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Sat Mar 12, 2005 6:37 pm

Does anyone sell the,"T-Mag"aluminum body lift any more? Any input on the "Latest Rage" lifts or others?

Sat Mar 12, 2005 9:56 pm

The only one I have found is the cheapie ones they sell at all the VW shops, Theyre made in China. Thats what I used and wish I hadn`t. If you do, be sure to weld up the spaces at the bends and strip it, primer and paint it really good. The steel is really thin and cheap. :(

Sat Mar 12, 2005 10:22 pm

I'm building my own because i didnt like the quality of the chapo ones, or wanted to pay the cost of the good ones(Up-Your-Bug kit)
I want to be able to use the lift as part of the chassis, and to be able to weld to it.

Sun Mar 13, 2005 7:31 am

I haven't seen one of the cheapo lifts. I want to lift the floors up to the body when I install the body lift so I only need the two ends and would want steel to weld to,not aluminum. Have you made yours yet? How thick are the front and rear parts? Do I need to sandwich spacers between two pieces of steal?

Thanks,Matt

Sun Mar 13, 2005 11:17 am

Heres the one I built myself

Sun Mar 13, 2005 11:21 am

its 3"x1.5"...puts the body pretty high..

Sun Mar 13, 2005 11:22 am

Heres something I came up with to handle the extreme angle the steering wheel was put at because of the lift.

its a GM intermediate shaft for a grand prix

Sun Mar 13, 2005 11:38 am

is that a stock steering bushing in there? i never saw much of a need for one if you use universal joints in the steering shaft

Sun Mar 13, 2005 11:40 am

that is the stock gm steering bushing..not the vw.

Its riveted well enough i just figured id leave it alone

Sun Mar 13, 2005 2:22 pm

Thats a nice looking body lift. I have a urethane donut, so it took the angle ok after doing the lift.

Sun Mar 13, 2005 4:55 pm

Nice job! Seems a shame to cover it up! Did you consider lifting the floor so you don't see the lift from the side and gain ground clearance?

Sun Mar 13, 2005 5:20 pm

ground clearance under the floor wont help much. anything that would hit your floor would hit your front beam first

Sun Mar 13, 2005 5:28 pm

Hey Matt,

I am not sure a body lift for a Bug works 100% on a Thing. (Has anyone tried this?)

I also don’t care for how you see the body lift from the outside on a Thing, but just welding the floors higher doesn’t seem to be the best idea since you still have to attach the master cylinder and pedal assembly to the tunnel and bulkhead. (provided you want to still use a VW pedal setup) You’re also going to have less space under the seat for the battery and a few other issues. If you have a 74’ you can kiss your heat goodbye and you still have the tunnel portion sitting three inches lower.

Anyway, I had an idea a few months ago when tossing this dilemma around in my head. What if you built a custom tube (square and/or round) like this one.

But you engineer the rear torsion housing and front beam to be three inches lower. Since your building a cage anyway you might just go for a complete tube chassis with this type of setup. If done right it would look pretty clean and be a lot stronger than just a stock pan.

Sun Mar 13, 2005 5:31 pm

i was going to go that route if i would have done a baja instead of the rail

Sun Mar 13, 2005 5:38 pm

Yup, I think as soon as I am done with my Thing, a tube chassis Baja is next on the list. (just don’t tell my wife that.)

Mon Mar 14, 2005 10:39 pm

TurboLark wrote: I'm building my own because i didnt like the quality of the chapo ones, or wanted to pay the cost of the good ones(Up-Your-Bug kit)
I want to be able to use the lift as part of the chassis, and to be able to weld to it.

Turbolark and I are doing the same thing for the same reasons. There only 2 good lifts out there. Up your bug and RTS buggies. Otherwise make one yourself.

Sun Mar 20, 2005 3:02 am

The Latest Rage cheapie body lift will not work on a Thing. The Thing pan is shaped different from a Bug. The front of the pan is curved where on a Bug its straight angled, see the tube frame below.

T Mag as far as I know is gone, but there is a company that took their place called Up Yer Bug that builds a T Mag style body lift. They are in Vista, CA.