Good evening! I must admit that I did not know what door check links were. Now that I have figured it out I am glad. Door Checks are the little things in the car door that keeps the door open when the car is parked. When these wear out, your shins pay the price. Me and my now certified and graduated little mechanic needed to change oil today and we decided to change the door check links as well.
Sourcing the parts
I did not expect these to be so difficult to find and purchase. Well, the part numbers were relatively easy to locate, but the physical parts are very much unavailable. I searched for weeks to find these and when I did, it was more expensive to purchase that the more common replacements for other model cars. Sourcing the parts was the most difficult part of the whole job. Typically, these are widely available for an average of 18-25 dollars. There are also a variety of manufacturers that supply them. I finally located a website that had a list of 9 different part numbers, but, none of them were available for order. I finally found a couple different sources. I had to order them 1 at a time as they were not available in pairs. I was able to get 1 new and 1 used.
The Work
With the correct parts in hand, we moved on to The Work. We had to remove the inner door panels and this was the most difficult part of the job. Once we got all of the wires disconnected and the plastic retainers loose, changing the door checks was the easiest part. My little mechanic has tiny hands, so getting the links in an out of the doors was an easy experience. We did try to do front brakes as well, but, the parts I ordered did not fit. That will be another day. Stay tuned, We will be returning to the 1792 Super beetle tomorrow if all goes well!