Itinerant Air-Cooled

Jeez what a mess. Sometimes a shop just has the right tools and experience. Front end work beyond tie rods is a complex sitch.
I think Colin just spit out his coffee...

vdubyah73 wrote:just jack the bus up so the wheel is only far enough off the floor to get a good size bar under it. 3' or 4' piece of pipe works. Push pipe under wheel an pry up while someone that knows what they are looking at watches for movement. Colin doesn't like my method.

I use your method for every car except dual trailing arm torsion bars as found on old air-cooled VWs and Auto Union race cars from the mid-late 30's.

You have to get each arm individually "immobilized" or they work in concert with each other and you will not be seeing ball joints unloading.
Colin

Onward through the fog. I'm leaning towards having a shop do the work. One, I can afford it. Two, they have the proper tools and much more experience than I. Three, time. Is the $300 in labor worth it? If I tackle it, there is the down time for the car that is a needed driver at this point, and hitting snafus, missing bits I don't realize I need until I get there, parts runs, including driving the torsion arms to and from the shop, add to all that an alignment job, and $300 starts sounding cost effective just to get it done, and done right. Peace of mind.

But I would like to ascertain myself, confirm, that indeed it is what is needed, and if indeed I am able to make that confirmation, should I replace shocks and steering dampener under that same assumption that parts of a vintage are or will be due to be replaced anyway and just get it all over with in one fell wallet emptying swoop?

In the meantime, I'll continue to peruse and ponder the sit ye a shun. Thanks all for all the advice/info. It gives me a much less foggy base to peruse and ponder from.


neal

ruckman101 wrote:should I replace shocks and steering dampener under that same assumption that parts of a vintage are or will be due to be replaced anyway and just get it all over with in one fell wallet emptying swoop?

No. Test them. Remove an end from each and check for smooth resistance through their entire range of travel. If they check out, keep them. If they feel lumpy or weak, replace them. Steering box is a critical place to ensure proper VW steering. Oil to the fill hole, adjusted to slight slight resistance at exact actual center point of steering box travel.
Colin

Could bad ball joints cause a shimmy? I seem to have a very slight one seemingly at all speeds since putting the inner tie-rods in.


neal

ruckman101 wrote:Could bad ball joints cause a shimmy? I seem to have a very slight one seemingly at all speeds since putting the inner tie-rods in.


neal

No. Shimmy is caused by tires/wheel balance. Worn components only exacerbate the symptoms. Worn shocks can cause shimmy over time as wheel oscillates too much over bumps, this causes cupping and balance issues that give rise to shimmy.
Colin

Shimmy was probably from alignment slightly off after I replaced inner tie-rods. Just barely noticeable. Gone now. New ball joints. Needed. I went with the only shop I called for estimates that asked about the quality of replacement ball joints I might want, cost-effective, or quality.


neal