Hi to all,
     I have been working on the buggy very little at the present but have been trying to get hardware cleaned up and ready for painting. I have found that some bolts should be replaced. For example, the front end attachment bolts seem to be "necked" slightly around the threaded area where the threads did not thread in. They are not real bad but would feel better if I were able to get replacements, the same for spring plate cover bolts. I have been trying to find "grade 8" (10.9 metric) but am not finding the length that I would be needing, not long enough. I can get "grade 5" (8.8 metric) but I am not sure if they would stand the strain. Would anyone have any experience out there that would help?
     Also, what have any of you DBAers done to replace bolts on your builds? I have thought of "junkyards" but am not sure what I would be getting there either, other than they were used in a car, but to hold what.

Tom

On the bolts for the front end you are kind of stuck getting the rigt metric bolt. For the spring plate bolts I have used grade 8 Imperial hardware of the "correct" size I did this on the buggy and my Beetle that is under construction.

here's some beam bolts
http://www.cip1.ca/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C24%2DN%2D010%2D190%2D1

http://www.cip1.ca/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=ACC%2DC10%2D4028

brad

Hi brad,
     Thanks for getting back to me. It kind of looks like I will need to make up a bolt order. To bad they didn't have a kit available that would include these bolts, the ones that may need to be replaced on these older bugs. I never imagined that I would not be able to get a simple thing like a bolt from around town sources. Would you have any thoughts on other bolts that I should be looking to replace, ones that I have not run into yet?

Tom

Just about every other bolt should be available locally. I ran into the same problem with the beam bolts when One of mine got messed up. I always use new hardware on everything Ibuild for myself. I got tired of b leeding fingers and dodging flying hardware while trying to clean it on the bench grinder. Just make sure that any bolts that hold the suspension or brakes together are in good order and not half eaten away with rust. The pinch bolts for the link pins come to mind. New bolts for the spring plate caps are always nice as those usually take a beating.

brad

Try McMaster-Carr. I just bought a package of spring plate bolts from them. I have used them for this sort of thing for years.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/118/3154/=hs2re2

part number 95327A618

Mike

Hi Brad and Mike,
     Thanks for the replies. I have been looking at clip 1 to order bolts as I have some other things to add to the order. I picked up some 8.8 grade bolts at Napa for the spring plates but did not dare use the 8.8 for the front end mounting.
     I have been struggling with identifying the pitman arm to use with the 60 link pin front end and the 69 steering box. The steering box shaft measures about 25mm, (.950") and the tie rod ends measure 3/8 plus (.400"). I was told to use a pitman arm from a 61-67 but I can not find one that lists those years. Why those years? Was there an assembly line change as in stock items were used up? I do not want to order the wrong one. Any thoughts or can anyone, VW guy, guide me to the part number at Clip-1?
     I have not been working on the build of late, going on 6 weeks. I have decided to retire after 37 years in the classroom. I have seven days left of my teaching career and then, hopefully,I will be able to put more concentrated time in on the buggy build. So many things to do and so little time.

Tom

Congrats on 37 years of teaching and your impending? retirement!!!!

If you look at both steering boxes, you will see that the steering shafts that go into the pitman arms are different sizes one is reffered to as the "big" shaft and the other "small" shaft. Since you are using this in a link pin front end you will need the shaft that fits on the 69 box but has the smaller taper for the early tie rod ends.

http://www.cip1.ca/SearchResults.asp?Search=pitman+arm&sort=7

Here's a search I did on CIP1

brad

Hi Brad,
     Thanks for the kind words. Everyone tells me that I will not regret retirement but I am still a bit nervous about it all. I am not sure that I am done teaching! I will try the retirement gig and see how it goes. After all I have the buggy and a "Honey Do List" to keep me out of trouble.
     As for the pitman arm, I am nervous about ordering the one I believe is the correct replacement but I am not sure if I have the large shaft or the small as I do not have the old steering box to compare to. When I purchased the biuggy last summer the PO said that the pitman arm needed to be replaced because he had replaced the steering box with the one off the 69 but did not have the correct fitting arm to cross between the two years. So I strongly believe that I have the large shaft and it should take the C26-413-040 pitman arm. The 111-415-371A is out of stock, which also makes me think I may be ordering wrong. I have included some pictures. The pitman arm on the bottom is the one that was on the buggy when I purchased it. As you can see it has been "re-engineered" to fit the the 69 box, which was a disaster. The pitman arm on the top, I believe, is the one that came off the 69 buggy. I have placed a 25 cent coin, quarter" next the the output shaft so as to give you a better idea of the size. The quarter is approximately the same diameter as the output shaft.
     Can you concur, or do you think it should be different. You have seen and done so much more than I.

Tom

Yes I think the 111-415-371A is the arm you need. I'm not sure what the PO did to that pitman arm to make it fit?????? The large shafts are considerably bigger  so I would order the above arm or the chrome version C26-413-041

brad

Hi Brad,
     Are you saying that I have the small shaft and not the large? C26-413-041 is small shaft and C26-413-040 is large shaft. If this shaft is the size of a quarter coin then what size would the large shaft be? Silver dollar size? Does anyone out there know what size, in thousandths or MM the two shafts are? Maybe I can't tell with the naked eye. Maybe there is only a few thousandths difference between the two. Wish that I had the original 60s box.

Tom

111-415-371A is out of  stock but sounds right. This is the original one that I chose but if I can not get it I will need to settle for the chrome one.

I found a picture of a big shaft box and measured the grease zirk (10mm) and the shaft on the computer screen. As near as I can tell the large shafts are 32 or 33mm There is a considerable difference between the 2 and you would definitely see it if you had them side by side.

brad