yes good fun.    ;)   Thankful I can re use the better bushings.

btw, just noticed that in fact, I was wrong re factory VW welds

There's a blob of weld at top of each arm *and* smaller welds at
bottom where the meet the shaft.

This is reasurring.

Neil.

On 4/5/10, Scott Daniel  - Turbovans <scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:
> I never even had noticed how those arms are welded only partially to the
> cross shaft until I heard about the 'full welded' version.
> I've never seen one break.
> of the various parts that wear or fail in the clutch release mechanism,
> that's not one of the failure points that I've seen.
>
> If those arms aren't bent ......
> and no cracks or anything , I think I'd leave just as is, as opposed to
> welding on it more.
>
> silly me, I didn't even think of 'clutch operating lever' for 'COL.'
>
> I call it the Throw Out Lever, since it operates the throw out bearing.
> I think I would have built it with a split and pinch bolt ..
> so rather than a 'perfect slide fit' ...the lever would clamped firmly to
> the cross shaft, and when the pinch bolt was removed there'd be some play,
> to help it slide off.
>
> sounds like you're having good vanagon fun !
> Scott
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "neil n" <musomuso@gmail.com>
> To: "Scott Daniel - Turbovans" <scottdaniel@turbovans.com>
> Cc: <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
> Sent: Sunday, April 04, 2010 7:23 PM
> Subject: Re: Clutch Cross-shaft Question
>
>
.......

>  I guess VW figured that
> since arms only push out the throw out bearing, they only need a weld
> at, uh, the top of each arm.
>
>
>
> On Sun, Apr 4, 2010 at 6:03 PM, Scott Daniel  - Turbovans
> <scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:
>> notice how puny the welds that join the forks to the shaft are.
>>
>> there's a re-welded version with full welds.
>> I haven't seen any of the stock welds fail, but they do look rather
>> 'partial' the way VW built it.

--
Neil Nicholson '81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco"

http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/

http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines