Jay's Buggy

[hitlers revenge]

No wonder your buggy runs like a tractor. Lol

[Chris]

I heard that automatic transmission oil does a great job on manual gb's.

Any comments?

[Pine]

[hitlers revenge]

Sorry wrong vehicle. It was the 100% Slow Bus.

[Fauxmechanic]

So, here's another question regarding this whole business.

Last time I did the axle seal/brake job, I was working with a friend who works on his own cars (including old beetle, so he had all the tools. This time I'm doing it myself. What size is that castle nut on the back wheels, cos I'm gonna need to buy a spanner?

Also, Im going to be replacing the bearings. Im pretty sure they came out really easy when I was replacing the seals last time, but I have read on the web that I might need a special tool to get them out. Is there something I'm missing here?

Thanks again, as usual

[Tony Z]

you are gonna kuck yourself if you using a spanner for that nut.... get a long pole too. I think its a 41 or 46. I use my 3/4 powerbar with a 2m extension to get it off and back together again

Your bearings came out easily.... mine were a SOB. I have no advice for this job cause I am still to figure out an easy way for this job.

[Fauxmechanic]

Hmmm, well the one came out easily 'cos it came out in pieces (which, I then shoved back in cos I needed the car and didn't have any replacements), but the other one basically fell out too. I guess I'll find out once its all in bits on my driveway again

I'll post my experiences when the job is done... hopefully they will be pleasant, but I somehow doubt it.

[Ron&Gill]

That castle nut is a 36mm. I use Nic's 1/2" cross with a 2m extension pipe.

[JohnHoffe]

If the bearing is slightly stuck, you can loosen the sideshaft assembly from the suspension blade and shock, then knock the complete sideshaft cover outwards. There is some play on the cover. This will cause the bearing to slide outwards on the sideshaft. Then you can get some grip on it to get it out.

[Fauxmechanic]

If the bearing is slightly stuck, you can loosen the sideshaft assembly from the suspension blade and shock, then knock the complete sideshaft cover outwards. There is some play on the cover. This will cause the bearing to slide outwards on the sideshaft. Then you can get some grip on it to get it out.

Damn, if only I had internet where I was working on the buggy This weekend was a bit of a failure cos those bearings were stuck tighter than a hamster in a hoover. I had read about taking the whole axle shaft off and tapping from that end, but I wasnt keen 'cos I've just replaced the axle boots. Guess I'll have to give John's method a go.

Oh, and the castlenut was only finger-tight the pin was keeping my wheel on apparently!

[Fauxmechanic]

So... I spent another saturday fighting with the bearings, and came off second best again

I used john's method of loosening the sideshaft assembly from the suspension blade, but I could not get the assembly apart from the axle. I beat it with a hammer eventually (against my better judgement) and it still didnt budge. I eventually came to believe that I had misunderstood John, but I just found this picture and it looks like part 12 should come off the shaft.



Anyways, at this rate I'm about to give up and take it to a local mechanic who says he can do it (using the parts I bought) for R1000 (4 hours at R250/h). Is that as much of a ripoff as it sounds to me?

btw, how important are part 14 and 15 (bumpstops)?

[Tony Z]

seeing as your bearings are now probably shot to hell, let me suggest something. I used this method but didnt want to mention it cause its not really the proper way to do it.

get 2 flat screw drivers. Decent size where the head flares out to be wider than the shaft. Try to get these screw drivers to have a shaft almost the same size as the gap between the inner and outer bearing shells. Now insert the screwdriver between the two shells. Use a hammer. Now you have effectively destroyed the bearing cage. Using a vice grip, turn the screw driver 90deg. Now the screw driver is in and because you have turned it, the wider shanks wont allow it to come out. Insert the second screwdriver on the other side of the bearing. You now have 2 handles which you can use to pull out the bearing.
If you need to do a little convincing to get the bearing to move, put a small spanner over the screwdriver shaft and slide it up against the handle. Then hit this spanner with a hammer. Alternate from one to the other to get the bearing out evenly.

Good luck, this is a kuck job

[Fauxmechanic]

Thanks everyone for you help.

After many hours of tugging and cursing, I eventually gave up, cos I just couldn't afford to be without a car anymore, and found a home mechanic who had the tools and who's prices where reasonable (I think). Unfortunately I never got to try Tony's advice, I think that just mighta done it. I'd say "next time", but I'm hoping to never do that job again

He did all the seals and torqued that castlenut up to the right torque, so here's hoping It doesnt start leaking again.

It's good to be back on the road (and pretty cool to have brakes that work)