Ok ran the beetle into a kerb on my way home from work last night, i pulled the steering arm off this morning as it resembled a banana, so i put the arm in the press to straighten her up a bit and rebolted it back in, oh and the steering damper has popped to, but anyway back on track, there seemed to be a little bit of damage to the top of the swivel pin at the top (unsure of exact terminology) so when i put the car back on the ground its still toe-ed right out, where should i start for solving this?
matberry ·
Swivel pin ??? wtf is that, tie rod end maybe?
If it's a beam/torsion bar front end, the steering box may have moved on it's mount, but to damage a tie rod end, some serious hit occured.
Pauld ·
the two bits that swivel on the spindle, theres an upper and a lower, the bits that connect the beam to the wheel hub. the lower has what looks like a pin facing up and the upper faces down. i think its real name is the kingpin
alien8 ·
I would start by having a professional look at it. The whole front end my need to come out if it has taken a good knock. Its the bits you can't see that may cause alignment issues after an accident. Spewin!
Pauld ·
yeah that was my thought get it home and drop the front beam out as a whole and look at it all and work out what iv got and what i need, i was quite annoyed last night and then reversing 300 metres back to the workshop so it wasnt sitting on the road overnight
pod ·
as it looks like a later bug ,you mean the ball joints ,if a hard enough whack you can bend the spindle or the arms its attached too🙁
matberry ·
Pod's got it. The arm gets bent in a big hit.
VWCOOL ·
so does the beam...
h ·
take it to someone who really knows what they are doing if you dont..
bits that look like a banana after a whack doesnt sound sound good n the good old days of bush mechanics like bending back into shape are really not required as there are many replacement parts on offer that can be replaced..
n theyre not that dear compared to other models on the market
my 2c
good luck with it n itll be interesting to see what actually got bent as a result..
68AutoBug ·
I think He's talking about the trailing arms..
Bent??
thats some impact...
Best to get replacements
so Your steering- toe in etc will be OK...
Lee
68AutoBug ·
Maybe another complete assembly is what You need...
check for cracked paint on the front torsion bars
if it bends it usually cracks the paint...
cheers
LEE
Pauld ·
yeah my bush mechanics are just so that its good enough to drive onto a trailer, has any one got a pic of the two types of front ends so i no exactly which style mine has, its just this car seems to have bits pulled from everywhere so i cant be sure on anything
Pauld ·
Its a 68 model by the way
matberry ·
You'll have a ball joint torsion bar beam front end.
Pauld ·
Cheers
Pauld ·
ok after further examination the left hand side has been twisted so i will need another front beam
vwkg ·
Did you get on to the guy I mentioned?
Pauld ·
theres a complete beam on ebay atm so im onto that one and it looks like going cheaply
Special Air Service ·
Pauld,
You have a PM regarding the replacement beam you bought.
Cheers
Brendan
Pauld ·
well my beetle is finally back on the road got her sorted out this weekend and am incredibly glad to have it back after having it off the road for a touch over 2 months, it looks good with the new wheels and tyres so will post a couple of updated pics up of it
vwkg ·
How did the weekend cruise go?
Pauld ·
it went pretty well
vwkg ·
Not bad dude, not bad at all. Any other dubs out or were you the only two?