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Sat Sep 12, 2009 6:13 pm

Howdy yall. I got a buddy of mine who has a sand rail. its just your average run of the mill rail everyone seems to have, with the angled roof, and the rear end that comes down between the engine and tranny, so the engine just hangs out with nothing around it. Anyhoo, we noticed the other day that the balljoints are badly worn, to the point that the ball is almost comming out of the socket. and then we realized, that the suspension is at full droop :shock: . so i'm guessing that could be why the balljoints failed. well we took it for a ride, and noticed the front suspension bearly moves at all, even over bumps. Only on large bumps can you see it move at all. Soooo this brings me to my question. if i were to completely remove the front shocks, do you think it would atleast give him some more travel, or flex? his rail is incredibly light. it has no diagonal supports in the cage. pretty much bare. and the floor is just expanded metal, NOT sheet metal. (yes, its a deathtrap :lol: ). i can lift the front end with one hand. it almost seems the weight of the motor is acting like a counter balence. also the front end, seems shorter thn most rails i've seen. your feet are almost on the front beam. any ideas on how we can atlest get it to stock ride height? or just make it softer?

Sat Sep 12, 2009 8:37 pm

Replace the ball joints, and remove a leaf or two from the beam. I'd leave the shocks, provided they're not gas charged. You need the dampning to keep the front end from bouncing like a basketball.

Sat Sep 12, 2009 8:46 pm

the only way to get travel out of a ball joint beam is to cut it off and rebuild the frame for a link pin..... :wink:

otherwise.... if the beam is adjustible, lower it about 50% if not adjustable..... make it adjustable and get lift spindles

good luck!

Tue Sep 15, 2009 7:03 pm

Or buy the adapters that are being sold now!

Tue Sep 15, 2009 7:17 pm

Here's one.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=787535

Tue Sep 15, 2009 8:48 pm

If the front is at fool droop, your not gonna have any travel anyway, get that worked out but if you remove the shocks you should see a little more travel. I've seen front ends on buggies that didn't have enough weight to really work the front suspension (cars are usually heavier than buggies). I usually run my battery in the front to add to the weight. If your tires are balanced well, I've seen buggies run down the road at highway speeds with no bounce even without shocks.