Re: Looking for Front Suspension Tips

[Greg Merritt <gregm@umich.edu>]

At 10:15 PM +0100 11/2/97, John M. Kowalski wrote:
>on how to replace the little gray plastic spacers (for lack of a better

	Ahh--axial thrust rings. :)

	I have found (and others I've talked to have found this on other
cars as well) that if you can't adjust the play out of the upper torsion
bar, then the dimple on the left side (the fixed end) might be all beat up
where the set screw is supposed to pin it & hold it still.  I spent a
loooong time locating axial thrust rings (what Bentley says needs replacing
if you've got this symptom), took apart my front end & found that the rings
did *not* need replacing.  There was a beat-up dimple in the upper torsion
bar, and a beat-up set screw to match.  I got a new (well, used) set screw,
torqued it *very* tightly, retightened it after some driving, and
everything has been hunky-dory with it since.

	Make sure your ball joints, steering box, wheel bearings & steering
damper are all o.k., too.  But don't ignore the "fixed" side of that upper
torsion bar--you won't see a word about looking for wear there in any
manuals!

-Greg
'69 & '71 Squarebacks
'63 Beetle