Front axle work

[purplepeter]

This is going to take Me a few days to write up, so bear with Me!

The more observant amongst you may have realised that lately, I've been on a mission to acquire the special tools for the job

I've known for a long time that one day I'd need to build a New Front axle, so over the last 10 years or so, I've been gradually acquiring components, which took quite a few complete axles to get to the point where I had a decent, usable set of Torsion arms

When Chino sold his Fasty, all those years ago, I bought a set of Lower Torsion arm bushes from the new owner & at that time, I found that the upper bushes were relatively easy to find... Fast forward to 2025 & Now the bloody things are like Hens teeth.

Back in January this year, I decided it was time to get my spare Axles out of the inspection pit, only to discover to my horror that recent wet weather has resulted in a higher than normal water table, giving me a very full pit of nasty, oily water, with 3 axles nearly fully submerged, along with a spare front wing, some car ramps & other goodies that I had hidden down there!

This gave me no alternative but to clean up all of the spare axles- Thankfully no lasting damage due to them being full of grease & the fairly anaerobic conditions
The spare axles bar one, have been ground/wire brushed with grinder, back to bare metal,Been stripped of old bearings & bushes,Really thoroughly washed out with white spirit & Cellulose thinners to remove old grease & swarf, treated with Jenolite converter, then given 2 coats of Zinc phosphate primer

On to the subject of Tools: Years ago I bought the Matra 757 upper bearing drift from the US, & then somehow the number 757 lodged in my brain, so a couple of years ago, on a birthday induced whim, I found the missing tool I needed on ebay, in the US.. You've guessed it- I have 2 Matra 757 drifts!

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Then a few months ago, knowing I needed 756 making, a good friend introduced me to His tame machinist/CNC chappy, To whom I supplied a big chunk of EN3 Mild steel & £50 to end up with a very beautiful Matra 756 , Theres a back story to explain here, that for quite a few years now, I've been giving my friend Jeff, various exciting engineering related goodies on His birthday each year (disposing of stuff I'll never need & can't be arsed to sell, plus Jeff is building up the engineering side of His Business)
So when I went to collect my 756, I was given these-Jeff had told him to make up another, so I could sell a pair of drifts & keep a pair!

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Last year, Dave Hall sold Me His Matra 771 Slide Hammer, but it only had one "Bit"

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Then after a long search I found these Babies- Matra 771 "bits" in Germany

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Next up on the acquisitions front is VW 261

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I already had the tool for taking Torsion arms off- I think its 276A from memory, from Mike D
And a pair of bubble type camber Gauges

More tomorrow!

[purplepeter]

I seem to have stuffed up the photo's so will try again tomorrow!

[broady_6]

The photos are working well. At its wounderful to see so many original tools all in one place!

[purplepeter]

I've always fancied, but never been able to justify, a low range torque wrench, so with the adjuster bolt on the top torsion arm in mind, I bought this. It's lovely & nicely made, 5-60nm range, 3/8" drive
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/315960935428 ... Sw4kBl-VB8
On to the subject of parts amassed: About 10 years ago I guess, Dave pettengell on here was working in the US, so he very kindly brought some small parts home for lots of us on the forum, so I have a set of Torsion arm seals- at the time they were unavailable in UK, but that's changed now
I also have 2 pairs of nOS thrust washers (oversize) from Mike D
A set of NOS Ball Joint washers from god knows where
& the top arm locking plate from young Mr Broad
I've believed for about 15 years that I had a full set of new Ball joints- Again they used to be hard to find, but on inspection, I have 3 of one & 1 of another (can't remember which way round it is), So thanks to current availability & Black Friday deals, I have a full set of Febi/Bilstein ball joints
New steering box from Germany (about £100 cheaper than from uk suppliers)

[purplepeter]

Inside the Axle tubes are these Bakelite Carriers - No part number, as they were not deemed to be replaceable, & the only way you'd see them like this is if some bugger has cut an axle up to verify
The chamfered end faces outward

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They are both of the same external Diameter, but the lower is 1mm bigger internally & taller

Inside the carriers sit the Bushes themselves

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Part Numbers on the bushes are: Upper, 311401331B Dimensions: 35.4 O/D
32.4 I/D
20.1 Width

lower, 311401335A Dimensions 36.2 O/D
33.2 I/D
25 width

Construction is that they have a carbon steel shell, with Sintered Bronze lining & ptfe coating inside that

In the pic above, the ones art the front are 331B & at the back an identical part with a KG number: 131401317
Both versions of upper bushes are virtually unobtainable & the lowers are rapidly becoming so

The good news However, is that I have sourced an alternative part for the uppers, I have 10 in stock, but they need a smidge of machining before i offer them as a source of supply- Similar with the lowers- Haven't actually bought any yet but they'll need a few moments in the lathe
It's taken about 8 months to find my NOS bushes, but the alternatives are easily obtainable

[purplepeter]

When I was cleaning up the axles, I kept finding unexpected areas of welding, so on the first axle I cursed the bloke I got it from, on the second & third I decided it must be factory- Beautiful welds, probably arc welded but not cleaned up or dressed in any way, usually in the centre sectons of the beam, but also on the edge of the shock towers

My assessment of how they were actually made in the factory, is that the two halves of the centre H section (with large numbers of pre drilled holes in strategic places) were spot welded, then the precision tubes that carry bushes & bearings were installed (Tubes are only about 10" long (don't go all the way through) along with inner faces of shock tower & all spot welded, then outer face of tower & more spot welding, then finally bakelite carriers placed accurately & secured by great big puddles of weld through the pre-drilled holes. With all that welding they must have been red hot, so I think that's why the bakelite (if it is Bakelite) carriers were deemed to not be replaceable.

Early axles used different sized bushes & on very early cars a replaceable & reamable) bush, which is considerably smaller- will take a photo of that at some point.
At some point in the past, I tried making a tool to remove the bushes & failed, ending up with a tool on the end of a length of M6, lodged inside an axle, so one of the first jobs was to extract that!
I can report that with the proper tools, the bearings come out in 6-8 blows , But the bushes take 20-30 blows & its a shitty, oily job but would have been easier with a second body to stand on the workmate.

[purplepeter]

On to the new bushes & bearings, Although the Bushes were NOS, I'm acutely aware that they are at least 50 years old & I have no idea of what conditions they've been stored in, so knowing that Sintered Bronze can dry out, I decided to soak them in oil for a week
I also decided that although the bush is a tight fit in the carrier, which effectively closes the gap in the bush, I would fit them all with the split in the same place- Horizontal, towards the back of the car
A friend has pointed out that all of my photos are "soft focus" ! Blame it on shaky hands, crappy phone, mucky lens and needing more hands to do the job, which is nerve wracking due to the value of the components

Axle in Primer (paint wet, hence glossy appearance)

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Upper bush going in

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Upper Bearing going in

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[purplepeter]

First pic of the lower bush won't load, but you know the sequence

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Yes, I realised i'd missed a couple of bits of primer, so I dealt with those, before moving on to Glossing

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Which is where I am now, Axles will move into a different Garage for a Month to allow the paint to dry & allow Me to get Fasty back in Her own Garage
I have some little jobs to do, cleaning up my good Torsion arms & turning down the new thrust washers, before removing the fron't axle from Fasty & transferring torsion bars & hubs etc onto the new beam

I'm thoroughly pleesed with progress so far, & am ending up with a New Beam fo Fasty, one to keep for future proofing & One to sell

The paint I've used is Teamac Zinc phosphare primer & Teamac metalcote, which is essentially Tractor paint, from my local Agricultural Merchants

[broady_6]

While having to rehost all my photos, im jsut been through my front axle rebuild. And its nice to see the detail you are going too, I didnt understand half of what I was doing/taking apart really.

[Rhysos]

I'm in admiration of your determination to acquire the right tools (even getting some machined!) and NOS parts to do the job right. Thanks for taking the time to give a detailed write-up, the forum continues to develop as a valuable resource when folk go to the effort to document these more uncommon procedures. Excellent work!

[purplepeter]

Thanks chaps!
It's one of those jobs that hopefully only needs to be done once & although the dimensions/depths of insertion are given in Bentley, anything other than the correct tools would be heath-robinson at best, if not a bit of a bodge & given the cost/value of the internal components (£30 each for the bushes, £25 ea for bearings, £40 ea thrust washers, Bump stops min £20 each) and base Axles are getting expensive, but it's a complete lottery in buying them- everyone obviously says they are solid, but once you start cleaning them up, there are nasties to be found, plus the difficulty in finding half decent Torsion arms You can start to see why its worth having the correct tools
I struggle to see how anyone could do the job on the car, without a ramp
Annoyingly, there are people out there who collect factory/workshop tools, just to sit & look at them!- Over the years, I've asked around in all the local VW workshops, but no-one ever has these tools (or will admit to it) ( I can't complain too much, as I might have a bit of a thing for factory tools!!)
I haven't entirely decided what's to become of this lot of tools once my axle is done, but certainly half of the intention is to keep them available for others to be able to do the job, but only on a short term loan basis to people I know

[Rhysos]

I agree, best to do these more involved procedures as VW intended, it is not worth the hassle of bodging. It is a shame that factory tools are so seldom, but I guess many garages would not have held on to stuff like that for posterity - they properly would have binned redundant tools or sold off for scrap back in the day to clear out the space once old VW models were overtaken by more modern models(?) I do often wander though, if there are any treasure troves out there in some forgotten former garage or mechanics stash...

Anyway, I would say that it is a good plan to hold on to what you have, that is what having a community of enthusiasts is all about. Sharing knowledge, sharing good times and occasionally sharing obsolete tools to keep our beauties running

[broady_6]

I do like the approach of "if I do this right, itll see me out" its where ive taken a lot of my work too. I see far to much at work that is about "getting by". Where as if they would just take the time to do it right the first time, it wouldnt need doing again in 3 months time.

And Rhysos, youre probably right, a friend of a friend use to work at the VW dealer in driffield when the beetle was on the way out and the Mk1 Golf was on the way in. They just skipped everything. My friend and his mate were in their early years of driving and used to run beetles they got for pennys. They would run it until it was knackered and then get another, being poor young chaps. So when VW binned all this stuff, they grabbed what they could to run their own cars on for as long as they could. So it did go to some us, but it wasnt preserved.