Grounding problem

Lukesky · Post by **Lukesky** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 12:16 pm

My '74 Thing is in the shop and they're having trouble getting a consisent ground. They're saying it wants to stall around corners. A week ago I got a bad shimmy around 65mph and it hasn't been right since.

Anyone have any ideas? Thanks, folks.

MedicTed · Post by **MedicTed** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 3:37 pm

Clean the connections at the battery ground strap and the trans ground strap. Probably should also replace the straps, they are cheap.

Post by **Marc** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 10:31 pm

Doesn't sound like it's in good hands to me. There's certainly a possibility that the stalling in turns and the shimmy are somehow related (although I can't recall ever encountering such a scenario) but it seems more likely to be a coincidence. And blaming it on a "bad ground" sounds amateurish at best...

When the engine stumbles in turns, does the alternator warning light come on?
Does it make a difference whether the turnsignals are in use or not?

Kubelmann · Post by **Kubelmann** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 6:44 pm

Sounds like a list of unrelated issues. For the electrical, you have to go step my step from the beginning. Battery to cables to starter to ground straps. The shimmy sound like tire balance or shock damper.
The turn thing sounds like a fuel pump issue or a loose electro-magnetic cut-off jet or some other loose wire. I suspect you have more than one issue causing your troubles.

1adam12 · Post by **1adam12** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 7:15 pm

Could be that too, I got some shakes at different speeds. Son, you could be into a new black steering dampener for under 25 clams!!
peace and good luck!

Kubelmann · Post by **Kubelmann** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 7:59 am

I have new and good used oe shock dampers for less.

Lukesky · Post by **Lukesky** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 9:27 pm

You're all right on with the list of unrelated items, but it wasn't too bad. Some of the wires were broken back by the starter, so I think the shaking pulled them apart inside the insulation. The damper is probably the one piece of undercarriage/suspension/steering that's in the best shape as it's fairly new.

The shaking seems to be coming from the left front tire which doesn't match the other 3. It might have thrown a weight, or it might just be decaying from the inside due to years of very limited use and now me driving it a lot. When you jack it up, you can see that it's out of round.

The P.O. has been known to skimp on tires, so it's up to me, his son, to try to remedy the problem. I'm afraid the best bet is four new shoes. 185 R14 was the original size, right?

Kubelmann · Post by **Kubelmann** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 7:07 am

Check out this recent thread on Thing tires

http://www.shoptalkforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=111057

Lukesky · Post by **Lukesky** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 8:03 am

I've searched a bunch of threads. Instead of trying to figure out how big a tire you can put on, has anyone ever found a tire that looks like the original? I've still got my original Continental spare and I'd love to find a set that looks like that one.

Kubelmann · Post by **Kubelmann** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:22 am

These days the most common use for a stock sized Thing tire is for mobile home and trailer tires.

Check these out

http://www.gt1tire.com/servlet/Categori ... %2F75%2F14

Good range of 14" tire sizes and for under $50 for a radial tire..

The 195 75 14 is very close to a stock sized tire.

Post by **Marc** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 10:33 pm

From: http://www.thethingshop.com/faq.htm :

"1973 and 1974 Mexican-built for the U.S Things came stock with 14" Thing-specific wheels, but 15" were available as an option. 14" Bus wheels will NOT work. The original stock tire size is 185SR14. Both Continental and Goodyear were OEM suppliers. 1968-1972 German models had 165/15 tires on 4.5 x 15" rims; later models had 185/14 tires on 5 x 14" rims as original equipment. As early models were never mass imported to the U.S., the 15" rims are very rare."

185SR14 ≠ 185/70-14...not even close, the former has an aspect ratio of approximately 83 and is about 25.7" tall, while the latter is only ~24.2" tall. It's still possible to find 185SR14s these days, but there's not much in the way of selection - Hankook and Coker are the only ones I can think of producing them (and be prepare to bend over at Coker).

Kubelmann · Post by **Kubelmann** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 8:52 am

The link I posted offered 14" tires ranging in size as follows.

175/65/14
185/60/14
185/65/14
185/70/14
185/75/14
195/60/14
195/65/14
195/70/14
195/75/14
205/55/14
205/60/14
205/70/14
205/75/14
215/60/14
215/70/14
225/60/14
225/70/14

The 195 75 14 tire will stand 25.5" tall much like the stock 185sr14 only about a 7/16" wider across the tread.

195 mm x .75 x 2 = 292.5 mm / 25.4 (mm per inch) = 11.5" +14" (wheel) = 25.5" all for under $50 each

Post by **Marc** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 9:11 am

Agreed, 195/75 is probably the best compromise among modern readily-available sizes...as I said on Thursday in the other thread (where this entire discussion should be taking place).
http://www.shoptalkforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=111057

Kubelmann · Post by **Kubelmann** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 9:17 am

How about a Hankook 195 75 14 for $40

http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/details.pl ... ry=US&shop

I have 195 75 15 Hankooks on Porsche Cookie Cutter wheels.

The person who started this thread asked about tires and tire size hence the discussion here as well as in the other tire size thread. I am just happy folks are posting here. Hopefully our posts are of some help to those asking for info. I always appreciate your input here. You have a vast VW knowledge that is of great use to the community. Keep up the good work.

Lukesky · Post by **Lukesky** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 8:01 pm

I think the beauty of these threads is that they can ramble somewhat. Kubelmann or some other highly-informed samaritan (including you, Marc) is always there to either give us amateurs the answer or direct us to some place where the answer has already been given.

Since there's a not-always-clear fork in the road between stock and modified, I choose to follow Yogi Berra's advice and take it.

Either way, the answers are never far away with the help of folks like you all who have been down the road before. Your patience and assistance are appreciated to no end by the likes of me.

Thanks to all of you.

And now for something completely different.............

Shoptalkforums.com

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