[T3] Inner lower bushing dimensions?

[Jim Adney]

On 3 Sep 2020 at 15:06, Max Welton wrote:

> These ?
> 
> https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2055250
> 
> The ID and OD he gives look right.

The parts list shows 4 versions of this part: 

	311 401 317 & 317 A, std & OS, for '65 and later

	311 401 319 B & 319 C, std & OS, for up thru '64.

This is a "319 D". Neither Mario nor I know what the 319 D is, but the 319s 
were all meant for the early cars, which doesn't make any sense, but that's 
what the book shows.

(It's the bore of the beam tube that can be 0.2 mm oversize, so there were 
OS needle bearings and thrust bearings to fit in those, although the few that 
I've take apart were all std.) FYI, the std & OS bores for early and late are 
shown as the same, so that's not the difference. I'm guessing that the early 
ones were thicker solid plastic, without the metal backbone. It's common to 
find the late ones with cracked plastic, but the metal backbone keeps them 
together and they still function perfectly that way. A solid plastic version 
might crack and fall apart, making them fail completely.

The steel backbone would also make them shrink less when cold.

The '65 and later all had 4 wear indicating notches. I don't know what the 
early ones had, but I'm guessing they also had 4 notches.

These that Mario is selling are a D version, which does not appear in the 
parts book. Could that be for Danish? The ticket with these parts appears to 
have a Scandanavian/VW history. My guess is that these are someone's 
reproduction, possibly a rather official reproduction. You should ask him to 
measure the OD of the protrusion on the backside to see if that will fit your 
beam. I don't think 3 notches vs. 4 makes any difference.

You could also ask him to check with a magnet to see if these have steel in 
them.

BTW, I have a rather extensive writeup on how to repair a loose upper left 
torsion bar connection. Since you already have everything apart, there are 
things you should do before you put it back together to make sure you fix 
this now. The condition of your thrust bearing(s?) indicates that this upper 
torsion bar has been loose and banging back & forth for a long time.

ALSO: Note that the needle bearings have sides with different thicknesses. 
They MUST be installed with the thick side outwards, so that installing them 
does not bend the wall and prevent free movement of the needles. The part 
number is stamped on either the thick or thin side, I don't remember which, 
so they must be installed with the numbers either in or out. I've looked in the 
Bentley and can't find the paragraph that explains this, but you should check 
your old bearings to see which it is, and make SURE you did this correctly. If 
the needles are not free to move, they will fail quickly.

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