[T3] Front Axle Beam & CV Joints

[Jim Adney]

On 13 Jul 2011 at 18:39, Gary Forsmo wrote:

> 3)  The guys at the tire shop who have a qualified, certified technician who
> does "front-end" work and alignment and works with the VW Bus-guy, was able
> to tighten up the left-upper ball joint (using the instructions in my
> Bentley book) and grease the axle beam.  It took a lot of grease so it must
> have been very dry.  After the adjustment and grease, we took it for a test
> drive.  A lot of the 55 mph "wiggle" in the steering wheel was gone.  There
> still is a good deal of "shudder" when you apply power at highway speeds.
> We first suspected engine mounts, but they're OK.  They think there's too
> much end-to-end "play" in the IRS Drive Axle CV Joints.

Hmmm...

Ball joints are not adjustable (for play, that is.) There's no way to 
take play out of them. The ball socket is plastic in 2 pieces that 
are heavily spring loaded. Once they wear to the point where the 2 
pieces touch, they should be replaced, but ours seem to last a VERY 
long time as long as the boots are not damaged.

If your front axle hasn't gotten regular lubrication, which I think 
is unlikely given the way you take care of things, then the inner 
sleeve bearings can get worn. This can be a problem expecially for 
the upper torsion bars, because if you're not familiar with the car 
you'll never find those 2 zerks.

I lubed your front end last summer. The grease I use is rather light, 
so a heavier grease might help cover looseness in that bearing. I'd 
love to find a #3 grease with moly additive in it, available in 
grease gun cartridges, but I've only found #2 so far, so that's what 
I use.

> 4)  What are the years of the Front Axle Beams for a given style?  Or did
> the VW factory make changes throughout the production of the Type 3's?  Does
> one Axle Beam fit ALL years?

They will all fit, but there are some subtle differences to look out 
for. You have a '69, so you don't want a beam earlier than '68.5, 
because those have wheel bearing spindles that are 2 mm smaller at 
the inner wheel bearing. If you went to a beam later than '71.5 you'd 
get the larger brakes, but then you'd probably need to rebuild a pair 
of calipers to go there. There's not enough advantage to this, 
especially since we've just gone completely thru your brakes.

So if you want to do this, you're looking for '68.5 to '71.5, or, to 
be safe, '69 or '70. But keep in mind that there are plenty of gotcha 
possibilities in addition to rust.

-- 
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Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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