Date:         Sun, 5 Mar 2000 23:44:28 -0800
Reply-To:     "Steven X. Schwenk" <Steve@SCHWENK-LAW.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Steven X. Schwenk" <Steve@SCHWENK-LAW.COM>
Subject:      VC MISSION ACCOMPLISHED...almost
Comments: To: "syncro@onelist.com" <syncro@onelist.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Thanks to a little help from my friends, the new VC is in.
Everything is assembled.  All I have to do is aliign the
front diff.  Is there an accepted method for doing this?  I
could not find the procedure in Bentley.

I did not remove the front diff. to instal the VC.  I
instead followed the sage advice of tim Smith, which reads
as follows:

"Hi Steve,

Dead easy to install. Remove 4 13mm nuts/bolts from front
end of driveshaft,
they are crimped/hard to remove. Use Loctite later, and keep
them together,
they are high strength bolts! The front diff mounts give
enough to let the
shaft drop.

After that remove the 8-10 13mm bolts from that first
section and just pull
it off backwards. Oh...  drain the oil first.  No gasket,
use case sealant when reassembling. VC simply slides off the
toothed shaft inside diff. It's heavy!

bye, Tim"

It's a little tight getting the nose casing, or whatever
it's called, pulled all the way off of of the diff.  You
have to move the gear shifter so that the shifter shaft is
optimally position to give room, and you have to have the
diff mounts loose so it can slide forward.  And you  need to
lift up on the diff. so the casing can clear part of the
sub-frame.  It all goes back together much easier.  How do
you align it?

Don't forget to mark the drive shaft before you remove it,
at both front and rear, so everything is aligned exactly the
way it was on reassembly.

Many thanks for makng the whole experience very enjoyable to
Warren, Peter, Otmar, Mark,  Jeff, Ben and .... my memory
fails me, but she drove a long way in a nice blue
Wolfsberg.  Peter installed his digitool and fixed some
other things, and of course we ran out of time.   Otmar's
stretch drew a small crowd of onlookers at one point, and of
course he gave them a tour.  )  Warren and Otmar got some
photos we'll post somewhere.
steve