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Re: [T3] Suspension tweeking


On 5 Feb 2001, at 12:55, Martinez, Leon wrote:

> I decided yesterday to deflate my front tires from the usual 32 lbs to
> 23 lbs.

This will make a big improvement, but 23 is still a bit high. I push 
it to 20, no further. The rears get 30 normally, but that can go to 
36 on a SB if it's heavily loaded.

>  I went further than that and turned my tires to the right and
> shook the car fron side to side while under the car to observe any
> loose hardware; well I saw the top arm go in and out pretty well like
> about almost a .4 of an inch . This seemed really bad to me so I
> decided to read what this was, (learning experience); I found out that
> there was an adjustment for that. The adjustment is located on the top
> passenger side arm.

There's one more thing you need to check. The left end of that rod 
needs to be solidly anchored in the left upper trailing arm. The most 
common failure mode is for this end to come loose first and then wear 
the parts until everything is loose.

If you're up to it, I recommend that you remove both front wheels and 
all the sway bar fixing bolts on both sides and then drive out the 
bar to the LEFT (driver's side.) To the left because there is a small 
plate that blocks the left end of the bar that the end of the bar 
will knock out only if you drive it out that way. That little block-
off plate keeps you from seeing whether the left end of the bar is 
moving in the left trailing arm. 

In fact, you only have to drive it out a couple of inches to inspect 
it, but make sure you have room to remove it so you can fix it if 
necessary.

It is likely that you will find that the dimple in the left end of 
the bar is all augered out. If it is just slightly bad you can use a 
drill to deepen the dimple but if it is bad you should flip it over 
and drill an appropriate dimple in the OTHER side.

Use the LHS set screw to check whether the fit in the dimple is good.

The one thing that you can't fix is an augered out bore in the 
trailing arm; once that is loose, it will be hard to ever keep the 
bar tight, and this is a lot of work to replace.

Keep us posted.
-
*******************************
Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
*******************************

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