TheSamba.com :: View topic

Sat Apr 15, 2006 12:35 pm

I've been going over my new project for the past couple of days, and I noticed that the body (which is not fastened down) actually is hitting on top of the shock mounts in the rear :cry: . I just bought the car (thanks Samba) from someone in TX. I can only think of a few reasons this may be happening...

1. The shocks are not the right ones for the car, and are pushing the wheel further down than it should
2. There is not engine mounted, so the lack of weight is pushing the suspension up, or....
3. Someone tried to raise the suspension in the rear.

It's a swingaxle trans. Does anyone have any advice on what may be going on? I've been working on aircooled v-dubs for half my life, but this is my first dune buggy - I'm hoping it's not going to be a big pain!

Sat Apr 15, 2006 12:56 pm

Hey Scary, first thing is you need to open up a photobucket account so we can see your problem. Second, this won't be the first thing you will have to fab on this car-----get ready. If I were faced with what you have I would shim the body with 1x2 box tubing along the sides of the pan. The tubing will raise the whole buggy body. For the bulkheads, front and rear, use 1x1 box tubing and cut a bunch of cuts along the top edge to be able to bend it and conform to the bulkhead. I bet Yellermanx has a pic of this. Here is how my body sits in relation to the shock mounts.
MURZ

Sat Apr 15, 2006 12:59 pm

Shock mounts have nothing to do with the suspension movement. That piece is fixed no matter what the suspension is doing at the moment.

You've got issues. Take some pics if you can. I'm sure it's nothing that couldn't be overcome with some shims, or a slight body lift.

edit: Damn these stupid fingers..I need to learn to type with more than just my pointer finger.

Sat Apr 15, 2006 2:29 pm

I had the same prolem. I just bought a 3" body lift kit from
kustom1warehouse. Now everything is cool. I have a full length pan,
so it fit great. On a shortened pan, I'm sure that the lift kit could be
easily modified. Good luck.

Sat Apr 15, 2006 6:20 pm

I think like UncleBob says that you have something else going on and pictures would help. However, the body lift on mine solved a multitude of problems. Posted is the link to my Photobucket acct. that Murz refered to. There are pictures of my body lift there, it is made out of plastic lumber/decking. Post those pics.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v635/Yellermanx/?start=all

Sat Apr 15, 2006 9:30 pm

Dang if i did not try to kill uncle bobs bug!

I put on a body lift too. mine was close to the mount too.

Sat Apr 15, 2006 11:01 pm

Man, Yeller, where'd you find that pan?? That thing looks like it just rolled off the German assembly line yesterday. Or was it the Mexican assembly line?

Now that mine's all done, a lift kit looks like a great idea. Maybe next time :roll:

Sun Apr 16, 2006 7:18 am

I don't know if your buggy ever had the rear body mounts installed. If it didn't, the body has probably sagged over the years. Originally, Manxes came with the mounts, here is a picture of some that I made for a buggy that didn't have them.

Sun Apr 16, 2006 9:17 am

Hey Seabee, You have to hit the bug with the pointy end of a welding chipping hammer. Works great.

Endoboy, Actually it was the Berrien assembly line.

Sun Apr 16, 2006 10:06 am

I was having the same problem. I agree alot of buggies had the back body mount and those who didn't usually ended up with alittle body sag. Not sure how common it is but my front towers were just barely rubbing......So i put a 2x3 tubular steel body lift on and wa la! Problem fixed.

manxman63

Sun Apr 16, 2006 10:09 am

my front towers went through so i cut a hole for them to fit through

Sun Apr 16, 2006 12:35 pm

dirtydeedss wrote: my front towers went through so i cut a hole for them to fit through

There are also supposed to be supports under the front of the body.

Sun Apr 16, 2006 6:48 pm

you said the buggy came from TX, is it a texasbuggys body? I have one and the top bolt for my rear shock hits the fiberglass a little. I'll get a picture if you want. It dosen't seem to make any real damage.

Sun Apr 16, 2006 7:33 pm

It's probably the most common problem on an old buggy. Fiberglass is liquid and flows over time. Badly sagging bodys are noticable and even odd looking.
I fixed mine by bolting the body down to the pan and jacking the rear of the buggy up by the body with a 2x4 across the fiberglass over the trans supported with jack stands. Do this in the hot sun and apply heat from a heat gun at the stress points. You might have to let it sit for a few days. Then I built a rear support from box tubing and angle iron in place.
My support rails are in the floor pan channel below the floor, I didn't want to raise the body and the sagging body would interfere with the engine and carbs. Don't be surprised to hear some cracking sounds.
I also hade to fabricate steel plates to cover the pan lip on the body that was very warped at the bolt holes.
I read that Bruce Myers had lots of problems with severe rear body shrinkage on his first tries at buggy building. There is a natural stress back there, and gravity dosen't help.
Obviously if the buggy is painted you need to be careful of cracks.

Mon Apr 17, 2006 4:21 am

Thanks to everyone for their advice. I've loaded a few pictures of the car on photobucket.com. I like the idea of adding the metal brace up from the shock tower. My concern with the body lift is that there are side pods, and if I lift the body too much, then the pods presumable would not cover the view of the floor pan. It doesn't really look like the body has actually sagged, although I'm also not sure how old it might be. Don't know if it's a TX buggy, as I've had trouble trying to identify it. I'll add more pics later as I start to tear into it over the next month

http://s80.photobucket.com/albums/j165/truthfire/

Mon Apr 17, 2006 6:04 am

Looks pretty close to me. I wonder if a pan gasket will bring it up just enough?

Mon Apr 17, 2006 7:26 am

Had exactly your issue and killed a couple birds with one stone. Body was close to the stock mounts, but not hitting. Needed to put a rear seat in for the kids. When buggy is loaded, hits the shock mounts. Also needed a way to mount seat belts for rear seat - ran a piece of 1/4 X 3" aluminum bar across bottom of body from one shock mount to the other for attaching seat belts. Gives me a place to tie everything together (Belts, rear body, and frame) and took care the rattle.

Mon Apr 17, 2006 10:19 am

or a nice piece of 3" angle iron. Cut and twist the ends so they can bolt up to the shock towers and one flat side can rest right under the rear seat. Would give the support needed, as well as mounting points for anything.

Mon Apr 17, 2006 12:55 pm

Thanks, that's just what I love... great fixes that are easy and cheap!