

| Subject: | Re: uhh... changing upper control arm bushings? |
| From: | John Bange |
| Date: | Mon, 22 Aug 2005 22:21:33 -0700 |
> sooo.... after deciding to change my upper control arm bushings, I > finally looked up the job in my Haynes manual, to find THIS under the > section on the "upper wishbone: removal and refitting": "If renewal of > the bushes is necessary, this work must be carried out by a VW dealer". > > So, uhh, is there some way around this? Heh. Yeah, first: toss that Haynes manual in the garbage. Second: get a Bentley official factory repair manual, check out section 40. Full step-by-step details, the same the "VW dealer" would use if you were lucky enough to find a competent Vanagon mechanic at the stealership. The Haynes manual does have its uses. Besides being good as survival kindling or emergency toilet paper, it can occasionally offer a slightly different viewpoint on something in the Bentley you might be having trouble understanding. I certainly wouldn't depend on it though. The last Haynes I bought was for my 94 Civic. I swore to never buy another when it offered the belt-replacement procedure of "loosen bolts that hold belts under tension and remove belts" and the REAL procedure involved entirely removing the PS pump to get at the AC compressor, and the AC compressor bracket had to be unbolted (one bracket bolt being in the dang wheel well!) to get the belt off the pulley. (what Japanese sadist designed the Civic such that belt replacement takes 2 hours, yet radiator replacement is literally a 5 minute job? anyway, I digress...) The problem is that much of the stuff in the Haynes is generic instructions applicable to practically any car that offer no particular insight into the the special requirements of your particular vehicle, if any. For something like the UCA bushings, with the Bentley you can examine the process in detail and decide if you think you want to try your luck. So yeah, definitely get a Bentley. All the cool kids have one. :)
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