Same thing for me - only knocking on the passenger side.  No squeaking as
far as I can tell.  I've never replaced these parts in the 11 years I've
owned my 85, so I assume they're stock.

No has mentioned though what exactly torsion rod bushings are and the
archives haven't heard of the term.  Are they in fact the same as UCABs?
(sorry I wrote torsion rod bearings in the first subject).  I need two lower
and two upper apparently.

Thanks again
Jeff
85 Westfalia 260k km.

>From: Shawn Wright <swright@ZUIKO.SLS.BC.CA>
>Reply-To: Shawn Wright <swright@ZUIKO.SLS.BC.CA>
>To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>Subject: Re: torsion rod bearings vs. upper control arm bushings
>Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 19:50:51 -0700
>
>On 21 Jun 2004 at 18:40, stephen steele <steeles159@YAHOO.COM> wrote:
>
> > I, too, have no experience on this area of the van.
> > But prior to tackling this job I did a search of the
> > archives for upper control arm bushings(UCAB). As
> > expected there's a wealth of info.
> >
> > SYNOPSIS:
> > It seems that the change of UCAB does not guarantee
> > the removal of front end squeaking. The r/r will take
> > away the knocking about caused by the delamination of
> > the internal rubber of the bushings. The Bentley says
> > to spot weld the new ones in and most agree that this
> > is necessary (some don't, though).
> > Most also agree that this the perfect time to do the
> > ball joints and tie rod ends, too.  I have put off
> > doing my UCAB until I get all the other parts to do it
> > completely.  I don't have the squeaking...mine is
> > knocking about.
>
>I'll weigh in with my experiences here, since I had both squeaking an
>knocking.
>Replacing the UCBs fixed my squeaking, and has stayed that way for about
>4-5 years
>now, with plenty of rough road travel. Strangely, only the pass side had
>the proble, so I
>left the driver side alone.
>The knocking was caused by installing KYB shocks and using the bushings
>supplied
>with them. Fortunately, I had kept the stock bushings, and on the advice of
>the list, put
>them back in - no more knocking! This is on an '88 Westy, now with 382k
>kms.
>--
>Shawn Wright
>http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright
>~This message sent by Pegasus Mail, the safe E-Mail alternative~
>"Friends don't let friends use Outlook"

_________________________________________________________________
STOP MORE SPAM with the MSN Premium and get 2 months FREE*
http://join.msn.com/?pgmarket=en-ca&page=byoa/prem&xAPID=1994&DI=1034&SU=http://hotmail.com/enca&HL=Market_MSNIS_Taglines