yes yes, forgive me on the front axle beam statement on "Re: Lowering and
'85"....I haven't had mine all that long....guess I was thinking of my old
aircooled that I replaced the front axle beam in.....must still be a
sensitive memory for me or something.  That's why I'm on this list
though....to reduce the 'stupidity' and increase the 'knowledge'!

Ok, so my next question to y'all is on the instrument cluster in an '85
Vanagon.  I've had some problems with the whole thing going....dead.  If I
rap on the top of the cluster, I can get it to come on sometimes and that
saves me from having to go in the engine compartment each time I start her to
'coax' the alternatory to kick on (because, as you know, if my dash
alternator light is not working, the alternator will not get the signal to
kick on in the engine copartment.....don't ask me how long it took to figure
that one out).  So, anyway, I cannot, in pulling that cluster out, determine
where my short is.  That circuitry is brittle..tender, I don't know what I
could do to fix a short even if I found it in this circuitry.  I replaced the
voltage stabilizer just for kicks.  That did nothing.  Do y'all suppose this
is some kind of junkyard item I need to acquire or has anyone had this
problem previously that has been able to determine what the problem is?  It's
very random...sometimes comes on, sometimes does not.  Sometimes not even
rapping on it will get it to come on.

Any ideas?

Dustin