Re: WIPEOUT... Doh!

["I.Mannix" <mannix@secretignition.com>]

At 02:26 PM 10/16/98 -0400, Dan wrote:
>On Fri, Oct 16, 1998 at 12:47:27AM -0400, VWN8@aol.com wrote:
>
>> Damages were as follows: one curb chiped and
>> discolored with tire markes,
>> 	one rim (Eurospec Essen) 5in of lip of rim missing
>> 	trailing arm one inch narower
>
>Anyone know what the width between the trailing arms should be? I did
>something similar (bumped the rear wheel against a curb while having fun
>in a parking lot), and am unsure whether I have a bent stub or a bent
>trailing arm. Actually, I do know that the stub is bent, I did the check
>shown in the bently with a caliper and a square, the deviation is about
>twice what bently says is the max allowable.

IME, if the stub is bent, the beam is definetly bent.  I've seen plenty of
bent beams with straight stubs, but never a bent stub/straight beam.  I am
sure it is possible, but between my cars & seeing other VWs on the rack at
the tire shop, if the stub got bent, so did the beam.  I don't know what
measurements are "spec," and in the case of my axle, it did not look bent -
no creases, no obvious damage - I just get the thing on an alignment rack,
look at the rear wheels.  A trick - if your stub is bent badly, you can
rotate it, drill some holes and put it back on.  Did this on mine(both stub
and beam were _bent_), worked fine.  Probably won't work in all cases, but
in a case of bent-beyond-shims rear axles, rotating the stub can be a
bandaid.  If the axle is bent in, IE, rear track is narrower, you could
concievably put a Hi-Lift between the shock bolts and bend it back, but
that is approaching the difficulty of changing the beam, so, who knows it
if is worth it.  I thought about it with mine.  Of course, drilling the
stub flange is probably not the best idea, but it _can_ work.  Your wheel
might fall off, though;).  Mine never did.  Another thing, the botls
holding the stub on can strip(the threads in the beam) pretty easily - be
careful torquing, and if you're paranoid, you can use longer bolts and put
nuts on the backside - at least that way, the stub cannot just fall off.
You'll only be able to get nuts on the top two holes, but that's better
than nothing.  


I.Mannix(dealt with a sketchy rear axle for too long, I think....)
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