I share your pain our Westy Syncro is sitting in the driveway out of
commission.  Last Friday we were set to take off for Denali National Park in
it around 1PM after I worked for a couple hours at the store.  After
dropping kids off at school I heard a metallic squeal from the RH front as I
was turning left.  I ran the van over to the shop that had replaced, under
their warranty, the right front wheel bearing earlier this year and we found
it to be bad.  They first replaced one last summer, this spring it was bad
so they replaced it and now that one is bad!  We ended up taking the wifes
Passat to Denali as they did not have a bearing nor the time to replace it
before we needed to leave town as our permit to drive into the Park was for
Saturday and you can't change it.

Cheer up you will have your van back in no time, it will better than before
and you can still go out and enjoy it.  Ours is about to be parked for the
winter once the bearing is dealt with so we get seven months of Vanagon
Withdrawal Syndrome.

Mark in AK

On Wed, Sep 22, 2010 at 8:31 AM, Rocket J Squirrel <
camping.elliott@gmail.com> wrote:

> Mellow Yellow is in the body shop, getting its right rear quarter panel
> replaced after that collision in July. I've asked the fellows to do a
> little rust mitigation, too. Getting a replacement bumper, a used one,
> but it's in better condition than the one that got mashed. And a NOS
> rear marker light lens, the old one got cracked.
>
> In the meantime, I'm cadging rides from my wife and using the bicycle
> where I can.
>
> So I guess what I'm saying is that I am temporarily reading this list as
> a Vanagon voyeur.  No tire threads!
>
> --
> Rocky J Squirrel
> '84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
> '74 Westrailia: (Ladybug Trailer company, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)
> Bend, OR
> KG6RCR
>