Date:         Sun, 12 May 2002 10:52:20 -0400
Reply-To:     Christopher Berchin <ctb1@PEOPLEPC.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Christopher Berchin <ctb1@PEOPLEPC.COM>
Subject:      Lots of Sta-bar Info - long
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Hi everyone.  I just spent some quality time working on the front stabilizer
bar of my Vanagon, and I learned a few things.  Perhaps all this stuff has
been done to death on the list, but in case it wasn't, I thought I'd share.
Kinda long, though.

First thing I learned was why my sta-bar end link broke.  Where the end link
attaches to the lower control arm, it is covered with a replaceable sleeve
and sandwiched with bushings.  That sleeve is much narrower than the hole in
the control arm so that the end link can pivot.  When I removed my broken
end link, I found that this sleeve and the area around it had become solid,
so much so that the sleeve wouldn't even come out.  Years of crud and
corrosion eventually prevented the end link from pivoting any more, so
naturally it broke.  There is evidence of this on the sleeve, as it now has
some interesting bends in it.  So if you'd like to prevent your end links
from breaking, you could occasionally remove the nut that attaches it to the
control arm and clean the junk out from inside the bushings and around the
sleeve.  As long as it still can pivot, the end link should last just fine.

My van is a 1984 GL.  It came with a 21mm front bar.  When I bought it (with
tires not suited to the van at all), it understeered horribly until the day
the end link broke.  I liked the handling without the bar for the most part,
but it rolled too much and could occasionally make you wonder what it was
going to do entering corners.  I didn't want to be there if the tail ever
broke loose.  (Yes, I know...it's a Vanagon, I'm not supposed to drive it
like my shifter kart...but I do.)  : )

So I purchased an entire 19mm front bar assembly from the later vans,
including all bushings, endlinks, and hardware for less than a new end link
costs.  Of course, VW changed the front suspension for vans built in Nov 84
and later, using new end links and lower control arms.  After examining the
parts, I found that the new style straight end links should still work in my
early van.  I was only worried that at full steering lock, the tie rods
might touch the straight end links.  Turns out they don't.  I'm sure it
doesn't meed VW's design clearance standards, and I would not recommend this
for the off road folks who use up lots of wheel travel with lots of
steering, but on the street it appears that they will not touch.  There's
about 5mm of clearance from what I can see.  Also, the new end links are
about 5-6mm shorter in length than the old bent style.  Note that the
sleeves for the end link are the same part, according to the ETKA.

So I proceeded to install the 19mm bar using a mix and match of components.
Some of my old parts were unusable (or missing, since they departed the van
when the end link broke), but I managed to put together a symmetric mix of
parts that appeared to work.  With the end links attached, I proceeded to
mount the bar to the body.

Surprise surprise...the 19mm bushings that attach to the body are the same
shape as the 21mm ones, but they are shorter.  Also, VW changed the mounting
bracket style, going from the two-bolt style of 1984 and older to the
one-bolt-and-tongue style of the later vans.  Thus, I couldn't use the new
brackets without altering the van.  So I used my old brackets with the new
bushings and made a shim to go between the bushing and the body.  I found
some large 2-3mm thick washers in my "parts bin" from other cars; these
weren't quite thick enough, so I fabricated some sleeves for them out of a
bicycle inner tube.  I put two sleeves over the washers - this way I'd have
rubber-to-metal, not metal-to-metal, and it took up the space perfectly.  I
torqued down the brackets and had zero play.  Mission accomplished.

Now for the test drive.  I have 205/65-15 Agilis 51's on my van - I posted
previously about how these tires are great and changed the handling balance
of my bus.  Tires make a huge difference on the Vanagon for under/oversteer,
as I found out; the car tires on my van when I bought it provided HUGE
understeer, while the Agilis were far more neutral.  With the 19mm bar
installed, my van handles very nicely without having too much understeer.
I've been driving it with no bar for nearly a year now, so the difference
was obvious.  No more big roll angles up front, the on-center dead zone of
the steering is greatly reduced, and a lot of the bobbing is gone.  I expect
gains in crosswind stability as well, but I haven't had any winds to test in
yet.  The handling is very good with this setup, better than the original
21mm bar provided.  I hit one of my favorite test ramps, and I gained
controllability without losing the nice balance I had without the bar.  It
is more secure, the motions are smaller and more controlled, and the van
still does not understeer much at all.  I'm quite happy with this setup.  I
thought perhaps I'd need to get a rear bar for the van after fixing the
front one to get back the handling balance, but now I see I don't need to.

So what I learned was that you can install the 19mm bar and endlinks from a
newer van on your older (earlier 1984 manuf date - I think the changeover
was in October of 84) van with a little creativity and time.  Don't mix the
endlinks, however - always use two of the same kind since they don't have
identical geometry.  I also learned to keep an eye on the end links and make
sure they are free to pivot.  And I did all this with the van on the
ground - you gotta love ground clearance.  Never needed a jack once.

Hopefully this was useful.

Chris