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'77 Westy Center Pin

Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 4:43 pm
by RussellK
My steering is terrible. Its the classic feel of too tight ball joints. But when I took the tie rods loose and moved the wheels they felt pretty good. Got a second opinion and they felt good to the other person too. A while back I replaced the center pin and I remember the pin going through the bushings was tight. Really tight. So today I took the center pin out removed the bushings and ran a brake cylinder hone through them. I was careful not to take too much out. I reassembled it and moved the arm and it feels better than before but its still a bit snug. I haven't had a chance to test drive it and see if there's any improvement because I found out the drag link is shot so I'm waiting for that to come in. How loose should that center pin be? I needed to give it a couple of light taps to get it in.

Re: Center Pin

Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 5:08 pm
by Amskeptic
RussellK wrote:My steering is terrible. Its the classic feel of too tight ball joints. But when I took the tie rods loose and moved the wheels they felt pretty good. Got a second opinion and they felt good to the other person too. A while back I replaced the center pin and I remember the pin going through the bushings was tight. Really tight. So today I took the center pin out removed the bushings and ran a brake cylinder hone through them. I was careful not to take too much out. I reassembled it and moved the arm and it feels better than before but its still a bit snug. I haven't had a chance to test drive it and see if there's any improvement because I found out the drag link is shot so I'm waiting for that to come in. How loose should that center pin be? I needed to give it a couple of light taps to get it in.
That center pin should be snug. It has very little leverage against your steering effort. It literally helps the steering damper damp when it has a little resistance. Ball joints should be free enough to easily move the wheels from lock-to-lock (both of them hooked up to the tie rods) with your hands push-pulling a wheel when the front end is off the ground. The Road Warrior was almost impossible to move the wheels from lock to lock.
Man, I wish the center pin was tight on the Road Warrior, the new Meyle was a simple push fit and it rocked just like the old OEM VW kit when all was assembled.

The BobD needs a center pin kit. I wore that poor thing out with all of this off-road gallavanting.
Colin

Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2010 7:24 am
by RussellK
I got it put back together and with wheels up and the damper off I can move the front wheels with a reasonable amount of ease. With the damper attached it gets much more difficult. As soon as the draglink gets delivered I'll be able to see if I've improved anything.

Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 2:17 pm
by Amskeptic
RussellK wrote:I got it put back together and with wheels up and the damper off I can move the front wheels with a reasonable amount of ease. With the damper attached it gets much more difficult. As soon as the draglink gets delivered I'll be able to see if I've improved anything.
Good Luck. I hate the day I have to put replacement parts on the BobD.
Colin

Re: '77 Westy Center Pin

Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 12:10 pm
by jmstu76
Is there a preferred brand of drag link? And if so, where to buy it? I tried to write an ail in Italian to OCAP, but never heard back from them.

Re: '77 Westy Center Pin

Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 5:22 am
by Amskeptic
jmstu76 wrote:Is there a preferred brand of drag link? And if so, where to buy it? I tried to write an ail in Italian to OCAP, but never heard back from them.
I no longer have a preference. I mostly choose based on the no-hassle return policy of vendor.

Re: '77 Westy Center Pin

Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 7:34 am
by jmstu76
Amskeptic wrote:
jmstu76 wrote:Is there a preferred brand of drag link? And if so, where to buy it? I tried to write an ail in Italian to OCAP, but never heard back from them.
I no longer have a preference. I mostly choose based on the no-hassle return policy of vendor.
Not exactly what I wanted to hear, but at least I got the truth