Cunegonde limped over to Portland's Halsey Automotive (with a stop at the restoration shop Always Vee Dub for a new speedo cable). I was reassured by the dozen or so Vanagons, most of them Westies, neatly parked around the building, along with older busses and some newer VW and Audi sedans. "Tom" reports the front shocks are, indeed, shot, but the real problem is the front driver's wheel bearings, which wobbling wheel trashed the worn ball joints and control arm bushings. They, of course, recommend also replacing the driver's front corner spindle assembly, all four wheel bearings, plus all four shocks, at the same time. Wish me luck about their being able to recover the existing spindle. If not , anyone have a good source? My budget can't cover an all-four-corners re-bush plus bearings plus shocks right now, so what does the list wisdom say about just front bearings, bushings, ball joints, and front shocks (Konis or Bilstein HDs?) now, with rear shocks/bearings in a few months, when I do the rear drum brakes? They say the springs look fine, so I won't be able to give a report on Moog 5658 or 5660 springs. I also re-measured my ride height, and I'm at 16.75" in the rear, 16.25" front (the sagging corner is 15") with two aboard and full tank fuel/water/spares. -- Bretts 1983 1.9l WBX Ivory Westfalia "Cunegonde" |
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