Random Images

This is the right side brake line at the caliper. Both sides did the same thing as soon as I moved the caliper off the hub.

This is one of the upper links, old/new.

On 4th of July we found a duck hiding from the noise in our garage. He spent the night and then wouldn't leave the next morning. Eventually our cat chased him away.

Images

Stripped nut.

Left side brake hose to caliper assembly I had to replace.

Right side upright/bearing carrier with bearing and hub removed.

Wheel bearing opening. The guy at the shop thought the hole was too shiny. Maybe from the bearing moving around and polishing it.

This time I really am finished.

So, after I found a new wheel bearing and had the old one pressed out and the new one pressed in, I found out that the suspension upright/bearing carrier is worn, allowing the new bearing to move around. Not good. The repair shop found a used upright and kindly transferred my new bearing to it.

I finally got the part back with the new bearing on Friday, July 6. I reassembled the right-side suspension and moved on to replacing the brake hoses. The right side went fine. When I tried to remove the hose on the left side, I rounded the nut holding the hose to the brake caliper. I rushed out to the salvage yard and they found a donor caliper I could get the part I needed from.

I finished up around 5:00pm. I made an appointment for an alignment at Norm's for Saturday morning. We dropped the car off Friday night and it was done before noon on Saturday.

I Hate Blogger!

Why does it have to be so hard to get the text of posts to not wrap around images. Ugh.

I figured out that if you upload the images first then you can add the text. I am probably doing it the hard way.

That Wasn't So Hard...

This is how I spent most of the last three days. It was nice of VW to make the wheel wells fit me.

Here's a photo of the right side finished. Of course, after I mounted the disk, I discovered the wheel bearing on this side is bad so I had to take it apart again. I am currently waiting for a new bearing.

Best. Tool. Ever.

Evan loaned me his air-hammer. I would still be trying to take the suspension apart if I didn't have this. I also borrowed an impact wrench from Jim. That tool saved me a lot of time and effort, that's for sure.

This the right side with all the suspension components removed. The brake caliper is hanging by a wire.

Nice!

Right side hub.

Left side hub.

The center hub bolts on the right and left of the Passat are different. The 24mm bolt on the driver's side wasn't a big deal, Evan had a socket I could borrow. The 14mm hex on the right side was a different story. I finally tracked one down at "cough, cough" Harbor Freight. Of course I had to buy a set of 10 assorted sizes, but after visiting Sears, O'Reilly's and two different AutoZone's, I was willin'.

The bolts came loose a lot easier than I thought they would. The shop manual (yes I bought one) says always loosen these bolts while the car is standing on all four wheels, serious injury is possible! They came out fairly easily with my 3 foot bar.

I got the car up on jackstands. This is always harder than I think it should be. The jack I use to lift the car is always where I want to put my jackstands. Then I unbolted the wheels and gave all the bolts and fasteners a shot of PB Blaster.

Kathy and Sam are in Colorado with Sam's Girl Scout troop for a river rafting adventure, so I selected this weekend to work on her car. It looks like the weather is going to cooperate, cooler temps are predicted. Yippee.

Parts Are Here

My control arm kit showed up today. I'm not sure I'm ready to pull the trigger on this thing. Kathy came through when she got home and suggested I do the work when she and Sam are in Colorado for their Girl Scout trip at the end of June. I should be able to psych myself up by then. I hope.

I still need some more tools.

I'm trying to decide if I should do the steering rack at the same time. We had a pretty significant leak a couple weeks ago. Evan put some magic stuff in the car and the leaking stopped. I don't know if that will last, though. I'll have most of the front end off anyway. It might be a good time to do it. hmmmm.