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Date:         Sat, 7 Oct 2000 22:54:53 -0400
Reply-To:     Tom and Dana Cates <dcates1@HOME.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Tom and Dana Cates <dcates1@HOME.COM>
Subject:      CRIPES O' MIGHTY
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Whew!

Dana and I were leaving last night on the road to Oktoberbus. Dana (the best woman in the world) had spent all day packing the van and taking it for its annual state inspection.

Dana was driving, and had mentioned to me that the van had made a funny popping noise earlier in the day. I sullenly told her that funny noises are not unusual in the Vanagon (my commuter car-she gets to drive the nice car). We drove up onto the Asheville Bypass, and a sudden gust of wind caught the van. The van lurched suddenly to the left, and I noticed a lot of movement from my right. I looked over and Dana was sawing at the wheel with a look of utter terror on her face (*sometimes*, she overreacts about vehicle safety). She regained control and I said something smart to her about crosswinds.

Well, she drove as far as the bridge across the French Broad, sawing at the wheel and weaving about, periodically glancing imploringly at me. I finally told her to pull over and I would drive. I got in and immediately noticed that something seemed wrong with the steering. There seemed to be a lot more play in the steering wheel, but I hadn't driven it for a week and a half, so I wasn't completely positive.

So, I crawled under the front end with a little flashlight and had Dana turn the wheel. I looked at the outer tie rods and they were fine, I tried to wiggle them at each joint, very vigorously, but they were definitely tight. I looked at the point where the rack shaft engages the pinion shaft to see if their were any differential between the two shafts, but that appeared fine. I looked at the steering shaft flex coupler at the rack between the pinion and the horizontal steering shaft, and it looked like it had some small cracks in the rubber around its perimeter, but normal.

Hmmmmm.

I followed the horizontal steering shaft back up to the front of the van, where it disappeared in between some stuff, at least from my vantage point.

I got in the van and pulled up the rubber boot at the base of the steering column, and looked at the U Joint and wow, another flex coupler! Two! Both were fine.

Hmmmmmm.

I crawled back underneath and tried to find the point at which the two shafts intersect; the vertical shaft that comes from the steering column and the horizontal shaft that runs under the floor from the rack to the front of the van.

I never did really see it. As I played the flashlight around, I caught a glimpse of a big mat of frayed fibers and immediately realized that this forward junction box is equipped with a flex coupler as well, and where the popping noise she heard had come from.

CRIPES O' MIGHTY!!!!!!!!

Well, no Oktoberbus. Does anybody know the VW part numbers for all three flex couplers?

Thanks,

Tom and Dana Cates Asheville, NC 83 Air-cooled Westfalia, 'Hammurabi' http://www.fullmoonbusclub.com/ A.I.R.S.


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