And that's the position I spent most of today in... livin' the dream, 'eh?
I bought one of those scissor type ball joint separators as a bit of an investment for the future and once I'd modified it so it actually worked, it popped the remaining ball jonits no sweat.
This allowed me to disassemble the steering mechanism for inspection and cleaning. There's a steering box in there somewhere...
The dirt on all these parts isn't just oil and grease, it;s a kind of baked on dry paste that is an absolute pig to get off, even with hours of jet fuel scrubbing with a soft wire brush, but in the end it cleaned up really nice. I'll check the levels and top up as required, but it has no play and is very smooth so that's one area I can leave alone.
Next up was to remove the steering knuckles and spindles from the ends of the trailing arms. Anyone notice how the pictures in the workshop manuals don't look like this...
To remove that lot you need to undo the 19mm clamp nuts that secure the link pins in place.
Then once removed, only very gentle tapping is required to push the link pin out of the other side. Make sure you retrieve all the shim washers that go either side of the link pin to set up the correct camber.
I was actually quite pleased with this next shot, as it reinforces the decision and need to replace all the pins and bushes - check out the wear on the pins! Grease those link pins boys and girls!
Next up was to clean everything up, and that is what killed the majority of the day. Just mind numbing, cold, wet, sore ass work - but strangely satisfying at the same time. The steering knuckles were a pig to clean as there are so many nook, crannies and corners that stop you getting a brush into, but hey...
The steering coupling has seen better days and needs to be replaced. Can you still get hold of genuine VW round ones instead of the squarer style later on
The rest of the steering stuff came up nicely too...
The 10 degree crank in the shorter steering arm is meant to be there and was a modification the factory made, mid way through oval production. I was curious about the 1 piece non-adjustable design of the shorter arm, and at first thought that this was a replacement part, but a quick check of the Bentley manual confirmed it was the original piece.
Is that arm a throw away item, or do those tire rods actually come out, because it looks like they are 'crimped' in there for good....? Unlike the more conventional adjustable type on the longer arm. These were just a solid blob of dirt before I started. The great thing is that the ball joints are actually in perfect condition - nice and smooth, yet still 'tight' like a new one. Even the rubber cups are fine, if a little loose. I guess I can stretch to new rubber caps.
Eventually, after about two hours a each, I got the steering knuckles and spindles clean and they came up nicely after all the effort.
I'll now send these away to be be correctly re-pinned, re-bushed, reamed and shimmed with the correct press and tools, rather than having to smash the crap out of stuff with a big hammer doing it at home.
I then tuned to the filthy beam that lay before me, but caught a glimpse of the clock and realised that I'd lost 3 hours in a cleaning vortex so decided to call it quits. Just before packing away, I couldn't resist a quick poke at the seals on the ends of the beam tubes and was pleasantly surprised to find them in A1 condition.
Anyway, my arms are aching now and I'm done for the day.
Question... do I need to remove the trailing arms for any reason, or am I best cleaning the beam up with them still attached to avoid getting crud in and amongst the torsion leaves?
Night all!
I can supply...
25/36hp Crank-Flywheel shims - 3 sizes
NOS king pin thrust & fibre washers - all sizes
Cloth braided nitrile fuel hose safe for modern fuels
PM me for details...