Front Suspension
A small tragedy occured after trying to fix a curious intermittent
brake pressure problem - my father, being the firm-handed man that
he is, hammered all the rust off the front brake discs, but in doing
so weakened the suspension bracket (which must also have been quite
rusty). It's probably a good thing that he did this actually, and a poor show
for the guys who did the last MOT, as when I sat in the car it just
dropped several inches. The bracket which holds the large suspension
spring at the bottom had disintegrated, the only thing stopping the
spring now was the brake pipe bracket! Oh dear. Here's left and right for
a comparison:
This, sadly, is how the beetle has remained for the last few months -
unused and unfixed - in a spare patch of driveway, the money has simply run out.
I suppose the only
thing to do would be to order the suspension strut/damper and try to
replace it myself, then at least it would be driveable. As yet I haven't
had the courage or the inclination; just when I thought I was getting
on top of things it has to pull a stunt like this. It really took me
by surprise too, and despite several attempts to sell the beetle it just
sits there. I may well order the parts soon, but I won't be looking
forward to doing the work though (I would replace both front
ones to make them equal in strength etc).
Update
I have now managed to sell my Beetle as a restoration project. There
were simply too many jobs that needed doing to call it road-worthy.
I was very sad to see it go, gone to a new home in Essex, but at least
it drove onto the trailor under its own power! Some day, when I have the
money, I may well buy another one, perhaps a camper van, but until then
at least I have the happy memories from my first Beetle.
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