Steering Gear 1302 / 1303

Steering gear.
VW Beetle 1302 | 1303 left-hand drive - up to 7/74.

If there is too much play in the center position of the worm-and-peg or worm-and-roller steering box and the adjusting bolt is already screwed in to the maximum, so that the steering wheel turns stiffly, the steering gear is worn. An overhaul is one solution, but because of the difficulty of sourcing separate parts for the steering box and the high level of skill required, we recommend fitting a factory-new box - which is not only better but also considerably cheaper. The steering boxes listed here are new and are supplied without fitting material and/or mounting brackets; you must reuse these or, where possible, order them separately. The T25/T3 steering box has power steering; if your Volkswagen Bus is not equipped with this feature, you will have to overhaul the old steering box, as there are no new boxes of that type yet.

Types of steering boxes:

The old Beetle and Karmann Ghia use the worm-and-peg drive, which was later changed to a worm-and-roller drive. Later, on the Beetle 1303 and the T25/T3, rack-and-pinion steering was used. It is important to know what is under your car; here is the full explanation:

Volkswagen used worm-and-peg steering for the Beetle up to 1965 and for the Karmann Ghia up to 1961. The steering gear has a toothed peg that rotates around a shaft (worm) to produce a turning movement. In the last model years the roller type was used; here too only the toothed peg was replaced by a bearing-mounted roller (worm wheel). From 1974 the Beetle 1303, like the third generation of buses (T25/T3 Vanagon), was fitted with rack-and-pinion steering. This is a rectangular bar toothed like a gear on one side; with the pinion, a small gear engaging the teeth, the bar can be moved lengthwise. Volkswagen did not make this change for all models at the same time, so we have listed below which VW system was used for which model.

Worm-and-peg steering (sector type):
Convertible Beetle up to 1961 (VIN 3 933 184)
Export Beetle up to 1961 (VIN 4 236 756)
Beetle for the domestic market (standard model) up to 7/1965
Karmann Ghia up to 1961 (VIN 3 933 184)

Worm-and-roller steering (roller type):
Beetle convertible from 1961 (VIN 3 933 185) up to 7/1974
Beetle for export from 1961 (VIN 4 236 757) onwards
Beetle 1200-1300-1500 from 8/1965 onwards
Beetle 1302 and 1303 up to 7/1974
Karmann Ghia from 1961 (VIN 3 933 185) onwards
VW Bus up to 7/1979
Type 3 all models and model years
Type 181 (Thing) all models and model years

Rack-and-pinion steering:
Beetle 1303 from 8/1974 onwards
T25/T3 (all model years)

Note: for Beetles and Karmann Ghias up to and including 7/1965 with worm-and-peg steering, steering gear 01368 can be used, provided the pitman arm is also replaced with conversion arm 04347 or 04354.