How to Keep the Wheels Attached to Your VW (or Why Polo is Better than Golf)

Quote
Robert Culbertson
There needs to be a sarcasm button somewhere. This whole communication through typing does leave a few things out.

I was slightly confused why you were suggesting such massive brakes for such light cars

The truth is that the on serious gravel cars driven by good pilots a car size such as the Vauxhaul Nova/Opel Corsa (which is slightly bigger than a Rare-bit but smaller and lighter than a Golf) you would see something about 280 x 25 or 27mm front and 280 x 9.~~ rear.

Powerful and easy to modulate brakes is a irreplaceably vital part of why modern rally cars go faster than old school things cars up to early/mid 80s.

But--- as few bother to do good brakes, fewer still ever try in any systematic way to learn to use good brake (other than blab about "how "vital " LFB is" which IS hard and takes a LOT of time--possibly years to get good-------
I am also partially making fun of myself for trying to educate..

I mean ferfucks sake look at your nice spindle set up..

You should have sold one of those kits to every MkI and MII and MkIII in North America..

Have you?

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Haha.... No. I have only sold 2 to some road racers.

Come on guys! Buy my sweet crap! The chips are going to be flying this weekend, get them while they're hot!

Does anyone know of a place to source the bearings for the mk4 stubs? I pulled some at the yard and the bearings went pop. I plan to make the 5 holes into 4x100's but I don't want have to do it more than once or buy new stuff. cheep cheep

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Dave Grenwis - DG Rally - www.dgrally.com

You can order the hub and bearings as a complete unit (RockAuto, Ebay, Amazon, Autozone, etc.)... but you can remove the inner race with a puller and just pop it back into the bearing/hub if you want. I did that with my car, and it made it 1k+ road miles without a problem so far.

To prevent this from happening again, 2-3 minutes with some 240grit emery cloth will make it so the bearings slide on, and off, the stub axle all smooth like.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/2016 10:05AM by Robert Culbertson.

Yeah, I was thinking about reusing them but not sure how much gunk I got in there at the yard before I got home. They're probably fine...

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Dave Grenwis - DG Rally - www.dgrally.com

Never had the best luck reusing separated split inner races unless they were completely cleaned and re-packed, doesn't take much to take out a bearing.

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Power means nothing if you cannot control it!

Quote
Robert Culbertson
Sourcing parts from across borders can be hit or miss. What happens when you break a stub axle or have a hub failure? Are the Polo stubs the same diameter as the mk4 VW? I read somewhere that they weren't, but then again.... this is the internet.
Or you use these. $150ish for the set, and made by yours truly. They use all parts that can be sourced new from any autoparts store, in any country. Or your favorite rally parts depot.


Edited to not sound like a crass jerk.

Not to try to bump an old thread or anything, but I would love a set of these! Robert, I PM'ed you about these, not sure if you got the PM but if you could PM me that would be awesome!

I'm almost ready to use my kit on my mk2. Roasted another rear bearing, so sick of it. I was gonna use a mk3 rear axle beam but I was talking to a guy last weekend that told me that the mk2 rear beam is stronger. Ugh. I have a mk2 beam on right now, and 2 spare mk3 beams.....which one should I build?? Tried searching for this topic no luck.

Thanks!

How weak is a piece of string?

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Pete Remner
Cleveland, Ohio

1984 RX-7 (rallycross thing)
1978
Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver.

hmmm...

Whats yer sting made of?







Say the guy who lives hangin' on rope...

Annnnd I'm lost.....

Quote
SideburnsSteve
I was gonna use a mk3 rear axle beam but I was talking to a guy last weekend that told me that the mk2 rear beam is stronger. Ugh. I have a mk2 beam on right now, and 2 spare mk3 beams.....which one should I build?? Tried searching for this topic no luck.

It would be worth checking the widths of all your axles as they can vary. Also check the axle bushes from the mk2 are compatible with the mk3 axles as there are two different sizes.
Some mk2 and mk3 models have the integrated anti-rollbar and some don't.

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Disappointingly not yet a Jackass

I'm using a Mk3 beam and the gussets look more substantial than the mk2 beams. The mk3 was a heavier car and a new design. Why would the vw engineers make the new version weaker?

Side note: I have a bolt on aftermarket sway bar (from a mk2) that fits well and makes the rear end a bit more snappy.

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Dave Grenwis - DG Rally - www.dgrally.com

Talking of strength, one thing to consider is if there is significant corrosion to the axle.
These cars are getting older now and if the axle was on a car that was used on salted roads its strength may be compromised.
This pic is from a 91 rocco which is A1 platform. It let go whilst being driven on a main road.
Later mk2 and mk3 axles have extra gusseting but corrosion may be hidden behind gusset and inside main tube.

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Disappointingly not yet a Jackass

Those are all good points to consider. I'm not quite as concerned about the width as I am the strength. My mk2 beam has the sway bar. However it is old so I should check if it has any bad rust.

The mk3 bushings are bigger also, I would assume that's better, but maybe not.

Thanks for the feedback!