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Fri Mar 30, 2007 10:40 am

Turns out the inside of the frame horns are pretty chewed out. The PO rewelded it, but it seems there was cracking which allowed water to the inside of the frame horn. It's like welding on aluminum foil.

I'd like to replace the frame horns in a few weeks. I'll have my IRS pivots then as well, so it seems like it would be a good time. Is there any reason why people use the stock frame horns? It seems as some 2" tubing would work just fine. Notch it around the torsion housing, weld a plate with a large nut on the engine end. Any reasons for objections to this?

And if anyone has done so, are there pictures? :D Thanks in advance

Fri Mar 30, 2007 10:58 am

that's how most rube chassies are. Mine is like that as well as lots of sand rails. It will work fine. I would say use 1.5 not 2" unless you just have some sitting around that you need to use up.

Fri Mar 30, 2007 11:45 am

can you post pics of this?

Fri Mar 30, 2007 1:05 pm

I'll take some next time I'm at my bug.

Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:30 pm

I replaced mine because the horns were all rotten. The tube was fine though. This was on a Berrien Warrior rail buggy kit. I basically built the chassis around the rusted torsion, and once the rear part was done with my engine cage, I bolted my solid trans mount to the engine cage, whacked the frame horns off, and connected the dots with 1.5" .095 tubing. I welded a nut into each one using the same standard bolts that my engine cage uses so its not a mixed bag of metric and standard now either. It really was no big deal as long as you have a good engine cage to locate your trans mount from.

Fri Mar 30, 2007 10:08 pm

I hacked the frame horns off on my bug before I welded in the irs pivots. I took a tube and put two slight bends in it and welded it to the bottom of the torsion housing (much like an axle truss on a truck). I then ran two tubes off of that truss piece strait back. I just took a hole saw and cut two holes in a solid tranny mount then welded every thing together with an X in between the two parallel tubes. The ends of the tubes where then sleeved for my rear bumper/cage to be built off of in the future. I know people have done this before but I had never seen it and I was very happy with how it turned out. Oh, and it is all done with 1.5" .120 wall tube.

Sun Apr 01, 2007 3:02 pm

Got Pictures???

Pictures save about 1000 words :lol:

Mon Apr 02, 2007 9:45 am

Quote: Pictures save about 1000 words
I guess you are right. Work has stalled a bit on my bug so I set the body back on the pan to make some room in the garage. Because of this I am not able to get great pictures but all of us have spent countless hours looking at stock frame horns so I figure you will be able to tell.

This picture is a before (duh) when I had cut the frame horn for the IRS pivot. I was not very happy with it or with trying to work around the stock stuff so I hacked them off.

Here are the after. There will be flanges welded on the tube ends for the bumper/cage. Also tubes running from right behind the tranny mount up to the cage in the rear of the cab.

Mon Apr 02, 2007 10:00 am

great job. (i am cutting my horns off also) The horns serve no purpose suspension wise, they just hold the tranny/engine in place. With a 002 or 091 the tranny could be hung from above and the bottom could have been all skidplate. IMHO !!! Again great job!!

Mon Apr 02, 2007 10:05 am

Saw this on GlamisDunes

It's something from Berrin Buggies?
straight forward design and should be like the stock VW.....120 wall would be the ticket here.

Mon Apr 02, 2007 10:17 am

rterfert wrote: Saw this on GlamisDunes

It's something from Berrin Buggies?
straight forward design and should be like the stock VW.....120 wall would be the ticket here.

Wow, I like that alot. Anyone know where to pick it up, I would pay multiple dollars for it :D It fixes my frame horn problem, my IRS conversion problem, torsion bar to coilover conversion problem, and having to buy arms in the first place problem all in one shot :D

Mon Apr 02, 2007 11:02 am

i also would like to know the particulars on this item.

Mon Apr 02, 2007 11:33 am

Me to and whats the biggest those arms come in.

Mon Apr 02, 2007 8:02 pm

This is my set-up. I bought the tubular frame horns from Berrien Buggy. The website is www.berrienbuggy.com The torsion tube is just a piece of DOM tubing. I made the 4x5 arms myself with some chromoly bearing carriers and some "fancy" measuring. Since that early picture I have added a lot of gussets to strengthen them up. I have less than $300 in the entire setup but a ton of man hours. Do yourself a favor and buy the arms built. By the time you build a fixture its not really worth it, but I guess I would do it again. Here is a picture after some gussets and shock mounts were added to the arms. It has changed even more since then. I will try to get some current pics.

Mon Apr 02, 2007 10:35 pm

i searched their site earlier and i couldn't find it. do you have a link, or maybe they don't sell it anymore.

Tue Apr 03, 2007 5:26 am

I don't think they list them on there site. Give them a call, I think the person you talk to is Cathy. They weren't really expensive and they shipped them out pretty quickly.

Tue Apr 03, 2007 7:30 am

fortydegnorth wrote: I don't think they list them on there site. Give them a call, I think the person you talk to is Cathy. They weren't really expensive and they shipped them out pretty quickly.

Yeah I've had those tubular horns in my shop in the past, very nice.
They aren't on their website for some reason..... 8)

Tue Apr 03, 2007 8:58 am

turboblue wrote: fortydegnorth wrote: I don't think they list them on there site. Give them a call, I think the person you talk to is Cathy. They weren't really expensive and they shipped them out pretty quickly.

Yeah I've had those tubular horns in my shop in the past, very nice.
They aren't on their website for some reason..... 8)

I just got an email back from Kathy.
Here it is:

Yes, the tubular frame horns in that picture are ours.
The boss wasn't happy with the pictures we had taken of them,
so they haven't made it onto our website yet, but we are selling them.
They are $60.69 per pair & come with nuts welded in the end & matching bolts,
plus caps for sealing the open ends of the tubes.

That sounds Way cheaper than making a set to me.

Tue Apr 03, 2007 9:20 am

wow that is alot cheaper than i was expecting. i was thinking that there might be a 1 in front of that 60.69 lol

so what about the rest of that torsion housing?

Tue Apr 03, 2007 9:24 am

I Think, regarding the torsion housings and trailing arms, if fortydegnorth wanted to perhaps fab up and sell another setup, I might be interested :D Or anyone else who is better at fabbing than myself I imagine.

I just like the idea of two solid pivots for coilovers instead of the single solid pivot and the second pivot with a heim like they sell as a "Coilover conversion kit".