Hi all, made conversion from drums to disk brakes on T1 1974. I have used disks and calipers of 1973.Today i have installed new steering knuckle, ball joints upper and lower both sides.. My problem is one wheel is straight and other wheel facing out, what have i done wrong here i didn't take very much notice when i was installing camber adjuster? What have i done wrong and how can i fix problem? My front end is lower now then before looks better now at least..Thanks guys Dean

hmm... so u used dropped spindles (aka steering knuckles?). they aren't suppose to affect steering or suspension geometry. very odd... :S

Hmmmmmm what the???

Need to be clearer and maybe a few pics will help.

Hi, if you straight right wheel then left is out and if you straighten left then right wheel is out using steering wheel hope this will help cheers Dean

You need to adjust the length of the tie rods to give your steering the correct geometry. The front toe is set to factory spec of 2mm IIRC, this is done after centering the steering box and then adjusting the length of the tie rods acordingly. Of course all of this is done after the camber is set at the top ball joint.

Hi Matberry, thanks for reply. I will adjust tie rod ends and it should be safe to drive for wheel alignment??? cheers

Hi Lee, thank you for replying here, good advice from you too, i will adjust tie rod ends on Sunday and Monday i will take car for wheel alignment....I just cant understand after replacing ball joints and other parts that wheel could be so much out...I will take photo so everyone can have look... cheers Dean

When you take it to a wheel alignment shop make sure that they know what they're actually doing. Any wheel aligner in the country can align a Commodore blindfolded but old VWs are a bit different. I took my Beetle to a Bob Jane T-Marts once, after asking them over the phone whether they had experience with Beetles and were competent in them. They said that it would be fine. I requested a four-wheel alignment, but they didn't know how to adjust the rear end at all and told me that they wouldn't touch it. So, they attempted to align the front wheels only. I asked them to adjust the steering box but they said that this was too difficult and would require the fuel tank to come out (I realised later that there is an access hatch held in by one screw, otherwise I would have told them). It took them 2 and a half hours attempting to align the front, after which they had only managed to adjust the toe in correctly. They charged me a heavily discounted rate despite all the extra labour so I was happy anyway. But the next time I asked around all the VW people, who recommended Fred Vella Tyres as the only place to get a wheel alignment, as there is a wheel aligner there who was trained specifically for VWs back in the old days. Ask around in your local area to find out who the local VW wheel alignment guy is.

Hi Waveman, You have good point there and i know where is fred wella on south rd. I am in clovelly park and can you recomend me to some one who does vw t1 around my area thanks

Here is photo what it looks like at moment..

another photo

Hi waveman would you have their phone number mate, i will give them call first thing monday morning...cheers

It only takes two minutes on Google, mate!

We are located at 989 South Road Melrose Park 5039
Phone (08) 8276 3177

http://www.fredvellatyres.com.au/map.htm 

Hi Lee, I don't think i have installed camber adjuster in same place that could be my problem all i did is replaced parts and didn't make any other adjustments. Is it possible to adjust cambers loosing ball joint and wheels of the ground with shifter...i have used grease when i installed it..cheers

Seems odd mate,
but i woulndt be too worried at this stage. Drive it as is slowly and get the guys at freds to have a look at it. They di d all the wheel alignments for German Auto that used to be around the corner. Yes the canber adjustment is made easily once the ball joint is loosened. YOu could have a go yourself to try and get it closer, but unless youre willing to spend a lot of time spend the 30-60 bucks and ask them to do a good job.

There was a comment about the steering box. This shouldn't need any adjustment. A good wheel aligner will realise if the whell is not centered or not giving you as many steering wheel rotations left and right.

Good luck

Hi Dubbin thanks for reply here, i am prepared to pay and have job done properly by wheel alignment experts at moment car is all over road and disk brakes are great...cheers

Hi Dubbin just to let you know i took car today for wheel alignment and John has done excellent job and has advised me to get new front shockers and new steering box hopefully will be fitted by weekend...thanks for guiding me to right people

Have you bought a new box yet? you might be able to clean out the old one, fill it with new grease or oil and adjust it to get a good response... Once you pull it down and clean out all the crap they are pretty easy to understand. You can take the whole thing apart and get a really tight box for your hard work. I did none a few years ago and it was beautiful to the touch afterwards...

good to hear back and good luck

Hi Dubbin new steering box and shocks ARRIVE on Wednesday but i will keep old box as spare and rebuild it later...Front end will be completely done then it will be safe for driving till rego runs out...i like to get few more things done before summer...i have 1300 twin port thinking replacing with 1600 twin port how much difference is going to make and what you think???

If you can find some cheap parts it would be a good ugrade. Is the short block any good (block crank, rods, and end float?) if so you might be able to do it for less than 500 bucks, i'm not sure about this though... might be cheaper to just buy a sechondhand 1600... Have you read the aircooled.net stuff? its pretty good

I drove a 1500sp for years and now im hoping to go straight to a strong 1916cc someone might have a better understanding...

Well, I upgraded my old 1500 Beetle from a tired old 1500cc single port to a healthy stock 1600cc twin-port for $800 and I reckon it's worth it. I bought a used motor complete, which is the way I would recommend going about it. The difference in output was enough to make climbing Willunga hill in 4th gear easy, rather than having my foot flat to the floor in 3rd gear at a lower speed. I would say that the 1600cc twin port is just about the perfect power level for keeping up with modern traffic. You're not going to blow the doors off any V8s but the car will get out of it's own way quite nicely.

Oh, and I was the one who mentioned steering box adjustment, I just meant that it needed the slack taken out of it. I did it myself at home later, about half a turn of the screw reduced my steering free play dramatically.

Hi waveman, i have tried adjusting steering box but no luck its worn out, new box and shockers will fix my problem for few years to come...front looks good since i have lowered but not sure about what size tyres i can fit might have to keep stock rims and go one size bigger with tyres also have 14x6 rims not sure if its going to fit with bigger tyres, have you got any ideas??

I don't know much about lowering mate, I keep my bugs at stock height! Great for driving up and down kerbs! Also off-road shennanigans.

Hi just update new steering box installed and new shockers, seats are getting done next week and back to john for wheel alignment...i have 1600TP that will be installed at later stage cheers