Lego VW pickup repairs

 
Lego VW pickups (and vans and campers) can't be opened up as far as I'm aware. So a broken axle mount as above can only be fixed by taking the axle out first.

On the outside of the frame are a pair of protruding lugs that act as spacers for the wheels. To avoid damage to these, I put in a pair of toothpicks held together towards the top.

Next to the other wheel I insert a forked electrical connector, bent round to keep its shaft out of the way. This protects the edge of the frame where I will insert a flat screwdriver, and twist that, left and right, to jimmy the wheel on that side off the axle.

The wheel shouldn't take -too- much effort to remove. If it really doesn't want to budge on one side, try the other (though I've had it happen that wheel and axle come out on the side I was twisting the screwdriver, with the wheel at the other side coming off). If neither seems to want to come off (I've had this happen too) then best advice is to live with the loose axle.

The axle mount on the left-hand side was broken but still present, the one on the other side was intact.

The broken axle mount came loose easily (using a small pair of fine-nosed pliers). It was superglued back in place as best as could be managed. Once set, more superglue was added (drop by drop so it didn't run somewhere). In the end the hole in the mount filled up but that's okay.

Using a steel pin, a toothpick and then a kind of Dremel drill bit (which doesn't really drill - no idea what that's normally used for) a new hole was made in the superglue filling the hole under the axle mount. The axle could then be inserted again and turned freely.

Next, the loose wheel was pushed on to the very end of the axle, and then pressed back on using a pair of plumber's pliers. These are ideal because the gap of the pliers can be adjusted to a more parallel position. I've used some tape to hold a pair of flat plastic offcuts in place on the teeth of the pliers, to avoid scratches and damage to the wheels.

The end result is a VW pickup that's again sitting straight on its wheels as it should be, with no visible traces on the outside.

Another VW pickup suffered from much the same problem. So the axle was taken out as described above.

The right-hand side axle mount was broken, so got glued back together without removing it first. A small flat screwdriver was just the right size to be inserted and keep the top half of the axle mount in place while wedged against the wheel arch rim on the other side.

The axle mount on the right-hand side had completely disappeared, so half a ring of roughly the right size was cut from on open lug on a scrap window frame. (The axle mount visible in the picture is actually the one on the left-hand side.)

More superglue was added to the replacement mount, eventually filling up the hole. After this had dried for 24H a new hole was made in the glue inside the hole as described above. The axle was then inserted and the loose wheel pressed back on.

Then it transpired that the pickup was still sitting a bit lopsided, due to the holes in the glue under both axle mounts not having been drilled out exactly alike. Only one thing for it - start all over again. Forcing the wheel off broke the one remaining original axle mount again, drilling the superglue broke a little bit off the frame on the other side. The one was glued much as before, the other replaced with a tiny bit of cellulose acetate plastic that leaned on a toothpick while the superglue set. Gently twisting the toothpick while pulling it out left the replacement piece intact. Next a bent paperclip was used to check whether both holes were aligned and had equal 'wiggle room' on both sides.

After the wheels were put back on, all is as it should be - another VW pickup standing straight and level.

Several months later I got the yellow-over-blue pickup at right. With a hole in the chassis where the front axle mount had been. To start reproducing the missing piece, I made an imprint in plasticine from the one at left.

Blue-tinted polyurethane was poured into the plasticine, which took a few tries because the stuff is brittle and broke when cutting off the excess parts. In the end I added a plasticine rim to the mould so I could pour a thicker layer of polyurethane for strength.

After finally having the square part missing from the pickup's chassis cut out from the polyurethane moulding, a groove was cut where the axle would sit. This is where the mystery Dremel bit finally revealed its function - it grinds sideways and so is ideal for this work.

A bent paperclip was used to check if the groove was level, and another piece of polyurethane was superglued on top to keep in the axle when fitted.

Nest step was grinding indentations into the replacement piece to make it fit into the hole. The same paperclip was used to insert the piece for a trial fit. This revealed the rear of the piece was too long as it got in the way of the window insert inside the cab.

Superglue of better quality was used to stick the piece to the chassis after it was inserted on the end of the paperclip. This superglue is thicker and fills gaps; a few drops were added near the edges of the replacement piece for additional strength. After the superglue had completely hardened (I gave it a night), a set of replacement wheels from the parts box was added much like described above.

And at the end of this bit of surgery I have another fully-functional pickup standing on its own four wheels again.