I'm helping swap out a transaxle in a 1964 beetle. The replacement unit had axles that were a bit shorter than the ones that came out of the vehicle, so I was recruited to swap over the axles and also change one backing plate that had a broken off brake adjuster 'finger'.
So I have the tubes installed, first I checked the fit of th empty tube and used 3 gaskets on one side and 4 on the other to make it feel 'right', which to be me was no endplay between the tube and the transaxle case with the plastic thrust piece installed, and no excessive effort to move the hollow axle tube. Good so far, right?
Next item was to install fulcrum plates, spacer, snap ring, put RTV on the gasket stack, and button up the side cover. Gal is on a budget, fulcrum plates looked like crap on one edge only, so I flipped em over so the not-chewed-up side would get loaded for forward motion now. I kept the axles in the same position(passenger side to passenger side, etc). Hopefully she can get a few miles more out of it. So far, so good.
Next up was to reseal the nosecone area, the bushings for the shift rod are still tight and inside the cover was clean, so I wiped the sealing surfaces with some solvent and put the new gasket in with RTV.
Next up, install the boots, which is in process. I would have gone the non-split boot route but I am not tooled up to press anything apart so I had to go with the split boots.
I have two gasket sets for the backing plates. In each kit there are two paper gaskets, a lip seal, two o-rings, a cotter key and a thin washer. I know where the o-rings go, and I know where one gasket goes. I didn't see a gasket between the backing plate and the axle tube when I took things apart, is there supposed to be a gasket there? And where does the thin washer go?
Last question..the wheel bearing on one side did not have a plastic insert. The other side did have a plastic insert, but it was facing outward when I removed it and Muir says the plastic insert is supposed to face in. Does it matter?
TIA,
Chris