Prioritizing work is the key. You won't be able to work
on everything at once. You also won't be able to work some components until
others are first addressed. Take for example the chassis. My pivot point to
finishing the chassis is removing and installing the ball joints. Once they are
installed, the rest of the chassis can be re-assembled. If not installed, the
rest of the chassis has to wait. To the point, I can't re-install the tie rods
until then, because the ball joints are critical to the process.
I attempted to change out the ball joints myself. This
proved nearly impossible. I tried the pickle fork method, I tried small
pressing tools, I tried heating up the elements, but nothing worked.
After
shopping around, I found a local shop, D&K who would do it for $20 per ball
joint (labor only). I provided the ball joints ordered from EBay. If your VW
beetle is in many pieces, as mine is, the best course of action may be breaking
it down to the smallest components. For me, that meant removing the control arms
from the front end assembly. This proved a unique opportunity to clean and
remove rust from new areas.
If chassis is separate from the body, try this:
1. Unfasten brake lines to the wheels
2. Remove the tie rods
3. Remove the wheels
4. Remove sway bar
a. Use a screw driver to pry grommet up from
metal sleeve fastened to the rubber bushings (total of four; two large and two
small)
b. Use hammer
to tap off metal sleeve fastener
c. Slide off
metal sleeve
d. Remove sway
bar
e. Clean and
repaint sway bar, metal sleeve and fasteners
4. Loosen bolt at each control arm.
5. Use hex wrench to remove bolt completely. A box wrench helps provide extra power for stubborn bolts.
6. Pull out control arm. Careful, if maintained properly, it is greasy. You might also have to tap it gently with a hammer.
Remove entire front end assembly for cleaning.
2. Remove the tires
3. Four bolts hold the front suspension assembly to the chassis. Remove bolts and the assembly separates. Careful, it's heavy.
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