Otto Mechanic

Right. Sorry, missed that one.

Constantine

Mike,

If the drive shaft is not aligned with the center line of the crank's operation and into the transmission, your torque tube will not last long.

And disagree that rebuilding a TT is an "imprecise science."

It is a precise science and if the rebuilder gets it wrong, the TT goes bad fast. BTDT...

Constantine

mikehayes

You've confirmed all of my worst fears Constantine. I guess I'll just drive around in constant fear waiting for the coffee can rattle and then start rebuilding my old tube when I hear it. I'm sure it can be detrimental to the trans as well, but seeing as I've got a backup one of those also, I'll take my chances and enjoy it while it lasts.

Otto Mechanic

Hey Constantine, just wanted to let you know I'm less than a month from firing up the 944S2 TT rebuild with your bearings. With any luck I did it mostly right. Keep you fingers crossed for me?

Constantine

Hi Scott,

Didn't know you were the same Scott we had dealt with in the past, good to hear from you!

Good luck with the start up and hopefully everything goes well. Really don't have concern with the rebuilt TT, it should be fine and hopefully the band clamp work around holds up for the shifter.

Just to be clear, you are fitting a replacement solid tube instead of a rebuilt 944S2 split tube for those following along.

V2Rocket

FWIW (future readers I guess) I have always found it much easier to secure the trans to the torque tube, fit the driveshaft collar, and THEN hang the trans from its chassis mount.

the torque tube resting on the rear suspension is plenty strong to support the trans weight.

Otto Mechanic

I am indeed, and I thank you for letting me know the difference.

I was able to source an "unsplit" or "solid" TT from a salvage yard that specializes in vintage Porsche parts (European Auto Salvage Yard-EASY) in Emeryville CA. They also just happened to have a pile of power steering racks sitting next to the torque tubes so I grabbed one of those for $35 and beat feet for home with my prizes. It's a great place, I could spend days there. I guess I shouldn't be talking it up, I feel like a leprechaun revealing the location of his gold...


I'll let you know how it all works out. Watch this space for further announcements!

Otto Mechanic

a PS for those readers just joining us.

The "band clamp work around" Constantine refers to is a field repair he suggested to me after I admitted to placing the 2nd bearing in the wrong location in my TT. The bearings must be placed very precisely to avoid blocking the mounting screws for the shifter assembly. Doing this wrong is apparently a common error and the Black Sea instructions are very clear on this; you should always check and recheck this dimension.

Unfortunately it's a common error even with those repeated warnings. My excuse is I confused ends of the TT while inserting the bearings, which is not all that hard to do. I used pre-marked PVC pipes to drive and measure depth for each bearing, but if you confuse the pipes (you generally need two) and grab the wrong one at the wrong time you'll set the bearing depth wrong. I did that.

The net result is the misplaced bearing obscures one of the mounting holes for the shifter; you can't fully engage the screw that holds the shifter to the TT because you've blocked it with a bearing. What to do?

Well, a washer or two will allow you to seat the screw in the TT threads, which is OK. Backing that up with a band or hose clamp that secures the shifter against up/down shear force should fix the problem completely. For those willing to sacrifice the TT and shifter during any followup service, I suppose epoxy might be used but I'm not willing to go that far until I have a real problem with the band clamp.

So there you have it. The whole story.

mikehayes

Well guys, I was excited to finally drive my car as I dropped it last night. The Porsche gods, unforntunately, had other plans. I noticed I had a bad rear wheel bearing while I was in there; I figured I'd get a quote to do both while I was getting the post-suspension-upgrade alignment. $1300. So i ordered some parts today haha. I bought a 3/4 in drive breaker and a pipe too. Hopefully that's enough. In the meantime, I went to start my car today and I got nothing. Jumped it. Nothing. I'll find out what's up later. Guess I gotta wait a few more days.

Van

I didn't mean to offend - I meant to imply that the position of the driveshaft fore-to-aft is an imprecise placement. One always has to connect the front side of the coupler first, then slide the drive shaft into or out of the pilot bearing a little bit to get the coupler to line up with the groove on the trans input shaft.

odonnell

During my last 2 clutch jobs I had to adjust the shaft fore/aft with a pry bar after putting the trans back in. Just what ends up happening when the clutch disk is 99.9% centered but there's still that little bit of resistance, and when you thread in the torque tube bolts, it slightly pushes the shaft backward.

mikehayes

I knew what you meant Van. You're right. Unfortunately for me the guy who built mine thought it was a REALLY imprecise science and somehow got the shaft off its center line haha. I bought a battery last night and gave it a test drive. Moves under its own power, no issues. Didn't fix the rattle that I thought was my torque tube bearings so that's great. New suspension doesn't feel great honestly. Kinda disappointed. But there is still much tuning to be done, plus an alignment; so I won't despair yet.

SloMo228

I may have missed it - is yours an early or late model? If it's a late model, I have the tool do do the rear wheel bearings and I'd be happy to let you borrow it (I'm also in SE Michigan). They'd be a royal PITA to do without it.

If it's early, then you'll have to do it the old-fashioned way I guess.

And about the suspension - you definitely won't feel the full improvement until you get it aligned. Make sure you take it to a shop that knows how to adjust the rear, it's a fiddly process and most of the Belle Tire / Discount Tire type shops won't want to spend the time to get it right.

mikehayes

Thanks Slomo, mine's an early car so hopefully it won't be too bad. I appreciate the offer though. I've got a shop that specializes in old Porsches for the alignment. Same one that quoted me 1300 for the wheel bearings haha. I set the camber bolts to what I thought looked reasonable when I was putting the trailing arms back on. Put it down and it turns out I set max negative camber in the back haha. The toe is probably all over the place.

V2Rocket

See if you can find a shop specializing in air-cooled VW for a rear alignment.
The early 944 suspension is taken directly from a 68+ Beetle.