Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2008 21:13:46 -0800
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Upper Control Arm Bushing Replacment?
In-Reply-To: <71d9cdf90801072013g7ad0a574k6df6a4235c8f3c62@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Thanks for saying this Jake.
It bothered me too that someone would just dismiss the need for the tack
welds with ' It's not going anywhere.' .........kinda wishful thinking.
Obviously there's a reason it's done that way, and it is a critical item.
< people think brakes are the most critical system on cars. They're not,
the *steering* is and you sure don't want anything coming out of place in
that system >
and your point about keeping the bearing surface be what it is supposed to
be is right on.
I mean, somebody could get killed with 'information' carelessly posted on
the internet.
If the guy didn't weld his say, and drove 70K miles with no problems, then
he should say That, not just dismiss a critical item with those words 'it's
not going anywhere.'
I'm amazed how people justify taking shortcuts so easily.
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Jake de Villiers
Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 8:14 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Upper Control Arm Bushing Replacment?
Good tutorial John, but I beg to differ on the subject of the tack welds.
Their purpose is to immobilise the bushing housing so that the bearing
surfaces are the ones designed for the task, ie the inner parts.
On Jan 7, 2008 8:02 PM, John Meeks <vanagon@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Jan 7, 2008 9:40 PM, David Wilhite <dlwilhite@comcast.net> wrote:
> > I can't seem to find anything of substance regarding the upper control
> bushing replacment in the archives. Can anybody provide an overview of
the
> replacment? Are any special tools needed, welding, etc.?
>
>
> David,
>
> First, soak the large nut on the ends of the long bolt that goes
> through the wishbone arm ends as well as the Allen head bolts that
> hold the upper ball joint to the wishbone with a good penetrating oil.
> Have some anti seize compound as well as some good synthetic grease an
> hand for reassembly.
>
> Jack up the front of the van on both sides and place jack stands on
> each side on the frame inboard of the jack points. Wheels off.
>
> Next, remove the two Allen bolts holding the upper ball joint and lift
> the wishbone arm up to free the steering arm/ball joint assembly which
> you can then move forward and out of the way.
>
> Now comes the fun part. Get a socket on the long bolt nut which is to
> your left or at the rear arm of the wishbone and a hex key to hold the
> long bolt head. Remove the nut and slide the long bolt out forward.
> This is where I had the most trouble. Spent hours getting that long
> bolt to move. Had to cut one with a sawsall blade. Hopefully yours
> will come right out. There are a couple of offset (eccentric) washers
> on this long bolt which you need to keep. Notice and remember where
> these washers go.Once that long bolt is out you can lift the wishbone
> out.
>
> The bushings are probably welded to the wishbone arm so you'll need to
> grind off the welds in order to press out the bushings. I just took
> both wishbones to a real mechanic with a press to do the bushing
> replacement. Once the new bushings are pressed in, you can tack weld
> the bushings to the arm, or not. It's not going anywhere. If you do
> weld the bushings, use an arc welder cause gas weld will overheat the
> bushing material.
>
> Clean the rust and junk off the long bolt. I painted mine with POR-15.
>
> When you're ready to re-assemble the whole mess, pack the tube that
> the long bolt goes into with the synthetic grease, put the wishbone in
> position and slide the long bolt back through the bushings replacing
> the eccentric washers as you go with the largeer lobe of the washer
> down. Tthe long bolt has a flat side. this side should be vertical and
> to the inside of the van. Replace the nut using some anti-seize in the
> threads and tighten it to 55 ft/lbs (or 75 Newton meters eh).
>
> The rest as they say is the reverse of disassembly. The upper ball
> joint bolts get 40 ft/lbs of torque (55 Nm). You can use a hex key in
> a socket on your torque wrench.
>
> Drive straight to your local alignment guy to adjust the camber angle.
>
> Have fun with your vastly improved steering!!
>
> I can send you drawings of the whole assembly if that would help.
>
> Good Luck,
> --
> John Meeks
>
> '91 Multivan, '85 GL bits
> Northern Michigan
> KC8ZFN
>
> Vanagon Rescue Squad
> http://www.vanagonauts.com/Vanagon_Rescue_Squad74.htm
>
--
Jake
1984 Vanagon GL
1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie"
Crescent Beach, BC
www.crescentbeachguitar.com
http://subyjake.googlepages.com/
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