Lull? What Lull?

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Amskeptic
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Lull? What Lull?

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Apr 23, 2019 8:23 pm

Lull? We left off with preparations for poor NaranjaWesty to drag on out and around the country again after pulling in on October 23, 2018 at 93,600 miles. Well, after a winter layover of six months we manage to have 97,307 miles as of tonight somehow. And there is no way it can put on an inch in its current condition:

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... but how did we get here? We got here because I was checking the thickness of my brake pads. If you do not want your life to devolve into chaos and severe backaches, by all means avoid checking the thickness of your brake pads. Too late for me!

As I was lifting the right front wheel with the jack under the steering knuckle, I heard a clunk. Released the jack and jacked it up again. Clunk. You canNOT rationalize your way out of any front suspension clunk. You HAVE to investigate further. I jacked the car up so the front wheels would hang. Then I got my little bottle jack out to go find which ball joint caused the clunk:

Place the jack under the lower trailing arm, and jack to contact. Now be alert for the trailing arm moving up a tiny bit before the wheel then moves up. If the *arm* moves up but the wheel doesn't, you are unloading the play in the lower ball joint socket. I had absolutely no play here.

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But dang, when I continued lifting, the steering knuckle moved up what felt like a full tenth of an inch. Released the jack. Jacked the jack. I could *see* the steering knuckle/ball joint stud move up.

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Clumsily attempted to measure the movement. .065" The wear limit is .080" Since the Road Warrior got 515,000 miles out of its ball joints, I was none-too-pleased to see that this newer Volkswagen just doesn't seem to be built like the old ones, only 97,307 miles?

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Decided to replace *only the upper ball joints* so as to have the beautiful low-friction and still no play original lower ball joints helping to keep steering effort to a minimum. I think this is a sensible thing to do with all of the issues we have had with replacement ball joints. Lemforder (original equipment manufacturer)? Nope, made in China, some questioning reviews. Meyle, trash. See diagram. Apparently, some of these manufacturers do not want to machine the caps to follow the radius of the ball, so they stick in a molded plastic cup that is barely supported by the cheap stamped caps. I went with the OE brand on the right which has factory original architecture, a machined metal cap with a fully supported plastic cup:

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to be cont ...
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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BusBassist
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Re: Lull? What Lull?

Post by BusBassist » Tue Apr 23, 2019 10:25 pm

Where does one purchase the OE-Brand-generic-ball-joint these days?
Late 73 Bay w/a transplanted 914 Engine.

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Amskeptic
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Re: Lull? What Lull?

Post by Amskeptic » Wed Apr 24, 2019 12:03 pm

BusBassist wrote:
Tue Apr 23, 2019 10:25 pm
Where does one purchase the OE-Brand-generic-ball-joint these days?
I got mine off eBay for $47.00 for all four! Might be really cheap crap! So far in the assembly process, they have shown a proper amount of firmness against fore and aft movement. I put original VW Audi boots on all of the ball joints. Did I mention that I brought my upper torsion arms to the machine shop with artickilate verbal and visual instructions to install the new ball joints with the notches aligned with the bosses on the torsion arms?
Yeah, they installed them wrong.

Since I got FOUR and they wrecked only TWO, I luckily had two more to LexusWhisperJet down to the machine shop.

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I gave that "Rusty" guy such a baleful look that he burst out laughing.
"Free, go!" said Jacob the owner as he came up to the counter with the correctly installed ball joints. Now I know it takes just five minutes of actual labor to press out then press in new ball joints. So much for "baleful".

To get to being able to hie the upper torsion arms to the machine shop, I had to remove the steering knuckles, which motivated me to another hideous detour. Why would I think that I wanted to know what was under the stabilizer clamps and waste half a day trying to get the clamp retainer keys off, then dremeling the damn things in half?

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Here's why. I knew that this car spent three years as a daily driver in Chicago. Salt! Activating every time it rained, causing active rust on the torsion arms under the clamps:

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I had to dremel down deep to get to the good metal, then smooth out the transitions to the ball joint holes and the torsion leaves pivot. It is a thinner torsion arm now, I figure it needs to be smooth to handle the stress:

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Loosened the backing plates and rotated the caliper relief to the lower ball joint so I could fit my ball joint separator:

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Even with my obsessive lubrication program, these arms showed an earlier era of inadequate lubrication:

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Look at that 42 year-old original boot .... I wonder how much grease the factory put in their ball joints:

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THIS much. And it looks like top-drawer molybdenum disulfide same-as-CV grease:

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Re-greased the lower ball joints after rotating and tilting the ball joints for endless hours to help wick out the old grease. No zerk fittings this time. Rotated and tilted the ball joints for endless hours to bring in the new top-drawer Valvoline Fully Synthetic grease:

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I used four mini-computer plastic ties in lieu of the spiral boot stabber retainer springs. I'll let you know if they hold up. Chloe's still are and we are now six years down the road:

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Repacked the front wheel bearings because we are almost thirty thousand miles since the last repack:

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New ball joints and boots and spindle all back together:

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Painted torsion arms and spindles:

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Paint dried! Torsion arms and backing plates ... see the white paint camber index mark on the steering knuckle that is supposed to align with the notch on the eccentric?

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You can see that nice backing plate to the left. You can also see the beginnings of a generally hated procedure, the replacement of the stabilizer bar bushing/clamps. It's eeeeeaaaaassssyyyyyyyy:

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A) Have your big vise grips ready to go. Ensure that the rubber is driven backwards as far as possible. Backwards towards the rear of the car backwards. Make sure clamp is centered between the edges of the bushing before you > get the channel lock pliers out and bring the two lower edges of the new clamp together with a mighty grip:

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Grab the vise grips and adjust to grip and lock the clamp together a bit further. Now you can release your channel locks, they are done. Get your other vise grips ready to bring in the clamp edges a bit more. Wiggle the clamp/bushing side to side with the currently engaged vise grips, you will feel it settle in and clamp better. Now adjust the other vise grips to continue the squeeze. If you did good, the initial vise grips will fall off when you clamp the second ones:

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After a couple of relay hand-offs, you will be ready to insert the **heavily greased** key, wide side first, onto the edges of the clamp. Keep the clamp under tension as you tap the key on:

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Fully installed, I am NOT banging the end down into the rubber as instructed in the Bentley. I want to see if the keys stay put. They are difficult to drive off when they rust, therefore grease, and they are impossible to get off if the retaining tabs have been beaten into the rubber like mine were.

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All done. New pads, too. I got an easy 55,000 miles out of the original set (only at 50% wear at 7.3 mm). Greased the beam, installed the lower end of the shocks and torqued the nuts to 36 ft/lbs at a 15% rear tilt (this mimics ride height installation) then shoved the tops forward to install the upper bolts/nuts. Had to scarf a horse shoe retainer clip from my brake paraphernalia bag to replace the rusted clip that holds the upper arm snubber in place:

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Did a two-hour garage tidy-up to the local Christian radio station. That was a hoot. James Dobson and some doctor talking about teenage girls' v-jayjays and the curse of . . . never mind.

Driving impressions at 12:20AM, the steering is newly precise, which I love, but it has a little deadness in the return-to-center arena. I expect that will improve after a few hundred miles. VERY glad I did not do all four ball joints at the same time. Gear shifter is less notchy after a week, and selects the gears with no spring tension ruining my feel of the synchronizer action.

All in all, it feels like this bus is back to the 50,000 mile mark as far as tightness and precision.

The deadline of May 10th is hurtling up! I am exhausted. Quicky trip to Atlanta tomorrow morning.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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asiab3
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Re: Lull? What Lull?

Post by asiab3 » Wed Apr 24, 2019 2:26 pm

Amskeptic wrote:
Wed Apr 24, 2019 12:03 pm
Loosened the backing plates and rotated the caliper relief to the lower ball joint so I could fit my ball joint separator:
So that's how you get out of the Bentley Manual "1971 and later cars disassemble wheel bearing assembly blah blah blah…" :pirate:

I also appreciate the upper/lower ball joint play check method with the spindle still assembled!
Robbie
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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Amskeptic
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Re: Lull? What Lull?

Post by Amskeptic » Thu May 02, 2019 7:15 pm

Just so you know .... there are:

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Quicky trip to Atlanta included a fast pre-flight rust eradication of NaranjaWesty's front beam (last summer was really tough on that poor car with all that rainrainrain) at the law Firm's garage bay:

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Had to do the whole coat hanger poke rust flake 120 psi air blast rust-catalyzing primer deal, and this time, I decided to actually shut the hole in the stamping that I thought back in 2015 might help it drain. It does help it drain. But that forward position also helped it to eat a lot of sand and road splash. Now it has one discrete hole directly downward. We shall see:

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Touched up the entire chassis with undercoating (that is why I m brained-damamagedificatitionaded)

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Then drove to Atlanta, sight-seeing at all the trash sites:

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Repaired Alexus 1 immediately upon my arrival.
Helping my brother move from his apartment until 11:00PM, imagine 65" TVs and human high speakers. All had to fit in two Lexii and a Mitsubishi.
Bailed out of the HYATT hotel room because it was too damn hot and the snoring was unimagineable and camped in Chloe from 4:00AM until 7:00AM, quiet! cool! and dark!
Woke up and drove back to my brother's and took out the instrument cluster in Alexus 1 and painstakingly reattached the flourescent tachometer needle. This removal of course triggered the airbag light. The process to reset it is mad, the heat, the frying sun through the windshield, the little bitty OBDC I diagnostic socket facing down into the beat carpet where I had to stick two little jumper wires into TC and AB exactly just right and do a timed sequence dance TC 6 seconds AB/TC/AB/TC one half second each to ground in sequence, no spazzing with the ground wire and all.
Helped to move the server and the five subwoofers to my towel-festooned car, unloaded them at the storage unit, and drove back to Pensacola.
Met a 1969 VW camper on I-65 south on the side of the road. Well, I just had to stop. Oil blasted all over the rear of the engine, they, Michael and Jennifer Ferrari, are on their way to New Orleans.
"Yeah, we're just losing power out here, finally wouldn't start."
I checked the physical resistance of the engine, and it was not too bad, so if it was involved in a slow seize, the parts have shrunk back down. There was a major oil loss earlier, the dipstick did not look too bad while I was there, but d**n it was hot. Engine did start, we checked cylinder participation and #1 was dead dead dead. I followed them to the next exit where Michael was to do a valve adjustment on #1 to match #2, and see if there was a tight valve.

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That was my 748 mile quicky to Atlanta and back.
Enjoying my last week of a coffee maker, an air-conditioned car, and a morning shower. I shall miss it.
Colin

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BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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tommu
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Re: Lull? What Lull?

Post by tommu » Sat May 04, 2019 6:01 pm

Amskeptic wrote:
Thu May 02, 2019 7:15 pm

Enjoying my last week of a coffee maker, an air-conditioned car, and a morning shower. I shall miss it.
Colin
You have a propane stove traveling with you. Surely a kettle and a French press will fit in Naranja.

https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best- ... r-camping/

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Amskeptic
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Re: Lull? What Lull?

Post by Amskeptic » Sat May 04, 2019 10:32 pm

tommu wrote:
Sat May 04, 2019 6:01 pm
You have a propane stove traveling with you. Surely a kettle and a French press will fit in Naranja.

Nowhere on Narnaja will you see a propane tank hanging under it, nor a shot of a stove top in any of the interior shots.
I am a stripper P21.

Image
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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BusBassist
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Re: Lull? What Lull?

Post by BusBassist » Sun May 05, 2019 6:40 am

I am a stripper P21
Is this a paint removal term? An adult entertainment term? VW term? Please elaborate.
Late 73 Bay w/a transplanted 914 Engine.

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skip
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Re: Lull? What Lull?

Post by skip » Sun May 05, 2019 9:03 am

That's the Westfalia model without the stove and fridge P21, top of the line with stove and fridge is P27.
Was the tin top westy the P19 ?
Complexity is the enemy of reliability.

76 Westfalia
74 Type 181

RinTinTin in Waldorf Astoria 1956

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Amskeptic
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Re: Lull? What Lull?

Post by Amskeptic » Sun May 05, 2019 9:28 am

BusBassist wrote:
Sun May 05, 2019 6:40 am
I am a stripper P21
Is this a paint removal term? An adult entertainment term? VW term? Please elaborate.

Adult entertainment term. Stripper waaaaaaaaaaaay waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay Past 21.
Collie
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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hippiewannabe
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Re: Lull? What Lull?

Post by hippiewannabe » Sun May 05, 2019 10:01 am

Amskeptic wrote:
Sat May 04, 2019 10:32 pm
Nowhere on Narnaja will you see a propane tank hanging under it, nor a shot of a stove top in any of the interior shots.
This is what you need:

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No, seriously. My son-in-law is a coffee geek, and got one for Christmas. It uses stove alcohol and is poetry in motion. And makes an amazing cup of coffee.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/NISPIRA-Belg ... f4QAvD_BwE
Truth is like poetry.
And most people fucking hate poetry.

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BusBassist
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Re: Lull? What Lull?

Post by BusBassist » Sun May 05, 2019 1:30 pm

That's the Westfalia model without the stove and fridge P21
Thank You - wasn't quite sure where this was going.
Late 73 Bay w/a transplanted 914 Engine.

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Amskeptic
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Re: Lull? What Lull?

Post by Amskeptic » Mon May 06, 2019 9:11 am

hippiewannabe wrote:
Sun May 05, 2019 10:01 am
It uses stove alcohol and is poetry in motion. And makes an amazing cup of coffee.
Beautiful, I'd roll with that at my 7,000 square foot summer cottage out at the pool promenade station.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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hippiewannabe
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Re: Lull? What Lull?

Post by hippiewannabe » Mon May 06, 2019 1:12 pm

Amskeptic wrote:
Mon May 06, 2019 9:11 am
hippiewannabe wrote:
Sun May 05, 2019 10:01 am
It uses stove alcohol and is poetry in motion. And makes an amazing cup of coffee.
Beautiful, I'd roll with that at my 7,000 square foot summer cottage out at the pool promenade station.
Colin
Ha. I guess it is a bit froufrou for camping, but it would be functional, being genuinely off-the-grid ready. But Starbuck's instant coffee is also quite good, if all you want to do is boil water.
Truth is like poetry.
And most people fucking hate poetry.

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Amskeptic
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Re: Lull? What Lull?

Post by Amskeptic » Mon May 06, 2019 8:18 pm

hippiewannabe wrote:
Mon May 06, 2019 1:12 pm
Amskeptic wrote:
Mon May 06, 2019 9:11 am
hippiewannabe wrote:
Sun May 05, 2019 10:01 am
It uses stove alcohol and is poetry in motion. And makes an amazing cup of coffee.
Beautiful, I'd roll with that at my 7,000 square foot summer cottage out at the pool promenade station.
Colin
Ha. I guess it is a bit froufrou for camping, but it would be functional, being genuinely off-the-grid ready. But Starbuck's instant coffee is also quite good, if all you want to do is boil water.
I have tried Starbucks Verano and a cup-sized press. A little too unfiltered. What I want to do is come up with an instantaneous heat exchanger that gives me genuine hot water. A copper coil around the exhaust manifold would do it ... :blackeye:
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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