While driving back from Vanfest a couple of months ago I heard a bad clunk. The sort of clunk that could be badness happening to an old VeeDub or just a rock hitting the bottom. Everything seemed to be OK so I carried on.
I have noticed recently that the front end has been bouncier than normal. If I go over a hump things seem “squishier”. The van works OK and as this is such a novelty I’ve kept at it.
I knew that I would need to have a look . In my heart I suspected something bad had happened and it took me less time to find the problem than it did to put on my overalls.
Rust in the front beam. The whole upper damper mount from the top tube upwards has sheared off. The squishiness is a lack of dampers on the passenger side.
But I am managing to be positive about this. Why ? Simple, I predicted this about 3 years ago. In my shed I have a rust free Australian beam bought at the Vintage VW show. It’s greased and painted in POR15. All that it needs is fitting. Of course I’d prefer the beam could stay in the shed and I could spend my money on model loco kits, but that’s the downside of old cars. The same thing happening on a new car would be much more expensive.
OK, so this is going to cost me a load of cash ‘cos I don’t fancy the job myself* but at least I should be able to keep on the road. Also I’m learning the resilience of these vans. You can run on 3 cylinders and drive with a major chunk of suspension missing.
*It’s not the removing of the beam but what you find underneath it that worries me.
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