Gearbox. How bad can it be

[HarryMann]

Hex head cap screws from Brickwerks cheap (2 sets of 12, £15 + V*T) incl the serrated washers

Definitely, regrease and inspect all boots

[syncropaddy]

I have a few LH drill bits for occasions like this !!!

[ghost123uk]

Will also mean you can fit new fasteners to all the joints, looks like its been fitted with a right mixed bag of fasteners in the past.
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Chhers for the input sandwedge - though note that the pics and the first part of this thread is that off Vee_Dub, not mine - I hijacked this thread as the topic is identical.

Have you had a go? with no pressure on them from them being tight they will probably spin right out really easy.
jed

Not yet Jed, I am hoping the new bolts will arrive from Brickwerks today (Friday).
If they do, I might well do it myself tomorrow, being a no work Saturday.

My only concern was getting access to the broken studs via the inside of the shield.
I was hoping not to have to strip the wheel and hub assembly off, but if I have to, I will.

Thanks for the input sandwedge, harrymann, etc

[ghost123uk]

My only concern was getting access to the broken studs via the inside of the shield.
I was hoping not to have to strip the wheel and hub assembly off, but if I have to, I will.

Well the bolts arrived in 24 hours thanks to Brickwerks usual excellent service.

Started stripping it and quickly realised I needed to get the hub off to get at the sheared bolts, but that 46mm nut was going nowhere with the tools I have
So I put it all back together and managed to get 3 bolts in, the remaining 3 that sheared off will have to get done by my local T3 friendly garage !!
At least I can drive it, all be it very gently, until they can fit me in.

[syncropaddy]

The 46mm nut holds the shaft not the hub! There are 4 x 19mm bolts that hold the hub on to the rear trailing arm. Undo those and the whole lot comes off. Easy!

[Vee_Dub]

Hey Ghost,

How you get on?

I got lucky. I went out and bought new drill bits AND a long enough centre punch to do the job. It was a nightmare trying to get the drill in the back. but I noticed the bolt had turned slightly so I ended up using the end of the drill bit to unscrew it enough for fingers to get a purchase on it. The other 2 bolts eventually came out the same way.

Putting the shaft back on took longer. Its a fair weight when your lying on yer back holding it up with one hand and a rachet in the other. I'll jack it up next time.

[ghost123uk]

The 46mm nut holds the shaft not the hub! There are 4 x 19mm bolts that hold the hub on to the rear trailing arm. Undo those and the whole lot comes off. Easy!

Ah Yes "Easy" , so we try again yesterday.

Hey Ghost,

How you get on?

Well an inspection lamp gave me the impression I would be wasting my time trying to get them, out from the inside, so the hub / bearing housing HAS to come off.
The 19mm bolts turn out to be 22mm
So I spray on the PlusGas, cycle off to Halfrauds and spend a tenner on a nice shiny new combo spanner.

Tried to move the easiest one to get at = not moving, trouble is the heads are somewhat recessed and on 2 of them there is not much "head" sticking out to get the ring spanner on, so not wanting to damage them, that was the end of that

Put it all back together with the 3 good bolts and go begging at the garage for a rush job, soonest is Wednesday.
They said access to those 4 22mm bolts is a common problem and they always heat the metal around up with the torch before even trying to move them (they did it on the other side of mine a month ago when changing a wheel bearing).

[silverbullet]

If they just warm it up with propane, then that's fine. The trouble is most garages reach for the one heat source they have - oxy acatylene - and do there best to melt the housing
We always go for a couple of cycles of warm/cool with gas and quench it with WD40 on siezed bolts. Usually does the trick.
Just looked at the rear hub assembly that I happen to have on the bench, the spot-face on the bearing carrier is only about as deep as the heavy washer under the bolt head, so you should get full engagement with a straight (non-cranked) ring spanner.
You can always use a jack under the spanner to apply more torque to two of the bolts, the other two will need a tickle with a #2 copper and hide (use the copper face to strike the spanner, to shock the bolt)
Mind the wheelarch and your fingers!

[ghost123uk]

Thanks for the input silverbullet, but it's a garage job now (esp as it peeing down here )

The place I use are very good with T3's, the owner has had 1 or 2 in his time, incl a Syncro crewcab.

[syncropaddy]

The 19mm bolts turn out to be 22mm

[ghost123uk]

The 19mm bolts turn out to be 22mm

No worries friend, I am sure the new 22mm spanner will come in useful another time

As I say, =

Put it all back together with the 3 good bolts and go begging at the garage for a rush job,They said access to those 4 22mm bolts is a common problem and they always heat the metal around up with the torch before even trying to move them (they did it on the other side of mine a month ago when changing a wheel bearing).

I was not going to move those bolts without the right sort of heat anyway !

It's in the garage now and they seemed un-phased by the job.
Will report back on costs etc.

Lets hope they are careful re =

If they just warm it up with propane, then that's fine. The trouble is most garages reach for the one heat source they have - oxy acatylene - and do there best to melt the housing

[Simon Baxter]

If they just warm it up with propane, then that's fine. The trouble is most garages reach for the one heat source they have - oxy acatylene - and do there best to melt the housing

Garages or scrap yards, there is a difference.
Never, ever seen a melted housing, ever.
We are "Motor Engineers", just like a garage but we have a few taps and dies.....

[HarryMann]

They said access to those 4 22mm bolts is a common problem and they always heat the metal around up with the torch before even trying to move them (they did it on the other side of mine a month ago when changing a wheel bearing).

Melts the grease though and shouldn't be necessary for those ones.

Honestly with a thin 22mm socket, they come out pretty easy, funnily, because LARGE bolts often come out easier than small ones, as the heads can take a lot more welly. Think only done up to 80 ft-lbs, never needed heat on two vehicles, think a good open ended did a few of them.
You did take the brake back-plate off first?

But they are a bit strangely recessed, I've ground part of that off on some of mine, for future reference!

NB. Only writing this as aide de memoir for the Wiki by the way

[silverbullet]

Garages or scrap yards, there is a difference.
Never, ever seen a melted housing, ever.
We are "Motor Engineers", just like a garage but we have a few taps and dies.....

Wouldn't dream of including you in my sweeping generalization. Unfortunately we usually have to recover the aftermath of ham-f15ted have-a-goers and gas-wielding monkeys who have wrecked the heat treatment of forged suspension components.
I regularly turn this sort of work away as I don't want to be the last man who touched the job
Brickwerks is among the few who actually know what they're doing these days

[ghost123uk]

Update =

So, drop the van off at 8:30 in the morning (5 miles away = arranging lifts etc)
They seem confident and will ring me when done.
At 5:15pm I get a call "Aren't you coming to pick your van up ?"
I say "I have not had a call yet to say it's ready."
So order a panic taxi (£12) to get there before they lock up.
Get there to find all seems OK on the side that had the busted drive shaft bolts, but they decided to do the other side (that had no problem) as well - they have put the new Brickwerks bolts, with the special lock washers, OVER THE TOP of the original VW "banana" type lock-washers

I doubt this is good.

I did not ask them to do this, I could have done that myself if I thought it necessary.

Plus I recall reading you must not re-use these bolts, so if I have to remove them to get rid of the banana lock washers, I will have to buy another pack of 12 bolts

Now this garage are normally very good and as they are the only place within travelling distance I trust to work on my T3, I am in a bit of a dilemma as I do not want to fall out with them !

So I suppose I must just pay the bill and correct the issue myself (unless general opinion here (Simon ?) thinks the new bolts will be OK with the banana washers underneath the Brickwerks special washers )