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Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:02 am

Daniel G wrote: This thread is pretty cool. I am eventually going to turn my '78 westy into an offroad machine (with a winch and camo paint job too... :lol: ), and at some point I want to do an offroad split as well. But I got to find the right one first...

Yeah, finding the right one is troublesome. My friend JB doesn't want to do it to a bus he cares about, but I'll only spend the time doing it to a bus I really care about! Go figure.

There are a couple good build threads for offroad bays, which seem to lend themselves very well to the conversion because of their availability and the fact that their rear ends are easy to lift. I was going to build one at one time, but lost interest due to the fact that they weight so damn much. Instead, I moved the 2L into a bus with half the weight and got the power I needed to run tall tires offroad and on the highway.

K

Wed Jul 09, 2008 8:00 am

Its a great project as its light weight and you can also sleep in it.

Wed Jul 09, 2008 8:44 am

i agree, you know i dont mind scraping the sides and things, but i would rather not tear out the important stuff undernieth.
so if i put a bay beam in the front what size tires can i get on it? what is the biggest tires that i can get in the back?

Wed Jul 09, 2008 9:23 am

neal wrote: i agree, you know i dont mind scraping the sides and things, but i would rather not tear out the important stuff undernieth.
so if i put a bay beam in the front what size tires can i get on it? what is the biggest tires that i can get in the back?

Problem with the bay beam is you can only fit stock 205's without rubbing and you can't cut and turn it without ruining the ride quality. BUT, you get disc brakes, which are absolutely wonderful compared with stock drums.

215's in the rear. This will give you about 1 1/2" lift in the front and 1/2" lift in the rear.

K

Wed Jul 09, 2008 9:26 am

The Link pin front end is stronger. If you cut the stops the arms will droop lower you will need longer shocks. Another way would be to extend the mounts that attach the beam to the bus. You want to add a couple of braces to trangulate the mount.

Wed Jul 09, 2008 3:18 pm

Kevin,
Your bus is looking perfect. The stance it has in the junk yard photos is tuff. I know earlier in this thread I said I was turned off by to many extra parts for the IRS set up, But lets say one was to go this route. What combination of STRONG parts would it take to put it together. I have a complete IRS Beetle rear end, but I know it needs some IRS bus parts and beefed up CV'S in the mix to make it strong enough to beat the hell out of. Any input is good.

Aaron

Thu Jul 10, 2008 5:21 am

vwbusride wrote: Kevin,
Your bus is looking perfect. The stance it has in the junk yard photos is tuff. I know earlier in this thread I said I was turned off by to many extra parts for the IRS set up, But lets say one was to go this route. What combination of STRONG parts would it take to put it together. I have a complete IRS Beetle rear end, but I know it needs some IRS bus parts and beefed up CV'S in the mix to make it strong enough to beat the hell out of. Any input is good.

Aaron

Thanks, I'm happy with it.

I'm not sure that anyone has a problem with stock bus CVs. As far as I know they last forever. There are longer travel CVs available like the Porsche ones. You'd have to do custom axles, springplates, and transmission mounts, and add trailing arms. All in all it probably wouldn't be much more trouble than dropping a swing axle tranny.

K

Thu Jul 10, 2008 5:24 am

perrib wrote: The Link pin front end is stronger. If you cut the stops the arms will droop lower you will need longer shocks. Another way would be to extend the mounts that attach the beam to the bus. You want to add a couple of braces to trangulate the mount.

As long as you are not maxing out the ball joints, I don't see any problems with using a ball joint beem, nor do I see why they would be considered weak: the beam I have in my bus is meant to support twice the weight it does now. I expect it to last.

K

Fri Jul 11, 2008 4:29 pm

just an idea...could one use longer torsion arms in the beam to gain additional lift while improving ride quality? It would also move the tire back, potentially causing clearance issues with the wheel well/outrigger area.

Fri Jul 11, 2008 9:22 pm

Just a thought... I read on the aussie website that when they lift the rear of their buses, they use axels from an automatic. They are longer they say. Don't know much about it though. My CV's clicked on my baywindow when I raised the rear one outer notch. Pulled it back down a tad...

Wed Aug 27, 2008 6:26 am

My baja bus in the Ozarks National Forest, Arkansas:

Going to take it out behind Chandler Park in Tulsa this weekend, then one more day in the ONF next weekend before a bluegrass fest.

K

Wed Aug 27, 2008 12:29 pm

wow, I thought your bus was only in a project stage right now, didn't know it was driveable right now. beautiful pics man, and beautiful bus. I wanted a splitty a while ago but they're too expensive for me, so I opted for the baja, you seem to have both combined. nice

Wed Aug 27, 2008 12:37 pm

ElCuelloRojo wrote: wow, I thought your bus was only in a project stage right now, didn't know it was driveable right now. beautiful pics man, and beautiful bus. I wanted a splitty a while ago but they're too expensive for me, so I opted for the baja, you seem to have both combined. nice

Its certainly still a project but it is a driver too. I'm just working as I go and can't resist the temptation to take it out and have some fun. You can't beat the combo of offroad capable plus a bed in the back ;).

K

Sun Aug 31, 2008 10:38 am

Testing the bus out at Chandler in Tulsa, OK.

Definately want to build a no-hop rear end, strengthen my drag link, ad my bice bumpers, and skid plates. Bus did better than I imagined. The new steering brake worked like a charm! Thanks to J for the motivation with the install. Now I can forgo the pricey limited slip diff.

Ever seen a split bus do this? You can watch the vids in full resolution by following the link and clicking watch in high quality. Thanks Les (oktr6r) for the clips.

Sun Aug 31, 2008 10:48 am

AWESOME!!!

Sun Aug 31, 2008 2:45 pm

sxuxrxf wrote: AWESOME!!!

agreed, i did cringe every time that nice split bus teetered and almost went over :lol:

Sun Aug 31, 2008 3:00 pm

runslikeapenguin wrote: sxuxrxf wrote: AWESOME!!!

agreed, i did cringe every time that nice split bus teetered and almost went over :lol:

I think it looks worse than it was in reality, but it is an issue with a tall, slim bus. Not any different with the syncros. BTW, that bus was a POS when I bought it, so I wreck it, I fix it again, although I probably won't ever push it much more than that.

Damn that sure was a good time!

K

Sun Aug 31, 2008 8:46 pm

Feels good to have an offroad bus again doesn't it? Amazing videos K. Someday, I'll have to ride shotgun in that thing on some of those roads.

Sun Aug 31, 2008 8:55 pm

Your post inspired me to take the family out today. The cooler temps today allowed us to scoot around the desert roads and over some short run hills and berms. Thanks for the posts.

Sun Aug 31, 2008 11:58 pm

KevinMc wrote: Testing the bus out at Chandler in Tulsa, OK.

Ever seen a split bus do this? You can watch the vids in full resolution by following the link and clicking watch in high quality. Thanks Les (oktr6r) for the clips.

It was a blast seeing the bus hit the trails. As high up and tipsy as it looked, I'll probably keep my '78 as an on-road to vehicle for the Baja.

Glad you pointed out the high resolution link, I'd missed that. I'll get all of the videos burned to a CD and drop it off at Jared's one evening after work.

I ended up losing a nut off of an upper ball joint at some point. The camber adjuster got loose and was changing the camber as I was driving back out later that evening for another run. I got lucky, one of the Jeep guys came by right after I found the problem and had one that fit enough for me to go thru the trails again.