Date:         Mon, 15 Jul 2013 19:16:46 -0400
Reply-To:     David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Subject:      Re: Running out of castor adjustment
Comments: To: phishman068@GMAIL.COM
In-Reply-To:  <33739646-4EEA-4AA8-8993-7D39EA8CD20C@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

At 06:39 PM 7/15/2013, Craig Cowan wrote:
>Looks like they got it right! Just took a bunch of cursing.
>Thanks guys!

Craig, I think you need to take a careful look at that.  If I'm
understanding you the adjustment is ending up well over half an inch
away from the midpoint, and clearly well beyond what VW contemplated
or made allowance for.    It's a simple adjustment; it's just setting
how far back the lower end of the steering knuckle can ride compared
to the upper end, which in theory is fixed fore-and-aft.  Half an
inch of movement corresponds to around three degrees of caster if my
hand-waving is about right.  It's controlled by the location of the
upper control arm anchors, the lower control arm anchor, and the
radius rod anchor, all in the body.

 From your description the radius rod isn't long enough to
accommodate the necessary dimensions, suggesting that the radius rod
or lower control arm mounting might have been shoved forward or the
upper control arm mountings aft.  But it seems more likely to me that
there was a setup problem or the shop was using the wrong numbers.

Yrs,
d