[T3] Flexible steering coupler

Dave Hall dave at hallvw.clara.co.uk
Thu Apr 30 09:15:25 PDT 2015


I doubt I've changed one of the rubber steering couplers in years, but the
tester last year said it was slightly cracked, so I thought I'd better see
to it before offering it up for this year's test.  I had been putting it
off, as I want to replace the rusting and much-patched wing (fender) that
side and it seemed a good chance to work on both.

It took a while to lift the front, support it, take off the wheel, and even
longer to puzzle out the best way to undo the 4 bolts. They didn't seem to
be 13mm or 15mm heads, hmm, maybe 14mm then - not very common on a Type 3,
though the '59 Beetle had them everywhere.   Access wasn't good either - the
beam gets in the way, so does the steering column collapsible web.  I didn't
seem to have an extension that suited the job.  Then there was the age
factor - awkward angle to work at, not enough strength at arms length, a bit
of a creaky shoulder etc. - just a few of the penalties of the passing
years!

What should have taken an hour left me so frustrated after a couple of
hours, that I just nipped up the wheel bearing that the inspector had
reported as having slight play and put things back.  I'll probably remove
the tank when I do the wing, along with some preventive maintenance - it's
not very hard on a carbed car, and I suspect the little seal on the tank
inlet pipe isn't sealing as well as it should.  I assume working down from
above will be easier - as long as the back doesn't complain instead!  I
think the horn wire link is high resistance, so I can renew or clean that as
another benefit of the job.

Any tips on this job? 

BTW, the nuts and bolts are actually M8 but with 14mm heads and nyloc nuts,
and have Beetle part numbers.  You learn something new every day.

Dave.
UK VW Type 3&4 Club
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