Neon wrote: > I just remembered something about my Pickup. It doesn't have an engine > mount, just the 3 transaxle mounts replaced with urethane bushings. I > decided to try this, after listening to the reasons I shouldn't posted on > this list (looked like nothing I couldn't detect and go back to fix). It > seems to work just fine, I can even bark the fat front tyres with the baby > DCP. I suspected it might, as my Bently manual mentions that early gas > Rabbits lacked an engine mount (though I've never seen a Rabbit without > one). An electric motor is alot lighter and shakes alot less :-) Plus my > mounts are alot harder than stock (they do pick up road noise, OK for a > tough Pickup, but perhaps not what you would want in a nice Rabbit).
Well, your 3-transaxle-mount scene answers one ? that I had about putting one of those mid-sized Kostov motors (that didn't have a mount on the bellhousing) in the Rabbit. Eventually somebody suggested just welding a mount on the end of the bellhousing. I have 4 mounts in my Rabbit. I was concerned that w/o the motor mount, the motor would not be as well restrained and supported and tend to whip around a lot more. Apparently yours doesn't crawl out of the engine bay when you bark the tires. > > Seth wrote: > >Don't forget to pull the speedo drive, and plug it when you do. Pulling > >the front bolts of the lower control arms and rotating the arms out can > >get you enough slack to pull axles without separating the ball joint > >fron the knuckle. > > If I understand my manual correctly I should be able to pull the axle out > without undoing any part of the front suspension (except automatic > Rabbits). There will be enuf room to push the axle together and get it out > of the way of the transaxle. I wonder about that too :-) Anyway, I thought > I would hang the axles high (for changing a transaxle) and then pull and > swap the axles while there was no transaxle in place (big tight nut > loosened before the front leaves the ground). Then there outta be plenty of > room to pull them out then. > > >But I would change the bearing AND the hubs when I do > >axles. Suck it up and spend $20 for each hub and bearing, and $60 for > >each reman axle (don't rebuild them with just CV joints, they are a real > >pain). The total can be $200 plus using the bearing press, or another > >$40 to get it done, but all three often need replacement simultaneously. > >And don't ever, ever, ever, even roll it a foot unless the axle nuts > >have at least the specified torque (~180 lb ft for some) or else you > >will be buying new bearings really soon. > > Could you expain more about, "don't ever, ever, ever, even roll it a foot > unless the axle nuts have at least the specified torque"? You are refering > only to rolling the bearing with weight on them right? That is, can I roll > the hubs by hand when the vehicle is in the air to make sure the bearings > are smooth? I cannot find any reference to not rolling the bearing in the > Bently manual and I don't want to mess them up. Thanx! >From what I recall back in 1994 when we did my conversion, the shop gave me some fake driveshaft ends to put into the rebuilt bearing housings before we put the load on the wheels (there wasn't any transmission in the car at this time to attach driveshafts to). Otherwise we would've screwed up the bearings. I think you could roll them by hand with no load if you take it easy on them, but be careful about putting a load on them unless you have them torqued as Seth mentioned, and also the fake or real driveshaft ends installed. Also, I've been told that putting synthetic (RedLine) grease in the wheel bearings gives significantly less friction than "standard" grease. I think I have the standard stuff, and wish I had known about the synthetic at the time. All these little tricks... Chuck Hursch Larkspur, CA www.geocities.com/nbeaa
