IRS control arm bushings

Good work !...........Bruce

@edsnova, yep that's the job.  A press (link below) would make it a LOT easier.  (It did on mine)

https://www.harborfreight.com/...ml?_br_psugg_q=press

@edsnova  Do you have a Bentley manual for that year?  If not, I can copy the diagonal arm pages from mine and PM them to you.

I changed mine back around 2010 or so, for sort-of the same reason - They were original 1969 VW and they HAD to be worn out by 2010, right?  Maybe not...

So I got a new pair of VW bushings and dropped everything off at an automotive machine shop about three miles from my house to replace them.  Drop them off by 9am and pick them up around 3pm same day for $30 bucks each.  After seeing the photos and reading your epic Odyssey, I'm kind-of glad I dropped them off for someone else (who knew what they were doin') to replace them.

BTW:  I had the car 4-wheel aligned after replacing the bushings and camber is adjustable back there by messing with the position of the wheel hub against the spring plates and/or using thin metal shims if they're really out there.  

When I torqued the 17mm cap bolts back in, I just cut a 2" piece off of the long end of my (now short enough to fit in my roll-up tool kit in the frunk) 17mm tranny allen wrench and torqued them up to 87-90 ft lbs. with a regular click-type torque wrench.
Bingo-Bongo.

I bought a HF 12 ton press over ten years ago, now.

For the $120 I paid it has been more than well worth owning.

I've pressed so many things with it, mostly wheel bearings and races on all manner of things. Then there are the many full transmission rebuilds, including the 3rd and 4th gear synchro hubs(and Mig welding them!). I even pressed the front motor mount on my Cayman.

The last thing I used it for was the front wheel hubs on my Dodge truck. They started making noise and eventually got pretty loud. They consist of a large sealed bearing with 3 huge bolts holding it to the aluminum upright. A new hub and 5 studs are included as well as a new ABS sensor.

They are almost $200 each and MUST be pressed off. Why? The aluminum upright fuses to the steel bearing housing. Heat and a press make it easy, you could beat on it all day and they wouldn't budge(I tried with a 10 pound sledge!)

You could have soaked them in this or  the ends for a day .... in this or Por-15 them ... just saying.

Aluminium to steel sets up some sort of a galvanic chemical reaction that forms a crystalline structure that literally welds the two pieces together.  I've used the tried and true Automatic Tranny Fluid and Acetone mix to no avail - nothing seems to break down the stuff welding them together other than heat (often, lots of it) and a big moosie shop press.

@DannyP:  We had big power steering gearboxes (steel) on GMC school buses that (for about two years) was held in place with a big, Moosie aluminum bracket that fit over and around the steering column end as a support.  Why aluminum?  Beats me...  Those chassis would be equivalent to a Ford F650 or a GM C6500, today.

They were a real bear to separate if the box failed (which was too often, back then - School buses tend to work a lot of drivetrain parts pretty hard).  An ex-Navy-SeaBee friend of my Dad told me that coating both mating surfaces with Red Glyptal would insulate them from the corrosion and make future separations easier - They "did it in Korea all the time".  I didn't trust him (Red Glyptal is usually used by electricians who make really big sparks and this was on a bus) but for a $10 bottle we tried it.

Son-of-a-gun, it really worked.  I think the trick is to insulate both surfaces with some sort of non-reactive stuff which is exactly what Red Glyptal is.  I don't know about Green Glyptal - never used it, but I believe it to be conductive, versus the red, non-conductive stuff.  The Military probably uses both - They use all sorts of weird stuff, especially the CBs.  I think they got someone to invent Cosmoline, too, and they use that stuff everywhere, especially in salty, humid climates.

Gonna update this cuz it's fairly hilarious. I got the bushings all changed out and buttoned the car back up 2 weeks ago. Set it back down on the lift ramps and rocked it back and forth a few times to settle the suspension.

Camber is still about -3 degrees on both sides. I think that's slightly better than the -5 or so it was showing before, but still not what I was hoping for.

I bled the brakes and got ready last Saturday to try a test drive. Turned the key and nothing.

Well, battery hadn't been on trickle for a minute so I plugged it back in and left it overnight.

Sunday AM still no good. Cleaned the terminals (which were clean). Cleaned the starter lug and the wires attached to the solenoid. No good.

Got a faint "click."

Wait I don't hear the fuel pump now when I turn the key. Changed the fuse.

Checked all the other fuses. None blown.

Battery test. OK.

Tried jumping the positive from the battery to the starter. No good.

Tried with the negative. No good. Both at once then? Nope.

Jumper cables to the Spyder battery. NG.

AH! Cleaned the ground connection on the chassis.

No change.

Swapped the MG battery for the Spyder's. Spyder started up easy. MG: no.

Swapped them back.

The fuel pump fuse is blown again?? Changed.

Looked for other fuse problems again. None.

By now it's like Wednesday. WTF? I drove this car onto the lift a couple months ago. It was FINE!

Friday night I just go back and clean all the battery terminals again and the starter lug and the little tongues for the wires that go to the solenoid on the starter. Sandpaper, little metal picks. I plug the wires back in and turn the key. The engine starts immediately. Vroom!

I shut it down. Next day: test drive!

Moved the blue car out of the way and was about to push Bridget off the lift and out of the garage when I thought: "Hmmm. Maybe start it on the lift this time and back it out."

Starts right up! Good good! Clutch in, shift into reverse and

BRRRRRRRRR!!

Grinding.

Push clutch pedal a little harder: SKKKKKKGGGG!

1st? SKKKKKGGG!!

Shut off. Try gears. All there.

OK now what? I haven't touched the clutch cable since installing it in 2014. I turn the wingnut. Turn it again. Hmmm. A little too easy. Try the clutch pedal again and SKKKKGGGGG!

So I crank on it, get that sucker tight.

Hit the clutch pedal and hear "ping!" Trying reverse still gets SKKKKKG!!

So: ordered a new cable. It came Wednesday.

This AM I went out and pulled the old one. Hmmm. Looks fine. No fraying, no unwinding....

By now @Gordon Nichols has guessed the problem: whilst sitting on the lift quietly, my clutch cable tube somehow detached itself from the inside of the tunnel, creating a slack situation.

So I pulled the driver's seat and folded up the carpet. Next up: cutoff wheel.

.

So, you remember that homeless guy who stopped you in the grocery parking lot last month?

"...Beware the Ides of September."

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@Gordon Nichols posted:

Aluminium to steel sets up some sort of a galvanic chemical reaction that forms a crystalline structure that literally welds the two pieces together.  I've used the tried and true Automatic Tranny Fluid and Acetone mix to no avail - nothing seems to break down the stuff welding them together other than heat (often, lots of it) and a big moosie shop press.

@DannyP:  We had big power steering gearboxes (steel) on GMC school buses that (for about two years) was held in place with a big, Moosie aluminum bracket that fit over and around the steering column end as a support.  Why aluminum?  Beats me...  Those chassis would be equivalent to a Ford F650 or a GM C6500, today.

They were a real bear to separate if the box failed (which was too often, back then - School buses tend to work a lot of drivetrain parts pretty hard).  An ex-Navy-SeaBee friend of my Dad told me that coating both mating surfaces with Red Glyptal would insulate them from the corrosion and make future separations easier - They "did it in Korea all the time".  I didn't trust him (Red Glyptal is usually used by electricians who make really big sparks and this was on a bus) but for a $10 bottle we tried it.

Son-of-a-gun, it really worked.  I think the trick is to insulate both surfaces with some sort of non-reactive stuff which is exactly what Red Glyptal is.  I don't know about Green Glyptal - never used it, but I believe it to be conductive, versus the red, non-conductive stuff.  The Military probably uses both - They use all sorts of weird stuff, especially the CBs.  I think they got someone to invent Cosmoline, too, and they use that stuff everywhere, especially in salty, humid climates.

I’ve always slathered that sort of stuff up with copper anti-seize. Isn’t that what it’s made for?

@edsnova

Yeah!  Get out the "Spinning Wheel of Destruction!"

I cut my "Inspection Port" on the passenger side of the tunnel and IIRC, it's 4" tall and over 6" wide, more-or-less centered on the pedal base, and the opening gives you plenty of room to get a MIG in there to weld the tube back to the bracket inside.  That weld point is about 3"-4" behind the pedal mount center.

It also makes getting the clutch cable back onto the pedal hook super easy.  You then have the option of welding the piece back in place or using fasteners to put it back.  (Mine is still easily removable).

Don't forget to see if you can weld the other end (just ahead of the transaxle) to the frame, too, or use the patented @David Stroud IM Roadster D trick with a winged fastener that fits over the rear end of the tube and gets anchored that way.  Take a look up in there from below - It may be just easier to get a MIG tip up in there and zap it back.

Oh, and Welcome to the next degree of Madness, Padewan!

So I cracked on this afternoon, slicing away a plate I'd welded to the tunnel on the driver's side to get access a little behind the spot where the tube ends behind the pedal. (The passenger side of the tunnel is too busy, with multiple fuel lines and whatnot running along it).

The tube was only moving slightly when pressed with my hand. I made a bracket, shaped to the tube, and snapped it in, then welded it to the tunnel on the outside near the top of the hole. Then I gusseted it with another piece and welded that on the bottom of the hole. Tacked the tube where it was snapped in.

With that now solid, I threaded the cable back in, nice and greasy, reinstalled the pedal cluster, popped on the bowden tube, cinched up the cable end on the throw arm and tried it. The pedal felt right.

Started the car and

BZZZSSSSSKKKKRRRRK!!

Tried it a skosh tighter. Nope.

So I guess it's in the bell housing. Somehow the throwout bearing or the throw arms broke while the car was sitting on the lift.

Wonder if the TOB came loose at the clip or broke....

The weird thing is, the pedal feels the same as ever. Not tighter, looser, lumpier or smoother or harder or easier.

OMG, what an adventure. Fun hobby, huh??

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So do BRRRRRRRRR!! and BZZZSSSSSKKKKRRRRK!! mean you're getting that in neutral? In reverse before letting the clutch out? In first before letting the clutch out? In reverse and first as you let the clutch out?

I ask because I suddenly had a loud screeching sound letting the clutch out in reverse and then not. And then again a day or so later. And then occasionally starting off in first.

Loud, metallic screeching I'd never heard before.

Turned out to be the pilot bearing. Not the TOB.

Go know, right?

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It grinds with the clutch pedal fully depressed as I attempt to get any gear. As if the pedal is not depressed.

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I forget, had you recently taken play out of the clutch pedal?

A few years back I noticed about two inches of free play in the clutch pedal. So, I started turning the wing nut to get that down to what folklore says is normal - about a half-inch to an inch. Had to take in a lot of turns to get there but eventually did.

All was cool for a few weeks and then one day I push the clutch all the way in and the clutch is making very unhappy sounds. Kennedy Stage One.

It turns out if you push the pedal too far down, you overextend the springs in the pressure plate and the rivets holding the springs in can just let go.

Everyone talks about getting the freeplay at the beginning of the stroke right but I'd never heard you could wreck a clutch that way, too.

So much to know, so little time.

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Could be what happened. But probably not.

I expect I will be taking more things apart very soon.

Yes indeed: you do not want to over extend the clutch plate by having the friction point too high, and then pushing the pedal to the bottom stop.  Learned that the hard way on my old coupes.  Nothing actually broke into pieces, but the diaphragm spring fingers fatigued and tiny cracks formed in the metal, so clutch pressure got reduced to unacceptable levels by and by.  WTF Ed is in to here I have no idea.  But I trust in his determination and that we will be informed about it all soon enough.