Hey Dave,

I measured the hole with a hex key I know not supper accurate but here is what I have for you. A 1.5mm is too small and a 2mm does not fit, keep in mind that it’s a hex key and the 2mm one is just a tad too large. I’m headed over to Bills tomorrow and we’re going to try to get the circlip and bushings on.

 

Hmmm... I dunno if I have time to join you guys... what time? I'll bring the tools to work in case Bill wants to hook up... I don't respond here while at work, please use my gmail or phone...

 

Hey Dave no time set yet I'll keep you posted

 

Anytime tomorrow. SteveB will be over to check out his faulting ignition monitoring system too. Start maybe about 10 or 10:30

 

Today we finished up with the torque tube over at Bill's house. On the agenda was to place the circlip, bushing and spacers on our new TT shaft. Having the car on Bill’s rack made the difference and Bill was able to slip the clip on

While test driving yesterday I noticed the car was not shifting properly, would downshift and you would need to ease up on the pedal to get it to upshift correctly. Bill immediately thought it was the Bowden Cable and he was right. We had a small adjustment back at the tranny to get the cable in the correct position. We did have to pull the passenger side exhaust to correct this. Just from the H-Pipe back so it wasn’t a huge deal.

To add to things my Timing Belt Service light came on briefly yesterday. We checked the TB and it was on the loose side of normal, Bill did the adjustment for me. Thanks Bill!

So we finished up today, this was a huge job, a big thanks to Bill, Dave, Steve, Greg, Rob & everyone here at rennlist for all you’re help. My 91 S4 now has an early style TT w/clip & bushing. All without lowering the tranny, Bill is this a first?

Bill the car is shifting correctly! Thanks again for all your hard work and time…

Greg B. Thanks for the parts, I have the replacements in hand and will be shipping them over the weekend, you were spot on with the spacer size and how many we needed. Thanks so much for sharing your expertise with us

 

Ultimately getting the clip on was pretty easy once we found the right circlip pliers. I'll post pics and dimension of the tool later. I will say it sure helps to have small hands, as you need to give the clip a nudge to help it on.

Glad to hear the downshifting is back to normal and no more timing belt warning. It's sure a lot easier to adjust the TB on a 91+ as the fan shroud literally slips out since there is no oil cooler outlet in the radiator sidetank to obstruct removal. A lot more space to meaneuver, especially to get the socket on the crank and a wrench on the tensioner bolts.

 

Glad to hear you guys got it finished up! I was doing the dinner-with-the-inlaws thing.... but I was rootin' for ya!

I'm curious to see what you ended up using for the snap ring. As I said above, I finally got off my duff and bought some snap-ring pliers... I've been able to get by without them, but there are times when I get more cussing than work done as a result. I picked up a set of these: http://sjdiscounttools.com/kdt3152.html and the smaller 3151 and 3150 units. In my experience the precision-broached jaws hold the tips without drama...

 

I have that one you linked to, Dave, although I couldn't find it yesterday. I went out and bought another hefty one like that, although slightly smaller, that came witha gazillion bits. It was too large to get into the space available. We thought about pulling the TT and tranny back again, but cringed at undoing everything again. Then I pulled out my cheap set of snap ring tools I think I got from Kragan's. They were a bit odd in that on a couple of them the tips did not match. I took the most promising tool and filed down the larger arm until the circlip slipped on. Fairly tight fit is important to keep the clip from twisting and flying off.

Anyway, here is the one that did it. The brand is Trade Pro, proudly marked made in China, convertible to in an out type. It is 7 1/2 " long and the tips are 1/2" 90 degree. I was successful in short order using them with the tips facing the shaft (i.e., rearward) In fact, the clip went on down the shaft beyond the groove, and we moved it back easily enough until it seated. In this case, we lucked out that I like cheap tools.

 

Great! Glad you managed without too much drama. You must have been hanging on to that with just your fingertips.

I've been through that scenario before too.... get what you think is the ideal tool for the job, then it turns out that some crusty old thing that had been lying forgotten at the bottom of the toolbox ends up getting the job done.

 

The tool was near perfect for the job. Long enough. I did not think the 90 degree bend facing the rear would line up so well. I thought we would be canted to far forward. It was slightly, but a little nudge with my fingertip at the top of the ring and it went right on. Ideally the acute angle of the tips would be, say, 80 degrees. These cheap tools were pretty well tempered and stiff which helped them open up the ring very widely, and I could not change the angle. 90 degrees worked fine.