Trabi/IFA Chat Forum

Finally fixed loosing the presets on my radio! HURRAH!

The fix involved two diodes and an additional wire. I placed one diode in the "6V" wire coming off the fuse box. I ran an additional wire from my 12 volt fuse box (after my converter) also with a diode and tied both together and connected them to the memory wire on the radio. That way 12 volts doesn't try to back feed the 6 volt fuse box and 6 volts doesn't back feed the 12 volt fuse box.

So when the engine is not running, 6 volts is enough to maintain power for the memory. When I start the car, 12 volts now is powering the memory. Combining a wire with 12 volts and one with 6 volts does not equal 18 volts. The 12 volts over rides the 6 volts.

Since the 6 to 12 volt converter doesn't really care about the input voltage (well sort of, pulls more current), the output is always 12 volts whether I'm cranking or the engine is running.

Now I can crank and crank and never loose power.

Now I have to come up with a similar solution for my 2CV and 68 Ford which suffers from the same problem.

Today I have started the repairs to the steering and front suspension ready for the MOT. So far I have fitted the new tie rod end (right hand) and taken off the front hubs to renew the fork bushes. The only thing I had a problem with so far was the left hand tie rod end which stubbornly would not come off its taper without heating it up with the blowtorch. So one of the fork shafts looks fine, but the other one is very pitted and had a raised ridge in the middle, indicating that the parts of the shaft running in the bushes have worn maybe beyond further use. If the shaft should be 20mm which is the reaming dimension, then it's going to be too loose a fit in the new bushes. A new fork then, I think. I already tapped out the bushes on one side and pressed in the new ones. Now got to source a reamer!

Get an adjustable reamer that will do both top and bottom ( they are different sizes) . Mine is 19.75mm - 22.5mm and was fine for both top and bottom. I bought my reamer off ebay for £10 . It was new and boxed but must have been very old stock as it was marked ' Made in Czechoslovakia' which seemed very apt to use on a trabant . Make certain you shim the king pins correctly . You will almost certainly need to buy a selection of new shims from germany. The top forks are easy ,the bottom kingpins are a total bastard . There is a locking pin that can be devils work to remove on the bottom ones

To remove ball joints without splitting the rubber cover use a ball joint removal tool which has a large bolt which forces the taper apart without damaging the joint or rubber seal,there are hammer in types which you hammer between the joint which is fast and easy but ruin the rubber dust seal

China,s finest if it works once worth the money will definetly do top not sure about bottom YYAAOSwzgRWy3M8" class="no-preview" target="_blank" >http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/High-Speed-Steel-3-4-53-64-Cutting-Dia-Adjustable-Hand-Operated-Reamer-WP-/271867818012?hash=item3f4c95b01c:gYYAAOSwzgRWy3M8

Not sure what your talking about "fork shafts?". Is this the axles and hinge joints your talking about?

Edwin: Can this tool be used to remove outer bearing races that can't be knocked out from the backside? I'm in the process of fixing that small 110cc ATV and one of the bearings in the frame where the swing arm attaches to busted but I got lucky and used a combination of a pair of vice grips and a punch (drift) and hammer to knock the outer raced out. The other bearing I reversed the drift and knocked it out with a hammer from the backside . The bearing seemed OK but wanted to get it out so I could get the numbers off it and get some new bearings. Also if one failed, the other one is undoubtable going to fail eventually.

Have you tried an expanding raw bolt,the type you use for fixing things into concrete and stone if you get one that fits into the bearing you can then either pull it out with a puller or slide hammer or if there's enough space drift it out from the back

The fork is the metal piece that looks like a fork which links the front suspension leaf spring to the top swivel joint in the front axle. The fork shaft is the part of this metal piece which fits in the plastic/bakelite bushes.

Okay I give up. I've been trying to remove the plastic ends of the bumpers, so I can repair de-rust and spray paint the metal section. It looks to me like they are not meant to be taken off after assembly, and has a quick fit' slide on and lock' type mechanism. Maybe someone can enlighten me before I resort to removing the 2 retaining lugs on the plastic ends which lock on the T piece.

Took out the remaining rear carpets to reveal a rear floor section with no rust!! Result. Also discovered that the rear seat tips forward obviously to make a larger load area in the boot. And a bonus find, a 50 pfennig DDR coin dated 1987, which has gone straight onto the key ring after drilling a hole in it!

Those bumper ends come off easily. There is a piece of metal that spot welded which overlaps the plastic on the inside of the bumper. Just take a flathead screwdriver and start prying and it comes right off with not much effort.

You pretty much have to remove the bumpers from the car to see it. Sometimes this piece falls off on it's own which causes the plastic end pieces to come off while going down the road.

There are some tabs that bend inward which also holds the cap in place but I wouldn't depend upon them alone.

I just drilled a small hole on the underside through the plastic cap and the bumper and ran a sheet metal screw through it to hold it in place. Some people like using rivets but I plan on removing my bumpers when I repaint my car. I just knocked out some of the dents from the backside and painted them up with a foam brush for the meantime.

When dismantling the front axles to do repairs, I had to tap the drive shaft ends through the hub bearings because they were a bit of a tight fit. Now I'm wondering on re=assembly what is the best way to get the drive shaft ends back through the hubs so they seat correctly. I'm guessing they will need tapping back in or is there a way to draw them back in with a puller? Mine are the tapered shaft type.

Hello all,

Couldn't stand it any longer, the sun was shining so I decided to get Rosie out of hibernation...

This process consisted of:

1. Putting the spark plug back in that I'd nicked for the boys' dirtbike
2. Turning the key and starting the engine as if I'd parked her up the day before!

The car ran and drove so well, really chuffed. I then scrubbed the sills down and re-coated them (no issues), lifted the boot carpets out, scrubbed the boot floor (some surface rust as I get quite a bit of condensation on the underneath of the bootlid), and oiled that, and pumped up the tyres a bit.

I do need to fix the reverse light switch bracket, I'd forgotten that it had snapped last year. Once I've got that done I'll book an Mot in time for our first show at the end of April.

So, a wash and polish tomorrow, can't wait to get some Trabant miles in again.

Hope all's well with you and yours, Ronnie.

Finally got a mobile welder to do the necessary repairs to the battery area. Here is the result, so a lick of paint and sealer, put the new master cylinder on, reconnect the wiring and the job's a good 'un.[ATTACH=full]4890[/ATTACH]

Definitely put sealer over it . I wouldn't be happy with the top rear. It doesn't look a continuous weld . ( which it should be) just hope the MOT man doesn't look too closely