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Re: [T3] Alignment question - (Leon might know)



Phil wrote,

2) The upper bushings where the arms go into the beam
are shot. I'm willing to wager that these are NLA by
Volkswagen and I need to replace with used? Is this a
fairly easy process?
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Well, like someone mentioned, you may have to just
adjust the right arm to take up the thrust play.
The torsion bar is the item that keeps the arms 
against the bushing. 

The dimple on my torsion bar was worn sideways so 
the arm moved out and made the suspension vibrate sideways.
I readjusted this and this corrected the bad side
vibration. Some people have the prblem come back because 
of a too large ovaled dimple.

The adjustment is very simple and you should
follow the proceedure in the Bently manual.
The way I did this was to loosen the bolt and 
the counter lock nut that is located on the top of 
the right arm. Then I sightly tightened the bolt that 
is on the end or the side of the arm, bend the lockin tab 
first to get the bolt to turn. And without raising the 
car I shook it sideways to feel for vibration or
 side knocking. Very very little should be felt. 
I know this is very low tech but remove the tire to
see what I am talking about. It is better to follow the
Bently manual.

I 'rebuilt' the top part of my suspension (top arms)
with used parts from the junkyard. I replaced the 
Bearing and the bushing . The reason I had to replace 
them is that the top part of the suspension was not 
greased for 30 years and it rotted away. The bushings 
were worn almost all the way through to the otherside.

To remove these, you must either use a homemade bearing
puller, using a slidehammer and an ovaled thick washer with 
large center hole, one side is 43mm and the other is 34 mm
wide. The washer you have to make yourself. With this method
you will pull the bearing and bushing out together. The 
other way to pull out the bushing , you must use a 
wide blade very flat screwdriver. Clean all of the 
area around the bushing to see the back plate after 
removing the O-ring seal. Clean the area with lite 
solvent like kerosene, I used gasoline, bad Leon !
Pry the bushing at the outer metal rim , this is the 
flat sheet metal part of this. Pry around carefully
because the bushing is made of plastic , if the bushing
does not cooperate easily , you can tell if the bushing
backplate begins to bend. This backplate only holds 
the O-ring. If prying fails then use the Puller I mentioned.
If you try anyhow you may break the bushing.

While you are there, clean the torsion bar, bushing
arm and the roller bearing surface, I used a roll 
of toilet paper to do all of my cleaning. Inspect the 
arms at the bearing roller surface. If little or 
no wear is present then your components are good 
and someone has been greasing these on a regular 
basis. If the bearing needles and/or the the arm
is pitted then these need replacing. If the bushings
are worn down enough to the square notches , otherwise
reuse them If they are badly scuffed, clean them 
with lite solvent and then soap and water, make sure
to remove any chunky particles that are embeded in the
plastic.

Inspect the bar , check the dimple hole side, is the 
hole round and small or is it bigger at the sides
of the hole, is the hole oval shaped ? If it looks
all screwd up then it needs fixing. The tapered 
screw and the hole should be tight if not you can 
fix it. 

I fixed mine by taper drilling, using several 
diameter drill bits. made the hole match the tapered
screw. Be very very careful about this, you can screw
this up really bad. The bar is somewhat easy to drill 
and you could damage it if you try to do a 'Conan '
job. My taper drilling fit the tapered screw perfectly.
Do it on wood first to practice and to select 
the best drill bits. Jim Adney suggested making 
another hole at the otherside of this part of the bar.
That will work as good as new.

I am not done with my Cad drawing that I am going
to give Russ. Sooo busy . When I am done, a bushing
bearing assembly can be made ,even if the arm is worn.


Will keep you guys posted !Any questions ?

LEON MARTINEZ

1969 SQUAREBACK EFI/AUTO
SAN DIEGO AND TIJUANA










































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