Got my new outer bearing and inner bushings today. The bushing seems to fit the trailing arm well. But...there is apparently a bushing carrier that's supposed to go in with it (or already be in there) which is not there.
And so it goes.
Had a tile order a few days ago porcelain and wrong ones sent, I got a second wrong ones sent... it happens.
You should see the parts I've got on the shelf because I thought I needed it and didn't understand the problem.
I've not seen any indication that these bushing carriers exist outside of old VW beams. I happen to have a spare. No idea if it's possible to remove one without destroying though...
My machinist buddy has pledged help. May end up turning something in aluminum.
I'm not mad so much as disappointed.
No, if you have the very old brass inner bushing it requires the also very old bakelite bushing carrier. The Micarta inner bushings are a direct replacement for both inner bushings and carriers and don't have their own carrier, they insert into the beam raw dog.
That said, I got SO TIRED of dealing with he aftermarket JUNK quality of the inner micartas blowing apart, our cars with front beams now feature Airkewld beams with Delrin inserts replacing the bearing and Micarta. Cost me 3x as much to build a front beam, but ride quality is greatly improved and Im going on year 4 without a single replacement bushing required...
I replaced my Micarta bushings (1969 beam) with Urethane back around 2007 or so and have had zero problems since.
Thanks, @chines1 for the useful lesson.
So now it appears what maybe happened is the Bakelite disintegrated—or the Micarta replacements did.
Presumably I've got the same in all four corners which means I'm back to the Delrin stuff if I don't want to use the sand rail solution (Sorry, @Gordon Nichols, I don't. I actually bought and then, after reading up on them, gave away a set of those urethane sleeves years ago.)
It would have been really helpful for Cip1 to include a note on the page with those inner bushings, to the effect of, "Caution, you must use the correct bushing carriers for these, NLA."
I love to waste $80 plus two weeks.
Courage, Ed.
Some day, you'll look back philosophically on all of this and think it was a pain in the ass.
Some day?
@chines1 posted:No, if you have the very old brass inner bushing it requires the also very old bakelite bushing carrier. The Micarta inner bushings are a direct replacement for both inner bushings and carriers and don't have their own carrier, they insert into the beam raw dog.
That said, I got SO TIRED of dealing with he aftermarket JUNK quality of the inner micartas blowing apart, our cars with front beams now feature Airkewld beams with Delrin inserts replacing the bearing and Micarta. Cost me 3x as much to build a front beam, but ride quality is greatly improved and Im going on year 4 without a single replacement bushing required...
Way to go Carrey, that is so helpful to so many I am sure.
I have nothing useful, or even philosophical to add, other than to say I'm really sorry, man.
Experience is the teacher who always gives the lesson after you've already failed the test. Nobody should have to go through this sort of thing, but anybody who does anything does. You are a doer. As such, you get smacked down, get up, dust off, and get smacked down again. Such is the lot of the builder of things.
You sir, are the man.
Discussed matters with my buddy who has been a machinist for 30 years and builds Bugs and stuff in his spare time. He's never had a VW beam "this far apart." He offered to turn me up a carrier out of aluminum. I told him what Carey said, above, and we thought about what the other three corners of the beam held in store. All agree the best option is to R&R all the bushings and bearings in the beam with white Delrin. Ordered same.
I'll see if Cip1 will take back the unused bronze bushings and the one bearing I bought.
What Stan said. You've just got to carry on and fix it. It's what guys with "the affliction" do.
You've just got to carry on and fix it. It's what guys with "the affliction" do........... "Ain't" that the gospel truth, that's how we get so many new parts for future use.
'Cause you never know when you're going to need a ......
...37mm reamer. One will be needed to do this job; they appear to retail for about $200 to $800. Insert crude joke wherever I’m already bleeding from...
Wouldn't it be nice to find out that Harbor Freight has one with a coupon or that you could rent one from Advance Auto for a day. Sigh. I guess you could rent it out to the VW community. Maybe a post to thesamba or shoptalkforums to see if anybody wants to help?
Borrowed the reamer from a neighbor. (I love my neighborhood).
Pacific Customs shipping the bushings UPS with expected delivery Tuesday. Cip1 sent a return code so I can ship back the unopened parts.
Now it's down to taking the beam apart and cleaning out the grease.
What a neighborhood! It's always nice to find another unindicted co-conspirator.
What the actual heck?
I wanna' know what kind of neighbors have weird VW specific tools in their stash? I'd have a better chance of striking oil in my tomato patch while tilling it up next spring than I would have trying to find a VW beam reaming tool in a neighbor's garage.
I think you're making this stuff up now.
Stan, that's just life in our cosmopolitan urban centers of culture.
Need a pinion gear for your Isotta Fraschini?
Someone on the block is sure to have one.
@edsnova posted:Borrowed the reamer from a neighbor. (I love my neighborhood).
Pacific Customs shipping the bushings UPS with expected delivery Tuesday. Cip1 sent a return code so I can ship back the unopened parts.
Now it's down to taking the beam apart and cleaning out the grease.
That's great news. Would love to see a DIY write up on that process.
That's uber-cool! That thing looks adjustable. Is it?
It adjusts from a little smaller than 36mm to 38mm so that should be right. @dlearl476 I plan to write up the beam job on my blog.
@Stan Galat you'd fit right in this neighborhood. Retired GM forewoman and cable lineman next door on one side, truck driver the other. There's a plumber and two HVAC guys just up the street, three welders, two cops, several retired Bethlehem Steel workers...
We've got a Ham radio guy. Many, many boats.
There were two solid 10-second drag cars parked in driveways when I moved here, plus a big block Chevelle, a tribute Yenko Nova, and some other stuff I forget. One of the drag cars is gone now, and the guy sold the Nova (but still has the Chevelle). This is just stuff you see outside of garages. Also car trailers, two scrappers (Sandy and a guy whose name I don't know).
The guy who lent the reamer, Johnny, runs a diesel engine repair and machine shop in S. Baltimore. I believe he specializes in "glider" jobs. He flew into Carlisle last year in his little Cessna and met up with his step son, who drove his dune buggy up. Some of you might have met them though they were only on the field for a little while.
Johnny's good people, despite his enthusiasm for our current POTUS. He and his wife (just married, though you'd never have guessed they weren't married even 10 years ago), spent their honeymoon near and on Mt. Rushmore so they could attend the rally.
I first asked my machinist buddy (actually lives up county) about the reamer and he said his biggest one was under an inch, but found me a good option at $67 plus shipping. I texted Johnny and he got right back to me like "dang, I got every one but that one, mechanic says he took it home."
Then he texted back again 10 minutes later: "found it."
I told him no rush, parts just ordered from the west coast. An hour later he pulls up to his driveway as I'm walking by with the dog, gets out and gives me the box.
This is the same guy who, last spring, after I buggered up my first attempt at replacing Bridget's blown head gaskets, offered to deck the whole engine when I told him my regular machine shop said they couldn't do it without me taking the whole thing down to bare block.
He backed his truck up my driveway the next morning, helped me load the Suby on the tail gate, and came back the next afternoon to unload it.
I honestly hope like hell I can do him a favor some day.
Best description of the America I love that I've read in months. Thanks for sharing, Ed.
No HOA. That’s the key to freedom.
@edsnova posted:No HOA. That’s the key to freedom.
No kidding! Besides my automotive pursuits, I'm a ham, so the last thing I need is nosy neighbors with nothing better to do complaining about my antennae. Or the unusual things parked in my driveway.
@edsnova posted:It adjusts from a little smaller than 36mm to 38mm so that should be right. @dlearl476 I plan to write up the beam job on my blog.
@Stan Galat you'd fit right in this neighborhood. Retired GM forewoman and cable lineman next door on one side, truck driver the other. There's a plumber and two HVAC guys just up the street, three welders, two cops, several retired Bethlehem Steel workers...
We've got a Ham radio guy. Many, many boats.
There were two solid 10-second drag cars parked in driveways when I moved here, plus a big block Chevelle, a tribute Yenko Nova, and some other stuff I forget. One of the drag cars is gone now, and the guy sold the Nova (but still has the Chevelle). This is just stuff you see outside of garages. Also car trailers, two scrappers (Sandy and a guy whose name I don't know).
The guy who lent the reamer, Johnny, runs a diesel engine repair and machine shop in S. Baltimore. I believe he specializes in "glider" jobs. He flew into Carlisle last year in his little Cessna and met up with his step son, who drove his dune buggy up. Some of you might have met them though they were only on the field for a little while.
Johnny's good people, despite his enthusiasm for our current POTUS. He and his wife (just married, though you'd never have guessed they weren't married even 10 years ago), spent their honeymoon near and on Mt. Rushmore so they could attend the rally.
I first asked my machinist buddy (actually lives up county) about the reamer and he said his biggest one was under an inch, but found me a good option at $67 plus shipping. I texted Johnny and he got right back to me like "dang, I got every one but that one, mechanic says he took it home."
Then he texted back again 10 minutes later: "found it."
I told him no rush, parts just ordered from the west coast. An hour later he pulls up to his driveway as I'm walking by with the dog, gets out and gives me the box.
This is the same guy who, last spring, after I buggered up my first attempt at replacing Bridget's blown head gaskets, offered to deck the whole engine when I told him my regular machine shop said they couldn't do it without me taking the whole thing down to bare block.
He backed his truck up my driveway the next morning, helped me load the Suby on the tail gate, and came back the next afternoon to unload it.
I honestly hope like hell I can do him a favor some day.
Gift cards in the mail are always good.
Trailered the Speedster to the coast last year. The AirBnB we like to stay at is in the middle of a 100 acre working vineyard for a winery named Castoro Cellars. Plenty of room to park my truck and trailer while we drive all over in the Speedster. On our last day while headed back to the AirBnB I ran out of gas, I know, rookie mistake. Anyway, called the lady that manages the property and asked if her husband was still on the ranch property and if he could bring me a gallon of fuel. She said he was in town but would call him. He showed up about twenty minutes later with several gallons of fuel. I thanked him profusely and we went back to the property, loaded up, and headed home. I made sure I sent her a gift card via the mail to thank her for the roadside service.
+1
Or the color of my mailbox, or the color of paint I can use, etc, etc
Gift cards: When Connie and I moved here to West Virginia a week later one of our fellow Speedster guys " Bill " on this site who also lives in WV sent us a local restaurant dinner for two gift card with a note ......" Welcome to West Virginia " !
probably gonna be Jim Beam Red Stag in this instance.
Do unto others as they would have you do unto them. Sounds like a good plan
Ed skills amaze me day in and day out, Ed could fall into a septic tank and emerge holding a diamond ~
Hey Ed, Ream THIS!
Channeling Vince, sorry, back to your regular discourse...
HOA: they suck, I'm with y'all on that.
Ed, sounds like our kind of neighborhood! And lucky you with the cool neighbors!
A revisionist hit, by Ed (sung to the Everly Brother’s Dream)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbU3zdAgiX8
Ream, ream, ream, ream
Ream, ream, ream, ream
When I want to, fix my car
When I want to, drive it far
Whenever I want to, all I have to do is
Ream, ream, ream, ream
When I feel blue, in the night
And I wake up, in a fright
Thinking of that damn car
All I have to do is ream
I can make it work, but I’m feeling like a jerk
Anytime night or day
Only trouble is, gee whiz
I'm reamin' my life away
My car is blue, and I am too,
I borrowed a tool, feel like a fool,
I know what must do, find a way to
Ream, ream, ream, ream, ream
I’ve never been so down, feeling like a clown
Anytime night or day
Only trouble is, gee whiz
I'm reamin' my life away
I’m so damned pissed, that I could die
I want to drive my car, and that is why
Whenever I need to, all I have to do is
Ream, ream, ream, ream
Ream, ream, ream, ream
Fade away with steady stream of tears….
Fantastic!!!
That just puts a bow on it.
@Bob: IM S6 wins the internet for today.
Update (tech question):
Torsion leaves, to my knowledge and by my experience, are supposed to slide out pretty easy once the center grub screw is loosened or removed.
Mine don't budge.
Took the grubs out of the adjusters. (Double-checked to make sure I had the right set of screws—the fixing grubs and not the adjusters). Tapped the upper (4-pack) with the rubber mallet. Tapped the lower (10-pack). Both slid about an inch and then stopped.
Moved on to a block of wood and a bigger hammer. Then just the hammer. No joy. They'd slide a little one way then the other. Tried pulling with a vicegrip. I shook them, rattled them. Tapped them laterally with some vigor. Got a couple cold chisels and selected just one leaf at a time for attention.
Nothing worked.
Examined matters more carefully and found I was sliding the whole center housing back and forth, so I oiled the holes and returned the grub screws in a couple three threads, not enough to make contact with the leaves.
Now the spring packs slide about a quarter inch each way, max. 
Got the larger hammer. Whaled on 'em some, both individually and en blanc. Nope.
What am I missing? I did this job on Bridget most of a decade ago, and had another guy's beam completely apart and back together in a few hours on Saturday circa 2015.
Any advice appreciated.
Knowledgeable advice moreso.
