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Wed Apr 30, 2008 6:56 pm

just put new 4" narrowed beam in. Came with new torsion leaves. My left side is probably sitting about 1.5-2 inches lower than the ride side. Car didn't have this problem before an I believe it was never in any wreck. Did I do something wrong when putting it together? Is this a torsion leaves issue? Thanks
Pics...

Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:05 pm

Hey, as you guys can see im new here but, i have some qeustions.
I want to narrow the beam on my 1963 beetle. It has drop spindles and rubs the living day lights out of my fenders. So i want to make a four inch narrowed beam, but my issue is that what do i do with the shock towers?
They already sit about 1/4 of an inch from the body, and if i put them in the body they will hit my gas tank. so i need to know what to do?
I also read in this thread that you can run no shocks? how will it ride woth no shocks?

Fri May 09, 2008 10:54 am

i have had a few 67 bugs and to get my cars lower i just removed all the smaller torsion bars in the front could i do this for link pin too?

Sat May 17, 2008 5:57 am

Hey all have been out of VW's for about 4 yrs. I have read the entire 18 pages. Questions, with the narrowed beams say 6" do you have to flip the tie rods and why? Also no where has anyone mentioned caster shims. Do you still need to put them in with narrowed beams? I think i have them in my 58 with a stock width beam with adjusters. Thank you for your time!

Sun Jun 15, 2008 10:51 pm

so ive got narrowed beam,leaves,rods,cb drop spindles,do i need a narrowed sway bar? or lowered shocks? help would be apprciated

Sun Jun 22, 2008 6:51 am

philsburydonuts wrote: So i want to make a four inch narrowed beam, but my issue is that what do i do with the shock towers? Remove them. The narrower torsion bars stiffen the suspension and reduce the necessity of shock absorbers. Otherwise, bang the shit out of the body. Either way, it's not gonna ride like a Cadillac, or like stock.

matthew1964 wrote: i have had a few 67 bugs and to get my cars lower i just removed all the smaller torsion bars in the front could i do this for link pin too? That is a terrible idea.

vw60bug wrote: Questions, with the narrowed beams say 6" do you have to flip the tie rods and why? Depends on how low you have it. You flip tie rods to fix gas tank/body clearance issues. It also puts the tie rods on a more level plane which reduces bumpsteer.

vw60bug wrote: Also no where has anyone mentioned caster shims. Do you still need to put them in with narrowed beams? I think i have them in my 58 with a stock width beam with adjusters. Thank you for your time! One set of caster shims is usually not a bad idea for adjusted beams. Adjustment changes the geometry of the front suspension and slightly reduces caster.

iheart77 wrote: so ive got narrowed beam,leaves,rods,cb drop spindles,do i need a narrowed sway bar? or lowered shocks? help would be apprciated You told us neither how low nor how narrow your beam is. If only a couple inches narrowed, you can get your sway bar red hot, rebend it, and cut off the excess. If you're really narrow, the common wisdom is that it's not too necessary. Lowered shocks depend on how low. Use what fits and doesn't EVER bottom out. If it bottoms out, the shock is done.

A SEARCH will yield lots more information on all of these topics. That is probably why you didn't get any answers.

Sun Jun 22, 2008 4:39 pm

Its just a 2inch so the bending sounds good. I searched and found that using dropped spindles lets you use stock shocks. thanks for the answers

Sun Jun 22, 2008 4:52 pm

iheart77 wrote: Its just a 2inch so the bending sounds good. I searched and found that using dropped spindles lets you use stock shocks. thanks for the answers

Dropped spindles or not, an adjustable beam will change that your shock length.
Set you ride at the height you want *without shocks* and measure between the upper and lower shock mounts. You want a shock the ill compress 2 - 3 inches shorter than that number, and expand 2 - 3 inches bigger than that number.

Wed Jul 23, 2008 4:45 am

Germanpride wrote: You have to modify the shock towers.
One way to go about it, is to cut the back side of the shock tower off, and weld a plate back on to "finish it up." Another way is custom built plate metal shock towers.

Any pictures of a custom built plate metal shock towers? I'd like to shorten my beam on my 63 too! :D

Wed Jul 23, 2008 3:04 pm

dejvan wrote: just put new 4" narrowed beam in. Came with new torsion leaves. My left side is probably sitting about 1.5-2 inches lower than the ride side. Car didn't have this problem before an I believe it was never in any wreck. Did I do something wrong when putting it together? Is this a torsion leaves issue? Thanks
Pics...

Did you lube up your polly bushings before your slid in your control arms?

Thu Jul 31, 2008 5:03 am

OK, I have read through this thread twice and I think I have a plan. But one question also.

I am going to try 1 outer notch and one inner notch in rear, dropped spindles and narrow my beam 4". No shocks on front and weld in adjusters.. I will modify my shock towers incase I decide to put airshocks on later. I will be running a 15X5.5 chrome Mangrum, is that correct; a Porsche 356 wheel all the way around. They have 195/55's on them now, but I will put a smaller tire on front anyways.

Now for the adjusters. It was discussed a while back about the grubscrew not holding the weight of the car and that the crimps in the beam actually held the torsions. If that is true, then exactly how are the adjusters going to work. I am going to do everything myself, so if there is something I am missing, please help me!

Thanks guys.. Awesome thread.. well, awesome forum!!

Thu Jul 31, 2008 12:49 pm

On an adjustable beam, there is a collar that holds the spring slats inside the torsion tube. That is allowed to move for adjustment and then you torque things down to lock it in place. When you put the adjusters in the beam, you cut out the stock part of the beam that held the spring and the stock angle. The adjuster kit should have all part needed that you will be welding on. It is best if you put an adjuster on both top and bottom torsion housing tube.

Thu Jul 31, 2008 7:32 pm

is there a more complete kit or better kit of adjusters or are they all pretty much the same as long as I get two kits? one for top and one for bottom.

thanks!

Fri Aug 15, 2008 9:34 am

Question, I just got a 58 (this is my first l/p beam all others were 66,67)and im going to get a 5 in beam it curently has a new adjustable beam on it that is stock width.. I want to go with drop spindles, I read all the posts on this thread so please dont flame me on the search function lol. What is required to put the king pins on the new drop spindles i see spindles for like 180ish and i saw a set in the classifieds that were assembled with the pins for like 370 somthin. can i just take the parts off my spindles and swap in the droped ones? I hear of having to take this to a shop to ream and things of that sort.. I am no stranger to wrenchin and we have a huge shop with almost every tool know to man lol. Any input would be nice.. Im going to be running empi 5s on the car with 135s how important are the drop spindles to my app.. I had a 6 in with drops on my 66 with the same wheels and liked it.. Ive never had a narrowed beam without drops
Thanks guys

Fri Aug 15, 2008 10:37 am

King and links are usually worn out after years of use. You usually rework the knuckle and press new bushings and install new king and links with your new spindles on link pins. Mr. warehouse has a pretty good deal as rebuilding alone can run around $200, using the good parts of course. So 200+170 for the spindles isn't bad especially if he has them on a shelf, ready to go. The spindles help keep the torsion arms at a closer to stock angle instead of riding at the bottom of the arc. The less you change the original geometry, the better.

Fri Aug 15, 2008 10:53 am

You'll need a press to get the old king pins out, the old bushings out and to get the new bushings in as well as the new king pins in once the bushings are reamed.

So you'll obviously need a reamer as well. Adjustable to fit the size of the kings pins you are using is best. German / Brazil / Taiwan are all a little different and you need them snug.

Pull everything apart, clean the old carriers, press in new bushings, ream to fit the king pins and reassemble.

Or as stated above, I have them built ready to go shipping on the shelf.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=413621

Tue Aug 19, 2008 6:30 am

After browsing through this thread - somewhat superficially I admit, 'cause I didn't want to read 10 pages or so about rear lowering (don't really get why this here!?), I decided I'd "just" try to lower my bug's front with drop spindles.

As most of you know, it was more complex than "just replacing the spindles". I didn't realize that you need to get it done (unless you have your own machine shop at home). I somehow managed to Mickey-Mouse everything together and feel pretty bad about my shitty job now.
Sure the drive feels good and tight (no wonder w/out reaming the new spindles), but it is very dangerous - you hit a bump in the road and the car won't align by itself, you have to counter-steer.

I ordered new king pins and link pins (incl. bushings) to have everything rebuilt.

This is my advice:
1. Either buy the hole kit (see mr. warehouse above, which is sweet I realize now, but still requires you to measure the off-set and adjust the shims accordingly - also you should still buy new torsion arm bolts), or complete your shopping list as follows:

- drop spindles $150
- king pin repair kit $30
- link pin repair kit (chances are they are in bad shape) $35
- 4 torsion arm bolts $10

This will total around $250 (if you get the spindles on sale for $150).

2. To take everything apart, look into Jon Muir's Idiot book page 196 ... (procedure to replace the king pins and bushings ...).
What you essentially do is: take the brake drum and plate of, remove the torsion arm bolts and link pins as well as the steering knuckle. Count the shims (record the counting) that you'll find on the link pins - better calculate the offset/shims needed (see also John Muir).

3. Take the hole assembly and the repair kits to a shop that is willing to do the job for a good price.

I assume the hole thing will cost at least $350, but more likely $400 to $450

... put it back together and be lower and happy

Honestly, how many of us have only mickey-moused the job???

Tue Aug 19, 2008 9:16 am

thanks for the reply.. I have never had a l/p beam so this is my first attempt at such animal.. the ball joints i have had have been narrowed new ball joints and drops and bang your done.. I am going to have my l/p narrowed (sled) and then i will probably just get the ones from (warehouse) and do it right.. Thank you for sharing your exp.

Tue Aug 19, 2008 3:28 pm

Found this at Harbor Freight for $8 vs the $50+ snap on tool. It worked great flipping the tie rods.

My project...

Wed Sep 17, 2008 11:28 pm

I thought id post this in here.. i just narrowed the beam on my 58. Also tortion and tie rods.. I foun out that pre 60 driver short tie rod are not adjustable.. They are presed. So to avoid all the frustration that i had source a german post 61 and pre 67 short tie rod for you beam.