Current baja project

Just sharing my progress on my bug. In the past couple months I've put 3x3 arms on, new torsions, fabricated new shock mounts for 10" kings, rebuilt the shocks, new pedal assembly/brake lines, motor work, and more. The color is ugly I know haha. 

How to use a torque wench

A torque wrench is a tool that allows you to tighten a bolt to its specified torque. Every bolt technically has a torque spec, but it's really most important in mechanical applications. It is important that the bolt doesn't come loose, and it's also important that you don't strip the bolt. 

This is an electronic torque wrench. The red button turns it on and off, the grey button changed the settings from foot pounds to inch pounds, and the bottom of the wrench is a dial to set your torque. When working on something where torque is important, look up online or in a manual what the torque spec is. Set the wrench to your torque, find the correct size socket for your application, and tighten the bolt until the wrench clicks back. Then your bolt is tightened to torque specifications. If you have a non electronic torque wrench, it will just have a bottom dial of some sort to set your torque, and it will still click when the bolt is tight enough. Hope this is helpful 

Installing brake master cylinder

For this you will need a ratchet, sockets, a cyphen of some sort, a bucket to put the brake fluid in, a new master cylinder, and some wrenches as well as flare wrenches if you have them for the brake line fittings. If not, A box end wrench should work fine. 

I am working on a 73 baja bug here, it's a pretty simple set up. First, siphon your fluid from your reservoir and put it in your container. Then remove your wires for your brake lights. And you can also remove the fitting that holds your wires to use on your new cylinder. You'll need it in order to have brake lights and not leak fluid. Next, pull your reservoir lines off of your master cylinder. Careful, these will still have fluid in them. Now loosen your brake lines, these will also still have fluid so keep rags and your container handy.

Now loosen the bolts holding your master cylinder. On here, it's just two bolts by the brake pedal size 13mm socket or wrench. Remove these, careful not to drop the metal bolt sleeves if you are working on a volkswagen like I am. Then pull the master cylinder off of the push Rod to remove it. Now get your new master cylinder mounted. You may have to make new brake lines. If you do, refer to my earlier post on flaring brake lines. Once you're all hooked up with brake lines, Put new fluid in and bleed your brakes. If you are unsure on how to do it, look for a video or post online for instructions. I will do a video later about bleeding brakes though. Hope this helps. 

How to notch tubing

To notch tubing you will need a tape measure, a welder, a drill with most likely a 1/2" drive, a tube notching tool, a hole saw that is the size of the tube you are notching for, a grinder or any other tool that will cut tubing, and however many feet of tubing that you need for your project. 

I am doing cage modifications for shock mounts. I first measure the length I need, give yourself about 3-4 inches extra so you can notch your tube. I am using 1 1/2" tubing so my hole saw is 1 1/2" as well. I change the angle of the tube for the notch needed by simply loosening the set screw on the tube clamp angle set, and tighten it at the desired angle. I like to clamp my jd tool in a vise and run the hole saw through the end of the tube. I then measure from my cut to the other side of the tube and mark it at the exact length I need. I run the edge of the hole saw down this mark and you now have your notched tube. Try to place it where you want it and see if there are any small changes you need to make. If it fits nicely., clamp it in place and weld it so it doesn't ever move.

Hope this is helpful. Any questions just let me know 

How to change rear differential oil on Toyota Tacoma

This is good to do every 15-20,000 miles. It is simple on this truck, but some trucks do not have a drain bolt and you have to remove the differential cover to let the oil out. Tools you'll need, a bucket or pan to catch the oil, a ratchet, an 24mm socket, some new oil, and a torque wrench. I use a jack and two jack stands under the rear axle to give myself more room.

Place the oil catch pan onset the differential and loosen the bolt on the bottom. Let the oil drain for 15-20 minutes. Wipe off the magnet on the drain bolt and reinsert the bolt. Tighten to 34 ft/lbs. Now loosen the top bolt, which takes the same 24mm socket. Fill with roughly 2.7 Quartz until oil starts to come out of the fill hole. Reinsert the full bolt and also tighten to 34 ft/lbs. Take your oil to autizone or another place that takes used oil and you're done. 

Switching torsion bars on a vw bug

Here I'm going to show you how to switch from a long torsion to a short torsion bar. I'm doing this to make my suspension stiffer, but this also gives you more room to up the tire size in the rear if you want to. First you will need this spring plate tool, it is extremely handy. 

Next you'll need a new spring plates for the short torsion bar, a pair of caps that dont have a hole in it, two outer spring plate bushings, and two inner spring plate bushings. Some are knobby bushings and some are smooth. Make sure you know what type your spring plate cap and torsion housing use. To know what size bushings you need, measure the diameter of the spring plate holes. 

Use the spring plate tool to hold the spring plate as you loosen the 4 bolts holding the cap. Once these are off loosen the tool to gently let the tension off of the bar. My old long torsion bar

My new shorter and thicker bar

The thicker and shorter splined side of your bar should be the inner spline. Insert your new bar, bushings, cap, and spring plate. Put the spring plate at a 20-25 degree angle, and insert the 3 bolts in the cap that you can.

Use the tool to lift the spring plate up, and use a G clamp and the tightening of the bolts to pull the plate over the splines further once the plate is lifted high enough to clear the stop on the torsion. As soon as the plate is far enough on the splines to hit the stop, tighten all 4 bolts and loosen the tool to let the spring plate rest on the stop. This job can be a pain, a hammer might be needed to hit the plate over the splines as well. You can now bolt your trailing arm on. Repeat the same process for the other side. Good luck 

Making single flare steel brake lines

To do this you will need a tape measure a brake flaring tool, some steel brake line, whatever fittings you need for your application, a tool to cut your brake line to length, and some sort of oil substance to use for lube. 

One piece of the flaring tool 

Other piece of flaring tool 

The brake line 

Brake fittings

Small tube cutter 

Wd-40 for lubrication. 

Use a tape measure to see how long of a line you need and cut your line to length. Next slide your fitting on your brake line and put the line in the correct size hole on the flaring tool. The different sizes should be labeled on the tool. When you tighten the brake line in the tool, stick the line about 1/8" up to get a proper flare. 

Put the second piece of the tool as pictured above with the tip of the cone in the hole of the brake line. Now start to tighten just barely, then loosen again. Spray the tip with the wd-40 to avoid splitting the line. Repeat this process until you have a proper flare. 

Hopefully you flared it correctly and you have no issues with your brakes leaking. 

Removing CV Joint From Axle

Most CV joints are held on with some style of clip on the end of the axle that keeps the CV from sliding off. This is a stock Volkswagen Bug, this is held in by a simple clip that doesn't require the use of snap ring pliers.

All I used was a rag to wipe the grease away to expose the clip, 2 flathead screwdrivers, and a knife. 

I used my knife to pry the clip outwards, then put the flathead underneath and worked my way around until it popped off. Once the clip is gone you can tap the CV off of the axle. Be careful not to yank it off at an angle and drop the balls from the CV out. Your CV's are now off and can be cleaned, crack checked, replaced, etc. 

Replacing brake light bulb

This is a pretty simple task. I will be doing this on a 2000 Toyota Tacoma. All you need is a screwdriver and a new brake light bulb. 

Take the screws out of the housing to expose the bulb. 

On this truck, the brake light bulb is the bottoms one. Loosen the bulb and put in the new bulb. Put the housing back on and the screws back in and you're good to go.

Obviously each vehicle is different but the concept is the same. 

Removing Rear Trailing Arms on VW Bug

This is relatively easy when the axles are already out. Remove the brake lines and let the fluid drain in to a container. You're going to need a 17mm Alan socket for the inner pivot bolt. Remove this next.  

With limited space, I found the easiest thing to do was to put the Alan socket in the bolt, and then put a 17mm box end wrench on the socket to turn the bolt. After this bolt is out, remove the bolts from the spring plate. 

Once these bolts are out, you should be able to drop the arm down and remove it. 

Removing Axles and CV Joints

Splined axles and CV joints (or continuous velocity joint) are used on many front wheel drive cars, 4 wheel drive vehicles, and on rear engine vehicles. Today I'm working on a 1973 Volkswagen Bug which I will do a lot of my postings on. 

First, you will need the correct tool for whatever style of CV bolt your vehicle uses. In this case it is a 12 point style Alan. 

Then start removing your CV bolts using a ratchet, preferably. I simply held the axles while loosening the bolts to keep it from turning. There will be bolts on the inner CV as well as the outer. I pulled the boot out to make it easier to remove the bolts. I am not concerned with getting the CV joints dirty because I will be cleaning and crack checking mine which will be on another post soon. 

Once you have all the bolts loosened completely, you should be able to pull the CV's out from the flanges and maneuver the axle out. I like to keep somewhat organized and clean so I placed all the bolts in a up and the axles on rags to prevent CV grease from getting everywhere. 

That's it for this post, thanks for reading and I hope it helps.