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Post by 76bradley714 on Apr 3, 2011 20:38:21 GMT -5
Ok, so I have (what I was told) a 76 Bradley, but most everything on the car points to 1969 so I've been ordering parts accordingly with so far, no issues or problems. For the past few weeks, I have been trying to solve a braking issue because while hitting the brakes, the front passenger wheel was locking up, and it felt like the the left had no braking power, pulling the steering wheel to the right (even after replacing the hard and soft lines, bleeding everything, and adjusting the play evenly throughout the drums). After gutting and finding what I thought was the problem - a leaky wheel cylinder which was soaking the shoes - i replaced it, and the shoes, but while reassembling the front drums, I noticed that the inner bearings had quite a bit of play of about 1/16th of an inch. I went and picked up a new inner bearing at autozone (I asked for the 1968 front inner bearings, SET4 type) but when I went to put them on, it looks to be within a few thousanths of an inch too small for the spindle, so now i'm completely confused. is there supposed to be a little play in the inner bearings? I'm 99 percent certain these were installed stock from Bradley, so I'm almost thinking that it's normal, but I don't want to be driving it around and have the bearings blow. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you Bradley gurus!! - Jonathan Attachments:
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Post by Dan MacMillan on Apr 3, 2011 21:03:57 GMT -5
Ok, so I have (what I was told) a 76 Bradley, but most everything on the car points to 1969 so I've been ordering parts accordingly with so far, no issues or problems. For the past few weeks, I have been trying to solve a braking issue because while hitting the brakes, the front passenger wheel was locking up, and it felt like the the left had no braking power, pulling the steering wheel to the right (even after replacing the hard and soft lines, bleeding everything, and adjusting the play evenly throughout the drums). After gutting and finding what I thought was the problem - a leaky wheel cylinder which was soaking the shoes - i replaced it, and the shoes, but while reassembling the front drums, I noticed that the inner bearings had quite a bit of play of about 1/16th of an inch. I went and picked up a new inner bearing at autozone (I asked for the 1968 front inner bearings, SET4 type) but when I went to put them on, it looks to be within a few thousanths of an inch too small for the spindle, so now i'm completely confused. is there supposed to be a little play in the inner bearings? I'm 99 percent certain these were installed stock from Bradley, so I'm almost thinking that it's normal, but I don't want to be driving it around and have the bearings blow. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you Bradley gurus!! - Jonathan This bearing is the wrong one. The bearing should be a slip fit. Mid 68 is the changeover year between the 2 sizes. The 3rd number of the VIN on the chassis is the year. Do you have ball joints or king pins {this determines the decade} If the other bearing feels a little too tight you can lightly clear up the spindle with some 180 sandpaper or fine emery cloth. From cip1.com VWC-311-405-625-DGR - OE QUALITY INNER FRONT WHEEL BRG - BEETLE/GHIA 5/68-79 - TYPE-3 4/68-74 VWC-311-405-625 - INNER FRONT WHEEL BRG - BEETLE/GHIA 66-4/68 - TYPE-3 62-3/68 They also offer a complete kit www.cip1.ca/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=ACC-C10-4132ACC-C10-4132 - OE GERMAN QUALITY - FRONT WHEEL BRG AND SEAL KIT - DOES BOTH SIDES - BEETLE/GHIA 68-1/2-78 - INNER/OUTER WHEEL BRGS AND GREASE SEALS This is a great price for the bearings but the seals sold by cip are crap. They pop out of the drums. |
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Post by 76bradley714 on Apr 3, 2011 21:12:09 GMT -5
My VIN is a 119, and I have ball joint front end. Now if I go with the lightly sanding option, will that effect the race or any other side of the bearing or how it seats up with the spindle or hub? Do you think that's strange that the bearings that were in there were that size? The car was driven for 2 years when it was purchased new, and then stored ever since and has 8k original miles, so I'm pretty sure nobody ever went as far as to replace these.
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Post by Dan MacMillan on Apr 3, 2011 21:58:23 GMT -5
119 indicates Type 1 Beetle 1969 {9 digit vin}or 79 {10 digit vin}. Lightly sanding will not harm anything. There may be a ridge or damage from the wrong bearing. Sometimes the tolerance on inner bearings is so close that they must be exactly straight or they will not go on. A thin film of grease may help. The bearings shown in the pic must have been changed at some point. VW would not do that, unless the worker on the line was pissed at management.
Make sure you pack the bearings with a good quality bearing grease, put some in the drum between the bearings, and ensure the new races are properly seated, bearings properly seated and torqued.
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