Dear Vanagoneers!

I searched the vanagon site while reading how to replace a ball joint due to a cracked boot and came across some info about self Vulkenizing tape. (see below) I was unable to find out where you get it, what members experience with it was, or what its brand name is?? (All the posters have vacated their email addresses, I hope not due to the tape!) If anybody knows anything more about it I'd love to hear from you,

Thanks,

- Peter '87 Syncro 84K Honda CBR 600 23K Reply to: printstud@bigfoot.com

Date: Thu, 21 Nov 96 20:05:10 EST Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com> From: jag@cs.rochester.edu Subject: Save your ball joints!

Do you have an early 80's Vanagon, or similar vintage VW? VW uses "permanently lubricated" joints in the suspension on the late model busses. Grease is kept in and dirt kept out by a flexible rubber boot. This works well, saving you (or your mechanic) from having to "lube", but only for a while. After 10 years or so, the rubber usually cracks, and the previously sealed joint is now exposed to the elements. The Bentley manual says: replace ball joint!

I noticed this summer that the rubber boots on my ball joints were getting brittle and one of them had cracked. However the joints themselves were still ok, and the suspension "tight"(*). Instead of replacing the joints per Bentley, I thought about other solutions:

Replacing the boot: about as difficult as replacing the joint, since the joint has to be taken out to slip a new boot over it.

"Renew" the boot: Well how can you do that? Self vulcanizing (or self curing) rubber tape is a product, which much like a inner tube rubber patch chemically bonds to itself and other rubber. The tape however is much thinner and elastic than even racing bicycle tube patches.

To apply the tape on the old boots I first thoroughly cleaned everything and let it dry. Then I applied a thin coat of vulcanizing solution (as found in tire repair kits) to the old boot. The tape cures to itself without any extra solution, but the old boots had a dry and cracked surface, which needed to be softened to make the tape stick. I waited a minute or two for the solution to work, and then applied a thin layer (two overlapping turns) of tape stretched to about half its original thickness.

Before sealing the one cracked boot I also injected a little new grease through the crack.

When I inspected the joints 6 month later (this weekend) I found that the repaired boots still look fine, and were as flexible as when I first put the tape on.

(*) I checked the front end for "tightness" by lifting the bus and trying to rock the wheel in all directions. Is there a better way to do this?

/Martin and '82 diesel westy -- Martin Jagersand email: jag@cs.rochester.edu Computer Science Department jag@cs.chalmers.se University of Rochester Fax: (716) 461-2018 Rochester, NY 14627-0226 WWW: http://www.cs.rochester.edu/u/jag/