the new needle bearings.

Once your done you need to remember to grease the whole frontend (13 grease zerks total) ever 1600Mi (2500km) to prevent this kind of damage.
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- Michael

1965 21F: Restoration of a former '65 firetruck
1963 Typ3 Notchback project
1988 Multivan Magnum 112i
1984 Standard: My son wanted a bug for his first car

[70bus]

Today was spent swabbing out the axle beam... fun! 2" rubber disks on a threaded rod pushed back and forth; got about 6 soup-cans-full of varicolored greae and goo - often in a solid slug that looked like a soup can! Those stayed in one piece til pulled off, but other greases dribbled out like oil. So whatever else I do, at least the torsion bars will be lubed with proper grease when done.

I put the control arms in and tried to wiggle them to gauge bushing wear; each one made a small but audible and perceptible -clunk- on the bushing end when rocked front and back, but were firm up and down. Obviously there should be no movement, but at least they didn't move visibly.

Right now the biggest impediment to redoing the axle is reaming the bushings; there's not much point to replacing the needle bearings now if I'm going to need to redo the bushings later because I lack the reaming tool. I hate to slap al the worn parts back together and hope it's ok when I've gone this far down into the beam. However, that's a distinct option.

Gonna try some local shops and see if any have a reamer to rent. I suppose it's not possible to ream them on a bench top!
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Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people." - Robert Williams

Raul the 65 singlecab

Karl the 70 nine-seater

[Clara]

[70bus]

Thanks Clara; yes, book would not stoop to tell me some half-ass non-OG way, but I was hoping someone else had shrugged and given a non-VW-reamer-tool method a try.

All the tools are available from various online markets, but the $800 in stuff I may never need again is galling. Unfortunately my buddy who shared garage space took all his factory tools with him when he left town 40 years ago!

This seems like a tool a samba person could rent out, with a sufficient deposit fee of course. :)
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Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people." - Robert Williams

Raul the 65 singlecab

Karl the 70 nine-seater

[don.ville]

Another option for you is to
Grind it along the length like this.

remove it.

You can use polyurethane bushings instead

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67 Standard 11 window How I Keep My Bus Alive
04 Jetta TDI Page (SOLD)
01 Mexican Beetle Hello Kitty Rescue (SOLD)
29 Ford Model A Rat Rod (SOLD)
2015 Audi A8L TDI Quattro

[70bus]

Picked up some grease at the flaps today; only ‘geneal purpose’ grease they had was STP All-purpose. Open it up and it’s red. Grease in axle tube was (mostly!) brown.

I see a few folks use Sta-lube Multipurpose amber grease; both are NLGI No. 2 lithium greases but the STP is a lithium stearate grease. Not sure if Stalube is lithium stearate, complex or hydroxystearate but they are all compatible.

Any reason not to use this STP to fill the axle?
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Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people." - Robert Williams

Raul the 65 singlecab

Karl the 70 nine-seater

[BarryL]

Yes use it.

[Clara]

[70bus]

You forgot 'grease is good' but point was made :)

I swabbed and ran towels through the beam again and I have the interior pretty clean, so I'm less worried about incompatibility now; I'll probably mark the beam w/ type of grease inside to remind me.

I have some time to decide what to do on rebuilding vs. going with what I've got (another suggestion was swap arms side to side). I suppose I could just install new bearings no matter what else I do; current ones are intact and spin but rumbly instead of whispery. One person said they don't replace them unless they are falling apart, so I could cross fingers and reassemble. I can always redo later after I gather proper tools, or send it out. I just hate to backtrack...
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Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people." - Robert Williams

Raul the 65 singlecab

Karl the 70 nine-seater