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On 9 Jul 2003 at 1:06, Chris J Valade wrote: > I was looking at the front end and the diagram and I believe, > now, that it was lower because one torsion bar was not bolted in, and the > other may have been loose. What bolts were missing or loose? > I was trying to remove the right torsion arm after all the other > arms and bars have been taken off, and the setscrew taken out. The arm > doesn't remain completely flush, but comes out only about 3/4" (enough > for me to fit the full width of my thumb in there...beyond that I haven't > measured it). Is this the upper or lower? > Are the grub screws the only two screws for both upper arms (not > including the retaining bolt that is on the right side, since that is > missing and needs to be replaced)? If so, both are loosened/removed (the > right one comes out and the left one only allows me to take the nut off). Try removing the left set screw. That takes an 8mm (5/16") Allen wrench to remove. MAKE SURE you get the Allen wrench in there ALL the way, and then tap on the allen wrench with a hammer. It is a good sign that it's tight, as these often come loose and give problems. > I have pictures off the front end when it was all together and on > a flat surface, and the lower torsion arms were firmly resting on the > rubber stops, actually they were resting on that lil metal stump which > remains when the rubber is removed This indicates that either the bars are broken, or the car has been severely lowered. Since you know the bars are not broken, it is now clear that this has been lowered so far that the car actually had NO suspension and this is probably what bent the bump stop arms. > I am still certain that the part of the beam that the stops are > installed on is bent, and when I made a brief attempt at hammering it > back I realized that such a route would be near impossible, so if it is > damaged enough replacement is the only option=\ I believe that when the > tower knocked the front left end off the jack stand it knocked the > retaining bolt and lock plate for the right torsion bar off which caused > the lower arm to push out and the upper torsion arm to push the upper > ball joint into such a position with enough force the bend the metal > around the top of that ball joint. Then, perhaps, loosened the left > bolt, and with the force downward caused the lower arms to hit the lower > installation point for the rubber stops (remember that I had and have no > actual rubber stops there) and forced them upwards just enough to cause > the difficulty I am experiencing. This is the only scenario I can > picture which would have caused all the damages I have found which didn't > previously exist. I think this would also explain why the torsion arms > aren't bent: the force that was applied to them was applied to the part > which is made to take the most force. Does this sound plausible? It's possible that the damage all occurred when the tow truck pulled the car off the jack stands, but it also seems likely that driving the car at all with it lowered this much could also have done this. How can you be sure that it was okay before? > What are the bolt dimensions of the retaining bolts and washers? > All 3, both for the torsion arms, and the one for the stabilizer bar. I > looked in my manuals and couldn't find this info, if it is in there: > where? (I've got the Bentley, Muir, and Chilton). I probably have most of these bolts, but I'd have to dig for them. If you have missing parts, I suspect that they were either left out when the car was lowered, or they fell out later because they weren't properly tightened or locked. -- ******************************* Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, Wisconsin, USA ******************************* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org