Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 02:08:21 -0400
Reply-To: Derek Drew <derekdrew@RCN.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Derek Drew <derekdrew@RCN.COM>
Subject: Re: Sway bar link breakage - are you at risk?
In-Reply-To: <20040621202611.67474.qmail@web52506.mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
I used waterproof marine grease on mine and they still rusted over about
six months.
The grease is the won't-wash-off type.
But apparently the thing is very exposed to the airstream down there and
the air and water washed the grease out.
I haven't tried to take it apart yet but it looks doubtful!
I gained from this the impression that only stainless steel studs should be
put into there and then a stainless steel nut used. Not sure how bad a
battery would be set up in the downlink to put a stainless stud into it,
however. Might turn the junction into dust over a period of time?
At 04:26 PM 6/21/2004, you wrote:
>No, this is not a lecture about VD, boys and girls. ;-)
>
>I replaced the sway bar on the front of Hershey due to a broken
>right sway bar down link. I had to literally POUND the broken
>stud out of its mount because it was rusted solidly in place. I
>took a good look at the front suspension, the good link along
>with its sleeve and here are my thoughts: The sway bar links
>look as if they need to be able to rotate and move along with
>the front suspension and react to any play in the front bushings
>under braking and cornering forces. When your links rust in
>place, possibly because the van sat up long enough for rust to
>form, this slight movement is no longer possible which puts
>excessive side loads on the skinny links. Then you either hit a
>big bump with one wheel or brake forcibly and PANG! - you've
>got yourself a broken down link.
>
>I'd like to hear what others think of this and if you think
>semi-annual lubage of the links, sleeves and bushings with some
>waterproof grease would help to reduce the likelyhood of this
>type of failure.
>
>May the lube be with you,
>
>
>=====
>Chris S.'85 Westy Camel -> http://www.knology.net/~vw/dadada.jpg'84 Westy
>Hershey -> http://www.knology.net/~vwghost/hershey/'01 NB TDI ->
>http://www.knology.net/~vw/Beetle.jpg
________________________________________________________
Derek Drew Washington, DC
derekdrew@rcn.com Phone 202-966-7907
Email me for viscous coupling s (Cell 703-408-1532)
'90 Syncro Westfalia...
...seen off-road at
http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/Syncro_Madness_Area.htm
...seen with 30.5" tall tires at
http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/vanagon/images/dereks245_75_16.jpg
Note: most valuable Vanagon sites on the planet (for owners) are:
http://gerry.vanagon.com/cgi-bin/wa.exe?S1=vanagon
http://gerry.vanagon.com/files/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro
http://www.vanagon.com
http://www.syncro.org
Many of my Syncro list postings consolidated
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/messagesearch?query=212-580-6486
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/messagesearch?query=202-966-7907
My refrigerator article:
http://www.vanagon.com/info/articles/Refrigerator/Reefer_Madness.htm
All About 16" Wheels And The CV-900.htm
http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/vanagon/All_About_16-Wheels_And_The_CV_900.htm
All About Viscous Couplings
http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/vanagon/viscous_couplings_vanagon_syncro.htm
How To Live With Heavy List Volume--Mail Filters
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/message/7403
My article that shows how to deal with insurance companies:
http://gerry.vanagon.com/files/auto-insurance-madness.html
To read some material about how to add a front differential lock to your syncro
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/message/13105
To view Wolfgang's incredibly informative wheel article
http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/fitbigtiresonvanagon.htm
To view Tim Smith's incredibly useful gearing calculator
http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/syncrotireandgearratios.xls
To view two articles about how to think about improving your gears at
transmission rebuild time
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/message/7207
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/message/7221
To view an overview article about choices in larger sized tires see
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/message/11535
To view some 16" Trailing Arms that enable much larger tires see
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/syncrolist/files/Wheels%2C%20Tires%20%26%20Gearing/Wheel%20%26%20Tire%20Photos/16_Inch_Trailing_Arm.jpg
My article about belt protectors and CV joint protectors
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/message/6112
SYNCRO OWNERS WHO DRIVE OFF THE ROAD:
You only get to change your ring and pinions once every 10 years
because that's how long the average syncro transmission goes before
its next rebuild. If you want bigger tires and more ground clearance
start planning your higher number ring and pinion sets right now so
you
can take advantage of your next trans rebuild.