That depends on whether or not the bearing has loosened up in the case.  If the bearing is loose, you'll be having oil pressure problems . . . if not right now, you will soon!  The only fix for a loose bearing is having the case bored, and probably having the thrust surface cut down and installing an oversized bearing so it will sit tight in the case.

The best thing to do is pull the engine and check the end play with a dial caliper, or one of those attachments that will let you measure it with a feeler gauge.  Write down the exsiting end play.  Pull the flywheel, front seal, and the 3 shims.

Shove the pulley into the engine as hard as you can . . . this will push the bearing back in the case if it's loose . . . then pull the pulley/crank back out as far as you can.  Now see if you can move the bearing back in towards the case.  If you can move the bearing in any direction or see a gap between the back of the bearing and the case, you need to go ahead and tear it down.  You might get by for a short time with just re-shimming, but once it starts working loose, it snowballs . . . it takes years for it to start working loose, but once it starts, everytime you press the clutch it gets a little looser . . . the looser it is, the faster it gets even looser.  Once it starts wearing the case, you'll start loosing your oil pressure around the back side of the bearing instead of forcing it in to the crankshaft.

But, if the bearing is still tight in the case, re-shimming it to the proper end play will probably extend the usefull life of the engine many, many miles.  Take your original measurement and see how much you need to add to bring it back down under .006" . . . I shoot for .004".  I think the actual specification is .008", but why start at the upper limit?  Measure your existing shims, and I would try to replace the thinnest one with one that's thick enough make up the differance.  Put the flywheel back on and torque it down . . . but don't install a front seal yet.  Double check your end play to make sure it's correct.  If it is, remove the flywheel, install the seal and put the flywheel back on, toruque the gland nut and it should be good to go for several more years.



Edited By Zen on 1028394960

All the manuals are pretty specific about using 3 shims.  I need to use more than three.  Is this going to hurt anything?

I used to work on Sulzer Weaving Machines (a Swiss made loom) here at work.  I remember one of the shafts in that machine had the same type setup, where the end play of the shaft was set by using different thickness of shims . . . and there were three shims there also.  It's been over 12 years since I've worked on a Sulzer machine, and almost 20 since I went to Sulzer school, so I don't remember the reason for using three shims (if I ever really knew in the first place), but, there were three of them . . .

There were other similarities between a Sulzer machine and a VW too.  To adjust the speed of the Sulzer you move shims around in the main drive pulley to adjust the depth where the belt runs, in effect making it a larger or smaller diameter pulley.  The same setup adjusts the tension on a VW generator belt.

So, I would have to make a semi-educated guess that using 3 shims to set end play on a shaft is common European engineering.  I don't know the reason off hand, but I would be willing to bet that if you talk to any European mechanical engineer they will be able to give you an answer . . . and I'll also bet that there answer will make a lot of sense.

So, I put the three widest shims I had in the case to tighten it up as much as I could.  It's closer, but still about .015 off.  I put the engine in, and it won't turn at all.  I also can't wiggle the pulley to get any endplay, like I still could after I did the shims.  The clutch is tighter and there's no play in the pedal.  I wonder if the flywheel is touching the bellhousing?  Or could there be something else I'm overlooking?  There didn't seem to be any problems aligning everything when I put it in and I'm pretty sure the input shaft lined up fine.  I guess it's coming out again, becaue I can't see anything wrong on the outside!  I'll probably loosen it and pull it out a teeny bit to see if that makes it turn first.  :angry:
Suggestions?  Guesses?

It should be 12 volt, unless someone just put the wrong one on.  I'll try loosening it and see if that  helps.

Forget about what I said about oil between the three shims earlier.  That sounds kinda silly, now that I think about it.

Here an interesting discussion on the subject:

An old "End Play" thread from the R.A.M.V.A. Newsgroup