Getting the Panel Van show on the off road

[jes*b]

Slowly getting back up to speed with the van. Things moving forward are.... diff serviced and tdi box with new 5:4:3 C&P with Aidan currently. Along with unglazed slider awaiting collection. An unglazed tailgate has been sourced, also awaiting collection. Lowish miles AVG (AFN) and loom stripped from the Sharan, loom off with Andy, a few engine decisions to be made with a little help from my syncro friends.

Rethinking the front suspension in terms of refurbing so started today with Duncans bearing mandrels and Paul's press on a set of 16" power steering uprights that picked up from Martin Tigerbus a while back.(thanks to Our Man over that way Titus) One will need some tlc cosmetically looks to have been on the wrong end of a cold chisel low down ..





Shaft , then bearing pressed out, progress was halted as no suitable tool for removing inner race from shaft.....



Going to set the uprights up with passivate & paint of some sort then new bearings and ball joints etc then swap them out with the ones on the van along with NOS VW pink springs and a new set of Boge 16" dampers that were squirrelled away some time ago.

[silverbullet]

'bout time an' all!
Piccy of steering arm with tape rule showing centre distance to bearing bore measured at 90 degrees to shaft axis please

[Syncrobaz]

Try running a full power mig weld round the inner race, should just fall off, if not you will have a lip to gain purchase.

[jes*b]

cheers Baz I will file that one away.....got around it with a bit of a mod to a set of pullers filed away the foot just enough to get in the slot , I guess VW had something proprietary probably something with a wider foot to cover the area they have machined away



quite happy that left over Sharan detritus was the perfect fit for the last stages of removal



I have another set of uprights to strip down this week, hopefully quicker the second time around

[silverbullet]

FWIW, I knocked up a simple tool to help when pressing out the bottom balljoints. Used the outer race from an old angular contact bearing 72mm OD, 65 ID and then ground the OD down to ~69.5mm on the cylindrical grinder for about 10mm, enough to get the bj most of the way out of the holder.

Works a treat but the ones I was removing were c.1985 so required a flypress to get them moving though the rust. A good solid crack from our Norton #4 is more effective than a so-called 15 ton squeeze

[jes*b]

Out of the Naughty Corner

[max and caddy]

Try running a full power mig weld round the inner race, should just fall off, if not you will have a lip to gain purchase.

Not advised...shrinks the race on....and causes it to gall if you get it moving...also it's brittle so the weld tends to break off.

Been there..failed that..

[alewing]

Nice to see the post lift being utilised.

Happy new year buddy

[jes*b]

Working my way round underneath slowly, Neil have put some good shifts in. should be able to start on the front rebuild in a few days





little corner of off side arch needs attention but otherwise considering its a commercial and has clearly had use its in pretty good shape

[DavidPallister]

what have you used to paint the underside with?

[jes*b]

Dintrol , which Simon now stocks the black waxy gear you can see and the thinner brown stuff which fires great into cavities etc . You will need a compressor and gun if you want coverage although can be applied by hand

[DavidPallister]

Ta

is that straight onto bare metal, or is there primer/paint/underseal etc under there as well?

[jes*b]

I am getting around to rebuilding the front end and thinking about the upper wishbones. The eccentric washers (in general) are a variety of thicknesses .... I have marked up the set that came off the van to give me a rough guide to get it all back together again but the set I have plated/painted/re-bushed on the bench has different thickness washers than the set coming off the van. No biggie but it has got me thinking are the washer thicknesses set at factory to compensate for any difference in each van shell (ie thicknesses should always stay the same for each individual van) or are they adjustable say when tracking set up is done (in which case the full range of washers must be available and swapped in and out to get correct setting )
I am presuming once van is on road I will find an excuse to run it up country to have Simon set it up correctly but in the meantime .....

[silverbullet]

I would say put back like for like. With new bushes and balljoints etc it should all be back to within factory tolerances.
Apart from the tie rods to set castor.

[Aidan]

washer thicknesses can be changed to adjust caster rather than doing all the adjustment on the radius rod threads but you need the choice of washers to hand, go down 1/2mm thickness on one side and up the same amount on the other side, but it's a fanny on so much easier to fit the originals in original position and unless wishbone is loose do the adjustment on the radius rod, if turretor washers worn or wishbone spread then thicker washers may be needed
if vehicle has been bumped and repaired and won't set up correctly there's also a dadge of adjustment in the subframe to chassis mounting as well, I know of one bus on here that has been adjusted in every which way to get the tracking in to tolerance