10 Year Caddy Front end rebuild

[DogDiesel]

Last rebuilt my Caddy pickup front end in 2004.  All new bushings, mounts, CV shafts, calipers, pads,  bearings, struts, strut bearings, tie-rod assembly, ball joints and all rubber.  Noticed that everything was beginning to be dry-rotted.

So I tore it apart, have all the new parts listed above, plus new master cylinder, coolant surge tank, all AAZ hoses from BEE GEE, gonna order new a-frames, etc. 

But here is WHY.  My front wheel bearings were worn.  I checked and re-checked, no side bearing movement, but when up on jackstands in 5th, and give it the throttle, the wheels move elongated.  I remove tires, marked and then removed remounted and marked and the problem was not tires.  Not possible.  So I ordered new tires and rims from tire-rack and confirmed this bearing wear.  My front end would act like I had bad tires 70-85mph.  No unusual noise, no side play in wheel bearings. 

My little truck will be in my shop for a month or so, doing the front end, replacing coolant hoses, gasket on oil cooler, etc.  No hurry, and I only have the weekends to work on it.  I got 10 years of trouble free service, and this is not as result of failure, just the decade service due.

Rust is not an issue, so if someone suggest something I am not planning on replacing, I would be interested.

Wayne
Virginia

[Syncroincity]

Steering rack (Power?) and mount bushings.

[DogDiesel]

Yes,
   I have power steering, and I have a set of boots on order, plus tie-rod end assemblies.
I have a mount bushing kit on hand, and ordered the a-frame suspension today, along with a few other items.
I believe everything up front will be new. 

On the rear, I am only replacing the shocks.  Just last year replaced, wheel cylinders, drums, shoes and spring kit, plus bearings and seals.

Wayne

[DogDiesel]

Before I began tearing apart the front end, I finally got my transmission to shifting smoothly into second from first.  As background, I have the short shifter kit, and the new mylar bushings, and everything was tight and new, but second was alway catching, a bit off from straight back.  I had a perfect fifth and reverse. 

When I installed the new shifter base, I aligned the hole with a screwdriver thru both holes, line to line and as stated above reverse and fifth were perfect.  All gears other than second was smooth as glass. You could walk the shifter right to get second OK.

Somebody had posted this on one of the forums, as a comment, years ago, tweaking side to side,  but most well written procedures, and recent ones simply said align the hole and center.

I decided I would experiment and follow this commenters' advice.  So by experimentation, I loosend the shifter base and started micro adjusting for catching second.  A road test shift check followed each adjustment.  In the end, the shifter base was tweaked left mid hole and it would catch second perfect, rotating to beyond would make you walk the shifter the other way to catch.  This adjustment did not affect fifth or reverse.

Thank God for search engines online, otherwise I'd still be catch second slowly and with effort.

I hope what I posted makes sense to those reading.

Wayne
South Central Virginia

[TylerDurden]

I cannot believe that the bearings are the cause.  Play in bearings at high speed would create sideplay and noise in short order, IMO.

More likely the rear suspension. How old are the back shocks?

When up on jackstands, were the lower wishbones hanging, or were the jackstands supporting the wishbones and front suspension? Extended cv axles will not have consistent turning resistance, methinks.

[Syncroincity]

Just got done with this on my '98 Jetta (gasser) and it drives like a new car. Struts, front bushes, axles,  all 4 brakes, etc... Giving it to my nephew for his 16th birthday. 

[DogDiesel]

Tyler,
   I have had a VW pickup, one or another since the mid-80s.  I have always put the front end on jack stands, put it in high gear and watched for vibration.  I have never had an issue with CV joints contributing to vibration.  Anyway, the left one is rather new.   I placed a floor jack under the left a frame, but the vibration was still there, despite the jack.  I think I was thorough

 I was not expecting this type behavior either.  There was no side to side play, no noise.  So I ordered a brand new set of tires and rims, which I really did not need, put them on, and the tires rolled at idle true.  Zero miles on tires and rims.   I placed a straight edge guide in front of each tire to gauge elongation.  Bringing it up to 55-60 and the tires spun true, but above that, the tires began to vibrate, especially the left side.  The space between the tire and straight edge began to change significantly, corresponding with the vibration. Wouldn't have belived it either. 

But when you have the front end up on jackstand you witness the vibration, can now correlate the cause, how does that have anything to do with rear shocks? 

When I get the Caddy back together, I will almost guarantee there will be no vibration.  It will be perfect when I take it out of my shop.  It always is.

Wayne

I cannot believe that the bearings are the cause.  Play in bearings at high speed would create sideplay and noise in short order, IMO.

More likely the rear suspension. How old are the back shocks?

When up on jackstands, were the lower wishbones hanging, or were the jackstands supporting the wishbones and front suspension? Extended cv axles will not have consistent turning resistance, methinks.

[DogDiesel]

When I pulled the spindles, the bearings looked good, but were much, much looser than the new bearings.

I will also order new front disks.  The old ones are in good shape.  I had pulled the tires and looked and listened for caliper pad contact, and obvious wear, but there was none.  I am replacing calipers anyway, hoses, Master cylinder, so not replacing rotors is chinzy.

I ran the test without tires, and  it would not play out with the old tires, and that contributed to my new tire buy.  I will order a second set of same tire rim from tirerack and have a Sunday set of tires always shiney clean.

I am missing my little truck.  Damn little thing is just fun to drive.  Has more power than it needs, can haul stuff and if if I decide I am going to pass someone, it has the power to accelerate and pass quicker than any vehicle I own, even quicker passing than my Volvo, or my Mercedes. 

One of my weakness, is I have a lead right foot.  I get speeding tickets in all my other cars, but I have never had a speeding ticket in the Caddy.  Guess the officer just assumes it cannot be speeding.  Must be the other car...  I need my little pickup back, got a ticket in NC.  Sure it may just be superstition, but I cannot afford tickets and when you don't get any in the little pickup, you go with that.

Ironic isn't it?  No tickets in the quickest vehicle.

Wayne

[DogDiesel]

Just finished installing the new coolant hoses from BEE GEE.  The fitment is perfect.  What I like is the oil filter is now totally accessable, no hoses in the way.  Clamps work great with the the silicone hose.  That one hose, top water pump outlet to coolant neck on head, and small hose to cooler though is a booger to install, I don't care what kind of hose you are installing.  Pressure tested.  Held 15 lbs without leak down.

Did the gasket to the oil cooler to block. Of course I was sent the wrong gasket, so I used RTV with the old gasket.  The old gasket was in GC, unsure why it leaked.  No leaks now.

Front end is totally new now.  Before I do the alignment, had to buy new nuts for my clamping bolt on strut, the bottom one.  Too many impact tightens and the threads were stripped.  I checked every NAPA, tractor supply, and hardware store in Richmond Petersburg, no one had 12-1.25 fine thread metric nuts, not even Fastenall.  Finally found the nuts in Blackstone, VA NAPA.  Was like looking for an obsolete part.

Checked it while up on jackstands, 5th gear, throttled up and down and there is no vibration, the tires roll smooth.  PERFECT.

Drives great, other than my steering wheel is canted, the aligment will correct that.  Local alignment shop couldn't do the VW, said they could not find the specs.  A shop in Petersburg, where I normally get it aligned will have the specs.  It will be perfect.  Funny, the last time they aligned it, I took it back because it had vibration above 75 mph. Corrected it, and the alignment guy, winked,  told me he checked it to 100.  Imagine that...  A Caddy going that fast.  Oh it will.

12-22-2014.  8:30 AM.  Done.  Alignment went well.  Drives great.  I am on the road again.

WAYNE
1981 Caddy Giles powered 1.9TD AAZ
3:67 020 with 0.71 OD, short shift kit--195-55R-15
Cruise, AC, PS, PB, intermitten wipers, 100Watt headlamps, aluminum diamond plate locking toneau cover
Owned this one since 1992, Eight unworthy Caddys preceded it

[DogDiesel]

Finally replaced the front struts with Heavy Duty struts.  (entire assemblies)
The problem was the ride height.  My tires rubbed.  I am running 155-55-15s. 
While the ride quality was same with HD struts, the ride height is 2 inches higher. 
Had it aligned, and it drives like new.

Will sell the old strut assemblies.

Wayne

[air-cooled or diesel]

next time use this rule; front end parts most last about 60k miles, the cheaper parts (not chinese)40k. i do brakes when i do front end, and also all rear end. new rubber etc; keep parts as spares. although you buying new rims didnt seem necessary considering you had 10yrs on suspension and all it needed was a complete rebuild.

[DogDiesel]

I have owned one of these little truck since the mid 80s.  Finally settled on this one in 92, a loaded Texas truck.

That bearing set was not 10 or 15 years old.  It was the rubber items that had age. This was my third major front end rebuild, one when new in 92, another in late between and now.  I doubt there are many on this board who drive a VW Caddy Pickup this long. 
What was unusual, was that the bearings had no side ways play, only eliptical out of round. I was skeptical about this.  I have a total new set of tires and rims with almost no miles (few test runs) for when I paint my Caddy for the first time.

Drives great now, still running the older tires.

Wayne