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Front Beam Roller Bearings.
MikeM - July 16th, 2004 at 11:45 AM

Hi All,

I have pulled my spare Balljoint Beam apart and I am currently re-conditioning it for use. On the weekend I pulled the needle bearings out of the ends and they are rusty and need replacement.

The Bearings only seem to have a VW part number on them so my question is:

Does anybody know the standard bearing part numbers for the front beam roller bearings?

If I can find this out I can get them from a standard bearing supply house.

Thanks

1303Steve - July 16th, 2004 at 12:31 PM

Hi

You can get special plastic ones from Vintage, other shops might have them as well, they work much better and dont gual the arms like the rollers do. Im pretty sure the rollers are a VW part only.

1302Steve

[Edited on 16-7-2004 by 1302Steve]

Desert Moose - July 16th, 2004 at 10:58 PM

MikeM go with what steve said..........
If you have problems getting them over there I will sell you some. The cost on the one-piece front end bushes is $120 a set plus post and are much better then roller bearings.
Regard's
Moose

68AutoBug - July 16th, 2004 at 11:48 PM

Plastic instead of needle rollers....??

Needle rollers last forever if greased every oil change with Lithium based Moly grease....

1303Steve - July 17th, 2004 at 12:39 AM

Hi

Its a special sort of plastic, has a special name I guess, needle bearings in this case are not the best choice, after all the trailing arms aren’t rotating at high RPM, the roller bearings contact the trailing arm in very narrow area and will gall the trailing arm and in an off-road situation the rollers can indent the trailing arm. Once this galling takes place the front end will become sloppy. The plastic sleeves contact the trailing arm on its whole surface and because of this they will resurrect previously unusable trailing arms which have been galled.

1302Steve

68AutoBug - July 17th, 2004 at 10:45 AM

Is there anything You don't know Steve??

Sounds Great for off roading as those needle rollers are only small... and with Large shock absorbers and more springs etc.... could mean a hard life for needle rollers.... as they are excellent for going round and round....
but NOT thump thump thump !! :):)

Lee

1303Steve - July 18th, 2004 at 12:05 AM

Hi Lee

There is lots I dont know, wish I knew tonights Lotto numbers. I pulled a front end apart from a Beetle race car that went ito the kitty litter, the needles impacted into the traling arms and left dents.

1302Steve

2443TT - July 18th, 2004 at 12:37 AM

Are these the Bugpack urathane torsion beam/trailing arm sleaves that are about 6 inches long?

Just a tip... when installing them remove your greese nipples, fully insert the bushing, then mark the bushings through the grease nipple hole.

Remove the bushing and drill the hole for the grease nipple and then reassemble it, this time with the nipple.

That way your greese nipples still actually work properly.

I've had a set of the bugpack ones on my street car for about 8 months now and they have survived so far.

About the VW roller bearings, i'm sure they are better than the bushings but yes they do wear groove's in the torsion arm. After about 30-40 years of use on a VW that is....

Cheers,

Ian.

[Edited on 17-7-2004 by iswinkels]