Itinerant Air-Cooled

I suspect the accident caused it.

The issue with the center pin I covered in the Samba a couple years ago. The stock pin fits slightly different at the bottom. The main thing is that the OG bushings are about .0015 inch tighter than the Febi ones. That makes it rock less. One would not thing it is material but it is. The center pin cap on the top is thicker OG VW than the Febi so it also allows less flex. Use the original top cap if you have one. Same for the spring washer at the bottom.

Also when the relay arm is pinched make sure it is as tight as possible. Any clearance in the bearings and the tightness of that relay arm to the bottom of the pin results in up and down rocking motion first before the tie rods move when the steering is turned.

sgkent wrote:I suspect the accident caused it.

The issue with the center pin I covered in the Samba a couple years ago. The stock pin fits slightly different at the bottom. The main thing is that the OG bushings are about .0015 inch tighter than the Febi ones. That makes it rock less. One would not thing it is material but it is. The center pin cap on the top is thicker OG VW than the Febi so it also allows less flex. Use the original top cap if you have one. Same for the spring washer at the bottom.

Also when the relay arm is pinched make sure it is as tight as possible. Any clearance in the bearings and the tightness of that relay arm to the bottom of the pin results in up and down rocking motion first before the tie rods move when the steering is turned.

Every trick has been faithfully executed since 1992 (my first center pin job). About the only additional observation I may have is that you *can* make the relay lever too tight and kill the self-centering. I c-clamp the lever to the pin until it bottoms out the thrust washer under the head of the pin, but no more. There is no advantage to steering precision in binding the vertical movement. It cannot control the lateral loads from steering inputs or tie rod kick-back.

I have had loose FEBI bushings, loose Meyles, a tight FEBi that needed reaming with a brake cylinder hone last year in Montana, and I have a center pin here that I am going to spray a .0015 chrome finish on to see if that helps the next bushing job. I might have shared with you how much I would like to appropriate front wheel bearings and races and make a slick adjustable relay lever.
Colin