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ADVICE ON THESE 1970 BEETLE STEERING RODS..
snitz - October 28th, 2013 at 09:34 PM

Hey peeps!..Im about to install a narrowed and dropped-spindled ball joint beam in the wifes 1970 Beetle..The steering rods I have are as pictured..The inner tie-rod ends that go on the pitman arm are coarse thread and both of the outer tierods are fine thread.Both the inners and outer are the larger diameter taper shaft. Is it recommended to run castleated nuts where ever possible?..or should I buy fine and coarse threaded nyloc nuts?..Any feedback or advice to help me before I install it all would be greatly appreciated..cheers Jason.
http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss283/psirx7/steering1.jpg

http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss283/psirx7/steering2.jpg

http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss283/psirx7/steering3.jpg

http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss283/psirx7/steering4.jpg

http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss283/psirx7/steering5.jpg

STIDUB - October 28th, 2013 at 10:02 PM

Tie rods are m14, one left hand. One right hand so you can adjust the toe. The clamp end uses the clamp to lock it, the other end is a weird jam nut that sits half over the end of the rod & a half but that tightens onto that.
Balljoint to spindle thread is a fine metric thread also around 14mm I believe? All right hand, nyloc or glenloch nuts will be fine on those, provided they are 8.8 or higher grade.

It's been awhile since I looked at mine & I don't use standard style rods anymore but that should help a bit,thankyou lanner @ vdubenginering :tu:

snitz - October 28th, 2013 at 10:37 PM

Cheers for the input STIDUB.The angled inner tierod was given to me by my VW mechanic today..A little rusty, but NOS. I will obviously use the castle nut and split-pin on that due to the limited thread length that would only be suitable for the castle nut, but nyloc on the rest. I just dont want to do anything half arsed especially with steering components..Cheers Jason.

vw54 - October 29th, 2013 at 05:41 AM

buy the later type tie rod ends the castellated nuts ones are for early bug and have a different taper from memory

Sides - October 29th, 2013 at 08:44 AM

Nyloc nuts FTW.

Presumably the tie-rods have been narrowed to suit the beam ???

matberry - October 29th, 2013 at 12:48 PM

Nylocs are fine and is what generally come with the new ends. All that is required is some form of locking, ie. nyloc OR split pin. the thread is not relivamt, as long as the taper is correct

snitz - October 29th, 2013 at 10:10 PM

Cheers peoples!..yes the rods have been shortened as they came out of a running car...but was missing an inner tie rod and nyloc nuts.If the Inner tie rod with the castellated nut has the wrong taper I'll just use the one thats currently in the wifes beetle on the Pitman arm which obviously matches the taper for the pitman arm. Time to put it all in soon and buy some matching Bilsteins for the front!.

While Im talking about the front end..Is an aftermarket narrowed front swaybar a necessity for my front end that is narrowed with adjusters, dropped spindled and running monotube gas Bilsteins?.

matberry - October 29th, 2013 at 11:30 PM

Better to run the sway bar in my opinion. The handling is noticably improved. Just narrow a stock one unless your running one on the rear

snitz - October 30th, 2013 at 09:25 PM

That brings me to another question..lol.
If I go aftermarket sway bars are Empi my only option?..I have a feeling Whiteline gear is no longer available..With the torsion bars and bilsteins for the rear that Richard Holzl has supplied me he says I wont need a rear sway bar..so I guess a narrowed stock front bar by itself may be an alternative option..Dunno..lol.