On E-slay for type 4....

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 2:40 pm

There is a pair of NOS ball joints and a centerlink on E-slay...just so you know.

Ray

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NOS-VW-T ... ccessories

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/VW-Type- ... ccessories

ubercrap · Post by **ubercrap** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 6:28 am

She has had ball joints and centerlinks up for sale often for years now- must have a huge stash of parts!

wildthings · Post by **wildthings** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 8:03 am

I asked her one time where she was getting all that stuff, but didn't get an answer. Must have a whole shipping container full or something. Shes got 174 feed backs, I would guess that represents at least 40 sets of ball joints and 20 centerlinks, maybe more. Glad she's around.

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 8:06 am

Its interesting, when I finally found someone with ball joints a few years back....I bought like three sets. I still have three unused joints and a new set on the car. The people I bought them from said they came from large regional parts warehouses....like all of your common flaps pull from. They noted that in these big warehouses...which are sometimes warehouse systems or multiple warehouses.....they have so many parts that sit for decades and eventually drop off of inventory. They were getting these parts because some crafty individual got tasked with cleaning up all of the dusty crap sitting on the top shelves. So...every so often old parts get put back onto a "this is what we have that no one knows what it is list"....and teh crafty individual gets tasked with finding someone to buy them. Ray

wshawn · Post by **wshawn** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 10:01 am

Are the centrelinks handed for left hand drive cars and right hand drive cars?

In other words are they different?

wildthings · Post by **wildthings** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 10:13 am

wshawn wrote:Are the centrelinks handed for left hand drive cars and right hand drive cars?

In other words are they different?

I wouldn't think they would be different. The only difference between right and left hand drive would be the reversed placement of the steering gear and the idler arm.

jfe · Post by **jfe** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 1:02 pm

only 411 417 353C for a center link.

i already buy a center link and ball at this buyer.
nice, no probleme to ship to France. i use this parts since 25 000kms. good condition.

jeremy

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 2:19 pm

The only differences for left and right would be if right hand drive cars place their steering damper in the opposite direction for any reason....otherwise the center link is symmetrical.

Does everyone realize that the idler arm bracket bolt pattern and the steering box bolt pattern...are identical? So in other words.....teh steering box bolt pattern for right hand drive is the same as for the idler arm of left hand drive.
The idler arm bracket itself...is the same part number left or right. You will notice the idler bracket uses only three bolts but has four bolt holes....threaded. you simply flip teh idler bracket to the left or right....making sure you turn the arm one way or the other before you install. Bolts right up. I can't remember if teh steering box casting has threaded bosses on both sides but it may easily also be the same casting.
The center link fits right in the center. I am betting that right hand drive cars use the same damper set up so no changes. Ray

wildthings · Post by **wildthings** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 8:14 pm

My book shows only one steering gear for both right and left hand drives (There are two steering gears depending on manufacture date), but there are two different pitman arms. How does the steering gear adjust from side to side? Is the case rotated end for end while the worn stays in the same orientation?

GDRBORETIRED · Post by **GDRBORETIRED** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 1:50 am

The steering is the same rt. to lt. It only changes if the box is moved to in front of the axle/spindle from behind or vice versa. That is why front steer vs. rear steer is an important consideration when picking a rack and pinion steering gear.

wshawn · Post by **wshawn** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 6:40 am

I'll keep my eye out for another to come up then

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 6:51 am

If you have an old unbent and un rusted centerlink...don't bother buying any of the new NOS ones...unles you can get them for $50 or less. The defect they have is rather interesting....and cannot be gotten around. Plus...there is no way of really seeing if a centerlink is bad without remving it to inspect. But...they were all defective in materials.
When the ywear...and the yall do....they are part of the chain of events that destroys the idler bushing and then the ball joints and centering ring bushings.

For under $20 in parts and a few hours of tedium...you can properly rebuild your own centerlink...about $200 better, stiffer and tighter than factory. And...it will never wear out. Ray

wshawn · Post by **wshawn** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 9:08 am

That reminds me, this is the only part I never got around to fixing in the summers rebuild of the front end.

Better get on and do it before it knackers the new parts. Could you let me know how to do the repairs to it please?

wildthings · Post by **wildthings** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 9:48 am

GDRBORETIRED wrote:The steering is the same rt. to lt. It only changes if the box is moved to in front of the axle/spindle from behind or vice versa. That is why front steer vs. rear steer is an important consideration when picking a rack and pinion steering gear.

Understand what you are saying, but don't know how it works on a T4. If the standard left hand drive box were installed on the right side it would be upside down. This would not work. I am guessing that the box must be assembled differently to create a mirror image. A pic of a right hand drive set up from one of the English blokes would be nice.

Actually as I look at it, the picture in my parts books appears to be a steering gear box assembled for right hand drive use and not left hand drive use. I am not crawling under my 411 to do any comparisons today though, too much of that cold white stuff out there. I do have a spare sitting in a parts bin somewhere that I will keep and eye out for.

Edit: Here is a picture of what I am guessing is a left hand drive steering gear, it is not the same orientation as what is shown in my parts book.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/ ... ?id=190508