Weltmeister Bushings Front A Arms

[das86turbo]

On my race 944 front suspension, I just replaced my factory bushings with Welmeisters. My question is how to torque these new bushings without the steel sleeve found in the factory setup.

The Factory Manual suggests a torque setting of ~66# (don't recall the exact numbers but that neightborhood). The factory bushing (front one) has a steel sleeve that fits between sides of the aluminum cross brace channel. The 66# torque makes sense when the aluminum flanges are resting against the steel sleeve. However, the welmeister bushing doesn't have a steel sleeve. As I started to torque the bolt that goes through the aluminum cross member and bushing I could see a slight deflection in the aluminum. I backed this off to ~35# and used red loctite. I tend to believe that torquing the through-bolt to 66# will break the cross brace. Thoughts?

[JRMock]

Right after the red Weltmeister's came out, most knowledgable parts houses did NOT recommend them for racing applications. Unfortunately, I found this out a little late.

You can torque the bolts close to 65 lb. but you will bend the aluminum cross member. You could use a piece of steel, cut to the proper length, to wedge between the aluminum flanges as you tighten up the bolts to keep the flanges from bending. But without the steel insert, the metal A-Arms will dig into the lip of the bushing, allowing front and back movement. Not good, and very bad for hard braking.

IMHO...your best bet is to stop right now...and purchase the Delrin bushings. They have the steel insert, and two pieces of Delrin that mount from each side.

Good Luck
JM

[lousailor]

I bought a set of bushings from Ebay, thay were designed for Vdubs using the same a-arm set up (early), like these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6763&item=2476521766&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW
As you can see they have the steel bushing insert for the front mount. Putting mine on tomorrow. Whoo Hooo!

[eligunn]

I just replaced the control arm bushings on the passenger side of my car with factory replacements and I'm having the same problem with noticable deflection of the crossmember.

It says in the factory manual to torgue them to 48 ft pounds. I notice there is a little space between the crossmember and the bushing insert on both sides.

My question is should I crank them on down to where there is no gap between the crossmember and bushings?