On the road again

[wildthings]

Well I finally got my '72 411 back on the road today after blowing up my OEM struts last summer on some impossibly rough back roads. I redid every thing that I could find parts for on the front end and it seems to have worked well, zero shimmy even with the same studded snow tires all around that gave me fits before.

NOS Koni adjustable strut cartridges
Changed to an excentric strut bearing
New center link
New ball joint boots, plus added grease fittings to the joints
New tie rod end boots.
Custom idler arm bushing, greasable
New seals in steering box
"T" assembly and lower suspension arms off of a '74 square that appears to have had all the rubber recently replaced including the grommet like piece on the radius arm.
Sway bar off of '74 square that is about 60 thousanths larger in dia. than the old one on my '72
Phosphoric acid treatment on the fuel tank, plus all new hoses, and sending unit
New battery
Custom rebuilt front seats
NOS master cylinder

I still have lots of things to do, like trouble shooting the gas heater, but it is a fine driving car once again.

I still however have questionable brakes which I will bring up in another post.

[vwbill]

Wow great job! No shimmy!! That must be sweet!! Sounds like you kicked butt on that job! Hey can you tell me how your frontend responds when you stand on the bumper and get off? Does it seem very stiff and doesnt move much or does it have alot if travel and bonces but stops quick? Did you have adjustments on the konis before installation? It must be nice to have a driver again!! Congrate! bill

[wildthings]

The front end is pretty stiff, a little stiffer than I would like concidering how rough some of the roads I drive are. The Konis are turned all the way in to their softest setting, but it is pretty cold out and maybe they are a little stiff from the combination of being NOS, unbroken in and cold.

[MGVWfan]

Outstanding!!! I'll bet you're in fine ride heaven now!

Mine is almost as "new" as yours, I have the wonderful "Greenwood Mod" done by Herr Doktor Ray himself on my centerlink, all else new except the control arm bushings. They're next, along with the centering rings.

If you've got an old centerlink to work with, I'd do the Greenwood Mod to it and swap them out sometime down the road. Man, there's absolutely ZERO play in that sucker with those bronze bushes in there in place of the nylon OE bushings.

Does your handle like a really tight BMW, maybe a 3-series or 2002 ? I was shocked how well my 412 wagon handles with a mostly new front end.

[Jan Peter de geus]

Sounds like a great job! Which Koni strut inserts did you use? I have a pair of #KO-86-1832 and plan to install that on my '72 411. Was it an easy fit? You state you changed to an excentric strut bearing. Do you mean you used the late superbeetle strut mounts with asymmetrical bolt pattern or did you use something else? Could you use your original bump stop? And what about spacers? Did you also switch to 412 blue coded springs?
Thanks, Jan Peter

[wildthings]

Don't have the number of the Koni struts written down, but they were the listed ones for the 72-73 411. The asymetrical strut bearings came off of the 74 412, but are the same as a Super Beetle. Since the asymetrical bearing is deeper (thicker) than the original there was a problem with the threads on the strut not being long enough. I ended up shortening the spacer that is pressed onto the strut by about 5/8 of an inch to get effective thread length. This causes a 5/8 loss of suspension travel, but had no appearant effect on ride height. The loading of the front springs in actual use does not change. I was able to use the original bumper stops and boots with no problems. If you try to dublicate what I did you need to cut the 5/8 of an inch off of the fat end of the spacer and not the thin end, otherwise the original bumper stop will not fit.

[raygreenwood]

Yep....been there before. Also....did your srut cartridges come with the 13mm bushing that slips down over the rod and sits under the fat bump stop bushing? If not..you may have cartridges that were purposely made for early 412 (not 411). There were several cartridges available depending on who made them.
(1) 411 cartridges with correct step length...no 13mm spacer needed. Used symmetrical non ball bearing type strut bearing. (early...rarely reached American market)
(2) 412 cartridges made with correct step...no spacer needed.
(3) Combo 411/early 412 (which used the symmetrical bearing from late 411). These had a slip on 13mm spacer to make them for 411 or 412.
Examples of who made these....Monroe, KYB, possibly Bilstein, Saachs, Boge.
(4) Late 412 only cartridges without the long pin on the top. They used assymetrical bearing assemblies, a differet bump stop support steel bushing and had no slip on 13mm spacer. They were generally impossible to use on 411 or early 412....without the correct bump stop spacer,bump stop and the assymetrical bearing assembly. Ray