[T3] bushing for front control arm

[Brent Bottolfson]

What was the difference between the beams?  I thought they were the 
same.  I know the brakes/spindles changed, but the beam?

I found a broken needle bearing in my beam too.  I looked into all the 
options and ended up just finding another beam with good bearings.  ISP 
West makes some kind of poly bushings as a replacement, but you need to 
take/send them your beam so they can machine the bushings so the control 
arms fit once the bushings are pressed in.  I've seen the needle 
bearings come up in the classifieds on theSamba, but I found a beam for 
about the same price.  I think the top ones are NLA and the bottoms are 
the same as a bug?  You also might be able to take the beam to a machine 
shop and have them make you a bronze bushing, I remember reading about a 
guy who did that.

I think the most affordable way is to just find another good beam.

On another note, my replacement beam has a ring welded to the bottom on 
one side (kind of D shaped), the old beam didn't.  It looks like 
factory.  Is it, and what's it for?

-Brent

On 4/10/11 7:55 PM, James Lingenfelter wrote:
> Hopefully this is not the problem I had on my '68 squareback. 
> Alignment guy told me the "bushing" was bad, when it was actually a 
> bearing on the type III. They are obsolete, and I took the route of 
> finding an entire good front end from a salvage car, rather than 
> trying to remove and replace bearings. Donor car was apparently not a 
> '68, and all years are NOT the same.... lots of additional pain and 
> suffering getting the new front end to work.
>
> On Apr 10, 2011, at 4:30 PM, Shari Hawkins wrote:
>
>> I'm getting ready to get my '68 Notchback out again for the season, 
>> and I have a novice question for the group. Last autumn a mechanic 
>> told me I needed a "right front control arm bushing." When he had the 
>> car up, he grabbed the tire and showed me how he could jiggle the 
>> wheel. I had a really hard time finding a bushing, and the one part I 
>> could find ended up being the wrong size.
>>
>> Two questions:
>> 1)  Where can I find this part (if this is really even what I need)?
>> 2)  Is it okay to drive short distances until I replace the part?
>>
>> Thanks in advance,
>> Shari and "Cloudy"
>>
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