SuperBeetle front suspension teardown pt2: control arms

Previous SuperBeetle videos here: • Get 1972 SuperBeetle b...
I'm not able to remove the control arm from the ball joint spindle, even with a tie rod puller. So I instead remove the control arm from the body and the ball joint from the strut tower and remove the two together as an assembly.
Then I tried to remove the ball joint from the control arm on the work bench. So far through the end of this video, no luck. Removing that ball joint will take a special tool; see the future video on that topic.

[@pastorryanmarlow6501]

The entire reason I watched was to see how you got the sway bar off the control arm. Skipped that part. Bummer.

[@fsodn]

Thanks for watching! I'm sorry you didn't see what you wanted. I didn't show removing the nut from the end of the sway bar. It's sped up, but if you watch from 0:36 to 0:44, you can see me try to pound the control arm off of the end of the sway bar. I eventually realized that wasn't going to work with the control arm attached at the inner end to the frame, so I then worked on that. Once the inner end of the control arm was free, it dropped down and popped right off of the sway bar (which I don't think I caught on camera, or I would have shown it in this video). If I'd had the right tool to pull the ball joint spindle out of the control arm outer end at this point, that would have made it a lot easier (I have a separate video on that). I hope that helps.

[@fsodn]

Another point--getting the sway bar back ON is a whole different kettle of fish. I kind of had to fight with it to get it back on, and had to take a few things back apart to get everything to go together. I did film that, so when that video comes out in a few months, that may be useful to you as well.

[@jessebowman4179]

You haft to use a tie rod separator that looks like fork, the only way that will come apart, and hammer away.

[@fsodn]

I'm aware of pickle-fork joint separators, yes. As it turns out, I have a later video where I test multiple tools removing the ball joint: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hpyXfZalmsqDo68. Feel free to check it out! I tested the fit of a pickle fork separator. It did fit in the joint. I didn't try with it very hard because there was another tool that seemed like it would be more suitable.

[@billwhitenack1662]

When you rotated the idler arm did you observe the center bolt moving in sync, or did the arm rotate around a fixed bolt. Lastly there should be zero up down movement in the arm. Hard to get good aftermarket idler arm bushings.

[@fsodn]

Hey, thanks for watching and for the question. I drove the car a lot in the span of 2008 through 2010. During that time is when the super-shimmy started to show up. I tried fixing it several ways. First I replaced the steering dampener on the steering arm; no change. I did replace the idler arm bushing set with a new solid brass/bronze one. When I did that I had the idler arm housing completely out of the car. I'm pretty sure that when I put it together, all the rotating pieces were clamped together and moved as one. So the shaft, including the upper end with the big triangle piece, the idler arm (that goes on the lower end) and nut that holds it on, all rotate in the housing together. I think it has to, right? Because if it doesn't, the stops on the right side won't keep the tires from hitting the sway bars. Am I understanding that right? If you have something specific you want to see, I'm certainly willing to put the car up on jacks and get under there with a light and a camera and take video and post it to youtube. Let me know more specifically what you want to see. Thanks for watching the video! I hope to get to the videos of running the engine and driving the car before March.