converting to discs

When I converted mine, I was replacing the ball joints also so I used a pickle fork and a BFH and it finally submitted. Dave

When you replaced the ball joints, did you have to take the the trailing arms off the car? If you pressed the ball joints into the trailing arms, while the the trailing arms are on the car, how did you do that?

Mycoran1 wrote:

I took them off and took them to a local shop and had them pressed in. They are not hard to remove just a locknut and set screw (at least that's how they are on a 68) and a little persuasion(sp?) with the BFH on one. Dave

Just converted to discs on my beetle. Quite a job, it took me and a buddy about 9 hours to do. Use a pickle fork (longish pry bar with a two-pronged end) to remove the bottom balljoint stud from the spindle. (make sure you removed the lock-nut first!!!) To remove the top, in my case, it just fell out, but the other side, I just put a large crescent wrench on the camber adjusting nut(right below the balljoint grease seal) and twisted it a little and the spindle fell off in my hands. Just mark the relationship of the camber adjusting nut to the grease seal before you twist it, otherwise you'll mess up your all-important camber. Have fune! ~Anthony

You can remove the lower trailing arm from the car with the spindle (after having removed the drum and brake backing plate and tie rod ends). Then place the trailing arm on a strong table, so that the spindle is at the bottom. Hit the spindle down with a big hammer, It will eventually come loose and fall on the floor (put some clothes on the floor to protect the spindle from the fall (or the floor)). Heating the spindle with a propane torch may help.

Bill, '67 bug.