Re: Rabbit rear wheel alignment

Bob Rice-2 wrote:

  Hi Chuck an' EVerybiody;

  Gees! Any Rabbbits left?! Hah, they have ALL gone to the Great Junkyard in
the sky, around here. EVen PARTS are non existant!Well, I probably would
STILL have mine hsad I not killed it towing it home from Joliet?

  Anyhow I DID have the rear end alignment issue, went through the same shit
yur going through! I changed the whole damn swing axle rear end, this helped
to retrurn it so the tires lasted. But with 1200 lbs of batteries It DIOD
look like it was out of whack in the rear end, but most of that was an
optical disalusion!Car tracked OK, Even getting my recortd 100 mile run,
with 20 T145's stuffed aboard!Used to easily do more than 100 miles a day,
stuffing back power at 70 amps , like at lunch time,on my famous "Lirttle
Blue Box" charger, half wave setup off the 240 volt mains using BOTH 120
volt sides. Gave true meaning to "stench Chord"Usually turning those plastic
range chords into hot silly putty!

   As for rw alignment you get the luck of the draw I guess, I had piles of
Rabbits I had parted out over the years. Just go out back and dig up a new
rear swing axle. They change out easy enough, 4 bolts to the chassis, the
handbrake cables and Hydralic lines. Pain in the ass, as they, brake lines,
Break,(English? Aint it fun??) and you end up going through the whole damn
car, but it IS a nice feeling to know ya got new brake lines! But worth it
when the shop guy can set stuff. I know thery have shimsd to slip under the
axle bolts, that hold that silly little axle stub on to the axle. The other
laugh is STOCK Wabbit brake drums. Look like off a motor scooter!Jetta ones
will bolt on, giving you almost believeable rear brakes?I ran Jettas' for
years!I guess the VW engineers wern't figguring on 1300 lbs of batteries
when they designed BARELY enough brakes for the car that they DID
build.??Well, that goes for the suspension, too. I had BMW springs in back
and it rode at about the correct height. The alignment shop seemed OK with
the setup I ran it with in it's last few years of it's life?I had Coil
Spring Spec's wind me NEW front springs as the Diseasel ones wre tired, car
wode low. The CSS ones were GREAT! I'm a happy camper! This is why I
recommend these folks.Rabbit FINALLY sat about level, fore and aft. I think
that this goes a long way with the alignment game? How the car SITS, level?
The suspension, even if the car is as heavy as a small locomotive, likes the
ride height, to get optimal camber/caster or what EVEr thay call it.?

    Jetta has the same setup, and so far tires are doing fine several thou
later. Granted it, too, is in retirement mode? Not having to do my basic RR
comute EVery day, of 50 plus miles1 I knowI had to get Rabbit realigned
BADLY after flat towing it to Hagerstown a few years ago. I musta towed it
through a BIG ass pothole, the kind you look in the mirror to see if anthing
fell off!?I go to drive it to work the next day and had to fight the wheel
the whole way. Let go and ya got a right turn!Tires were down to the wire
thread INside, outs looked fine? 2 tires were scrap, and a realignment sure
made a difference!! rolled like a train again!

   To comment on Lee's thread on the Detroit e;lectric, Yes, the Detroit
guyz musta laid awake nights trying to "clean" stuff up. Fine cut worm
gears, already a done deal technology, in the teens, HARD tires, maybe solid
ones?Possably soft springs?Aluminum bodies, but the drag co- ineffient of a
streetcar, A Brill or Niles?!As Lee sez the drag thing isn't that big a
deal? But I sure noticed in Taiwan, when I fitted a windshield in my NEV
type car!!At 27-30 mph it took MORE amps!No windshield was my econo-Taiwan
air conditioning!Ya waited for the rain to stop!Fenders were a neccessity
with water buffalo exhaust in the streets! I hope there are Taiwanese guyz
working on a better car as I speak?Taiwanese batteries MIGHT be better
quality than mainland stuff?

    Anybody listening in Taiwan? Come out, say "Hi!"A  EAA Chapter in
Taichung, Kaohsiung, Tai Pei,Tai Nan, Kee Lung?? I think of a Global Village
here?Ya got a 170 MPH bullet train, now. Maybe folks there want to break the
gas  grip on the economy?

   Oh oh soprta got off trak about Rabbit tracking. hope these liner
helped?You can chat up a good alignment shop?

      Happy Rabbit-ing!

      Bob, HAD one.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chuck Hursch" <ch10h3@gmail.com>
To: "EVDL post" <ev@lists.sjsu.edu>
Sent: Monday, June 30, 2008 5:56 PM
Subject: [EVDL] Rabbit rear wheel alignment


> Hello folks [delurking, it's been a year almost...],

   No Excuse!! Welcome back, Chuck!

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