Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 02:32:12 -0500
Reply-To: Max Wellhouse <dimwittedmoose@CFU.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Max Wellhouse <dimwittedmoose@CFU.NET>
Subject: Re: broken gas pedal
In-Reply-To: <4A08DDF5.4030400@myfairpoint.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Joy: Mike is right about this fix being a 2 person job. I would
only add that when I did this repair, I reamed out the two holes with
a 3/16th's " drill bit and installed stainless steel phillips head
machine screws(#10 or 3/`16th" available at most any hardware store
like an Ace or Trustworthy or Tru-Value) and stainless steel washers
on both sides. I wanted this to be the last time I had to "screw"
with this repair. Our local Ace Hardware store has an awesome
selection of stainless steel fasteners, but I'm sure others do
too. Tools needed to do the repair would be something to scrape all
the mud and grunge away from the area, a proper sized phillips screw
driver, the aforementioned drill and bit,and a 1/4" drive rachet with
a long extension and a 3/8" socket; a deep wall socket if you use a
long screw. tighten the screws so they are firmly in there, but not
so tight that you stress the plastic in to cracking. There's an
outside chance that it's the rivets that failed in the floorboard and
not the hinge failing, but Matilda maybe deserves a new pedal after
all these years. I priced the little piece of linkage that connects
from the pedal to the bell crank under the van and they wanted like
$25 for that little piece of steel. I think even Bus Depot gets like
$12 or 13 last time I checked.
A 3/8th's inch wrench or even a vice grip will work in a pinch if
tools are hard to come by, but that forces the person inside the van
to do all the twisting and the initial resistance with the nylox nuts
is sufficient to give the average forearm muscle serious fatigue.
T
FWIW, mine failed a year or two ago when it was below zero out and
that was one cold repair. Finding a fellow co-worker to help was a
challenge in the company parking lot.
DM&FS
>Joy Hecht wrote:
>>The bottom end of the pedal, which apparently should be attached to
>>something in the floor, is not
>>attached to anything.
>
>
> From the factory, the pedal was attached to the floor with two rivets.
> Those rivets broke on my '84 automatic and I fixed them with screws
>and nuts. In that I usually work alone, I had no one to hold the nuts
>to get the screws started so I used JB Quick to attach them to the
>underside then put the screws in from the top.
>
>They later broke on my '85 standard ... away from home, of course, so I
>punched out what remained of the broken rivets and ran long wood screws
>through from the top. They didn't actually screw to anything ... they
>just sat in the holes. Anyway, that "Temporary" fix to get me home
>lasted over a year until I put screws and nuts on there.
>
>Mike
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