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Subject: [T3] ball joint question? > hey all, > i noticed a lot of talk lately about greasing the ball joints. i have > the original ball joints on my car and they are still nice and tight. i > would like to keep them that way! i think russ mentioned something about > fitting a grease nipple on them? how do you go about this? do i remove > the plastic plug at the top and fit the grease nipple there? Also on the > same subject of greasing the front end. i have become paranoid about > greasing my front axle. all this talk about how difficult it is to > remove the front bushings and having to custom fabricate the parts has > gotten me shaken in my boots. i don't want to have to go through will > all that stuff. so to get to my question, the seals that are at the end > of where the torsion bars come out and connect with the sway arms, are > they hard to replace? mine are dry and old and i would like to prevent > water from being able to get in there as well as dirt. it sort of freaks > me out about having to remove the torsion arms because i don't have the > tool to measure the angle they are at so when i put them back in my car > it is at stock height, and riding even. is there a technique to doing > this that i would not need the special vw tool shown in the bentley? i > am confident i can do the job but this angle thing is holding me back. > how does everyone else out there do this? any creative ideas? > I also wanted to let Dave Hall know that i finally got my brass ring > that goes under the horn ring. i bought one from isp west. the holes did > not line up with my horn ring but i drilled new ones and wa-la! i have a > horn! i love when things get fixed! Just wanted to let you know. > much love from the rolling hills of pa, Yes, just take out the plastic plugs in the ball joints, and install 6x1.00mm grease zerts in their place. Do not over grease them, as you could rupture the boot. Just enough grease to make the boots feel firm. As for the torsion arm bearings, just make sure they get grease regularly. (1500-2000 miles), or if you would happen to have to drive in deep water, get them greased as soon as possible. There are 4 zerts on the front axle beam. One at each end of the lower torsion bars, and 2 on the upper torsion bar. The upper ones can be hard to find, (and they get missed). They are inside the rubber mount, on the front side. You will probably have to clean some grease and dirt away to find them. They are shown in Bentley in chapter 5, page 13, figure 4-9. I would not tear the front end down to replace the outer seals unless they would fail completely. If you do tear it down, I have the tool that is shown in the Bentley (VW-271?). I would be willing to loan this tool to anyone needing it for the price of shipping. I would require a deposit to insure its return. Russ Wolfe russw@classicvw.org http://www.classicvw.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------- List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list or mailto:help@vwtype3.org