Making VW Shift Weights

Making another batch of our weighted shift rods for the A1 based water-cooled VW vehicles.

With the material supply issues we've been encountering due to the pandemic, we had to switch metal suppliers and have material shipped in. This new supplier has a 12L14 alloy steel rod available. It is about 25% more expensive than the mild steel we had been using, but if it machines easier, the added material cost may be offset in labor and tooling savings.

First impressions are it does machine much easier and produces a much better finish than the mild steel we had been using. Also seems to be much easier on the carbide inserts. The old material we used would occasionally have hard spots that were very difficult to machine. This 12L14 seems to be a lot more consistent throughout.

More information:
https://youtu.be/XG6HovS51fQ
https://www.4crawler.com/Diesel/ForSale/ShiftLinkage.shtml

More to come...
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