[T3] Noise from front end/wheel

[Jim Adney]

On 20 Sep 2013 at 20:13, Jacob Adam Schroeder wrote:

> Ugh, I'm almost too embarrassed to provide the update, but I know I'll need
> your help to find the replacement.  Drum roll...
> 
> I jacked up my car, spun the driver's side wheel, and found that one of the
> bolts holding my front driver's side caliper to the car had come off.
> Thus, the clanging sound I heard was the caliper wobbling around.  Because
> the noise started on the highway, there is no way I'll be able to find that
> bolt again -- and I don't feel bad for not searching I-280 before I drove
> off.  So I'm down one of these.

I have those bolts if you need them. Remember, they are different for 
early and late calipers, which changed in late '71.

> Also, because I plan to hit all of these with a torque
> wrench, what should these be torqued to?

The last pages in each chapter of the Bentley has the torques you 
need for that chapter's topics. Those numbers should be at your 
fingertips. There's no point in trying to do work like this without a 
Bentley.

The lockplates have a tab on the end which should be bent up against 
one of the bolt head flats, to keep the head from turning. The tabs 
are often broken off, leaving this as a pretty pointless bit of 
hardware. I think VW has stopped supplying these plates, and I don't 
think those bolts will ever come loose if they are torqued correctly. 
(Note also that the correct torques are different for the early and 
late bolts.)

These bolts are just one example of places where the correct torques 
are important. Get in the habit of using your torque wrench 
everywhere a torque is given, but you have to look at the torque 
tables when you do the work if you're ever going to know which 
torques are given and important.  

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