TheSamba.com :: View topic

Sat Nov 14, 2009 8:08 pm

anyone out there done this? I know its been done but was thinking any advice by someone whoes actually done it would be helpful. Ive done two type one beams, one balljoint and one kingpin. looks like it will be the same job, just harder to remove and heavier. I was wondering about lift vs turn. this one was turned 5/8".

Here are some details, for those interested.
Front:
Stock beam, cut and turned 5/8"
18" Tuff Country EZ-Ride SX6000 shocks
Stock spindles, stock everything.....
14" bus wheels with 28x8.5 Super Swampers

Rear:
1.5" Notched springplates
Adjusted one outer spline up
26" Tuff Country EZ-Ride SX6000 shocks
Stock CV's, also stock everything else.
14" bus wheels with the same, 28x8.5 swampers

barrowed from slowlow on the baywindow forum.

Sat Nov 14, 2009 8:53 pm

I think you will find your answers in the above thread on " Lowering a Bay".....

Sat Nov 14, 2009 9:39 pm

actually he wont, and he will find some dead wrong information. what kind of angles are your cvs running at w/ a notch like that? I can't imagine they would be long for this world. more importantly however, where on earth did you find those tires? My bay does not look anywhere near as lifted, despite being on 27s, running on the stops in the front when empty, and riding about where the stop used to be in the back, whith a large notch and 10 inch bilstien shocks 6100 seriees iirc. I threw in t4 cvs to kep the angles reasonable, and it seems i need to remove the clips onthe ends of the axles shafts to have enough plunge to travel past where the lower stop used to be.

it is unclear if that is your vehicle posted above. is it? if you are looking to do this mod I have all the information you need on turning the front beam. I have been meaning to post up a build thread but simply haven't had time and motivation at the same instance.

Sun Nov 15, 2009 12:55 am

ok i can understand lowering a bus a normal amount but whats with them dragging on the ground? lift it drop some fatty wheels on it and go wheeling and camping. i think thats why these where such loved vehicles in the first place am I right? :D

Sun Nov 15, 2009 1:52 am

sorry about post being unclear. here is a pic of the bus my girlfriend got me for xmas. cool huh?

Im looking to build a offroad capable bus. Ive had a couple of earlier buses a 66 and a 71. both did very well on fire roads and light trail work. But Im looking to take it places we go in the baja, dunes, desert & mountains. the pics in the first post are of the highest lift bus with stock suspension parts Ive been able to find. 28' tires are what Im running on the baja. I first posted over on the off road fourm because Im familar with the chassis builders over there. Anyway 5/8" turn sounds like a lot, 3/8" on a T1 beam givs a lot of lift. I do realize that larger dia. tubes mean a larger turn to get the same lift. fusername thanks for the offer Ill gladly take any advice I can get.

Sun Nov 15, 2009 4:47 am

I can't imagine doing a 5/8 cut and still being able to get the arms back on. let alone the ball joints back in..

the an 1 1/2" notch, not using stock axles and Cv's.

ya you can do all this, how far and how often do you plan to drive this thing..

Sun Nov 15, 2009 6:45 am

towd I agree 5/8" does sound like alot. does anyone make a raised spindle for the bus? I want to make it capable of daily use, think KLR650. what are the largest tires that use with stock 14" wheels? wheels on my Mercedes 300D bolt pattern is 5 on 112 mm. I will trial fit one in the next day or so. I'd still have to find some 15 inchers though. I'm thinking a small lift with 27" tall tires max.

Sun Nov 15, 2009 11:33 am

with a 2.0 and a cht guage I would go all the way to 28. I ahve 27s and im not toasting my engine. if i had decent guages I would push all the way to a 29.

as for cut and turn, what kind of ride quality do you want? 5/8 is not rediculous. I think i did 7/16, but i need to look it back up to be sure, and if I had a second chance I would have gone further and locked it on the stops. my shocks are too soft and I bottom out the fornt end all the time despite the extra preload.

however if you have the coin ~250, get lifted spindles instead, and maybe cut and turn a little over a 1/4 for the extra nudge. its not too ahrd to do. wagenwest I think makes lifted spindles but thye aren't advertsied you need to contact them. I also reccomend for maximum off road fun you remove the lower rubber stop so you can gain an extra inch of downward travel, you will want it, just make sure you leave the other stop.

Mon Nov 16, 2009 9:16 pm

I like the idea of lifted spindles. but I can do the cut and turn for almost no cost so I'll start there. fusername you got any pics of your bus? how much of a notch in your rear arm? how many splines (inner or outer)? those 28" tires are cepeks and $101 ea at 4 WheelParts. I'm going H2O with a 2.1 waterboxer and stock transaxel. I helped a good friend put this combo in his (purchased from me) 71 camper. with stock FI this thing is quick but runs out of gear on top. his tires are about 25" tall. I'm thinking a 27" or larger should work well.
here is a couple pics of the baja, should give you an idea of what we want to do with it.

well mabe not that last one :lol:

Mon Nov 16, 2009 9:59 pm

why not the last one? :lol:

if you are gonna go for lift spindles later anyways, I would say don't cut and turn as it makes the ride a bit noisy when you hit the stops. unless you are going all out off road. The better cheap upgrade would be to bolt the beam back on lower. yo ucan either extend the shock towers by wleding on a plate and bolting it on lower, or make a second frame below the original one and bolt the front end back on lower like that. this way you maintain all your travel, but get 4 inches of ground clearence. only problem with this method is yoru beam is still the same distance from the ground, however it is the nose ofmy bus that always hits the ground ,not the beam.
still, i would still cut and turn my beam in a heart beat, so don't worry too much. if you can afford adjusters, I would do it that way incase when youget spindles +cut and turn and it turns out to be too much, you can dial it back down.

in the back I don't know how much i turned. basicly it (will) ride right where it used to hit the stop, then i notcehd it so it can go another ~2 inches or so. I am running type 4 cvs to accomplish this, and bilstien 6100 or 7100 series shocks. 10 inches of travel, vs the stock 8 or 9, but it is longer so the travel starts lower. you will then need to add a upper travel limit, very easy to do, i actually havn't done it yet as I can't imagine the suspension getting compressed that far just yet, but i am going to add it this week when i lift it that last inch. You may also discover your axles are now too short and bind the cvs at full droop, despite the angle being accpetlbe. to rectify this, I removed one C clip from each axle end, voila problem gone. sounds scary, but when I repaced my cvs for the first time the other day, it turns out it had been missing a c-clip the entire time to no ill effects.

Mon Nov 16, 2009 10:10 pm

right right, pics
when i bought it

notch

i set it to the limit of my shock, that was as far as I could go unless i relocated the top shock mount.

the lift i was aiming for

the lift reality would let me have

don't know if its the dark, but that doesn't look any higher. I need to go higher in the back and am doing so very soon, iow this week. the front i may do the whole plate thing in the spring, time will tell, as the rear can't go much further.

Mon Nov 16, 2009 11:00 pm

I used lifted spindles from Nate @ www.wagenswest.com . Just give him a call and tell him what you are looking for. They bolt right on and you could always do the cut/turn thing for extra lift.
Here's mine with 29x8.5-14 Swampers, spindles and turned 1 outer spline on the rear. Un-notched spring plate sits about 3/16" above the stop with stock cv's.

...and with BFG 27x8.5's

Spindles are the way to go - no change in ride quality, no riding on the snubbers and you could always cut/turn if you want more lift. I did both on my Bug, but used adjusters instead of cut/turn. 29" tires.

Mon Nov 16, 2009 11:10 pm

Fusername, that shot in the mud is great! I remember a long, long time ago when I thought that was fun. I HATE mud now. Damn I'm old. :(
You need to bottom that thing out on the passenger side to bend the roo bar back up into position. :wink:

I love lifted buses!

Tue Nov 17, 2009 8:14 am

actually the roo bar is now touching the spare tire. I hit that thign HARD last weekend. And by hard, I mean about 30 times. my passenger was amused, made the mistake of trying to shoot a video from the passenger seat, you get a lot of dash.

I can't understand why your bus looks so much higher than in in that photo, and I am basicly on the old rear stops. maybe its just me never settlign for what I have.

fun fact: My entire lift project cost me 60 bucks, and that was a lot of money for me.

Tue Nov 17, 2009 10:47 am

I agree, If your gonna lift it and plan on driving it very much, you really need to pay for the raised spindles fron Nate.... Mine rides like stock..... very nice for a camper to travel in........... 8)

As far as the rear..... i can tell you T4 Cv's work better than stock ..... but i ended up converting to 930 CV's....... My T4 CV's made too much noise @ 25 degree angles for my taste.......... :roll: It was a pricey to convert but much worth it for the piece of mind........ I have logged over 10,000 on mine sofar at least.... 8)

I made lift plates for my rear lift....... so i have a stock ride on all 4 corners..... :D

If you do lift your bus i would recommend getting a new HD swaybar........ It made a world of difference on mine in the wind... :D

You'll also notice i cutout the rear fenders and made new ones to match the front...... i run 32" tires on the rear and 29" on the front...

Tue Nov 17, 2009 11:44 am

Quote: I can't understand why your bus looks so much higher than in in that photo, and I am basicly on the old rear stops. maybe its just me never settlign for what I have.

After comparing the pics, it's very hard to get an idea of how different - if at all, they are. Different bodies, no wrap around bumper, different wheel arches and you are missing the whole bottom panel! :wink:
I was trying to compare the top of the tire or top of rim to a body line. I think it's probably similar, although you could go much higher with spindles and not sit on the stops.
As fastmc25 said, it's all about coughing up the cash for the spindles. That bus rules!

Tue Nov 17, 2009 5:32 pm

coming from you thats a good compliment, your bus was gorgeous. Still haven't made those footrests yet. gotta make a rack for my highlight and jerry can first. also glad to see someone noticed my rust repair. Rusty rockers? cut em off!
I wouldn't say you need the spindles, they just avoid the WHAM noise the bus makes everytime the road drops away from you if you don't have a passenger. with two people in the car it rides far enough off the stops to stay quiet. if i could do it again, I'd cut a full half inch. in the woods its about ground clearence, ground clearence, and aground clearence. traction helps a bit, but you really need some ground clearance.

28 inch tires would have been a smarter move, but the 27s were all i could find at the time. now if i had an 002 tranny and some 15 inch rims, i would have thrown in a set of 30s w/o batting an eye. stupid budget. the nice thing about cut and turn is the parts list:

welder
sawzall
wrench set
spray paint

vs lift $pindle$

ride is real nice w/ cut and turn, really minimizes body roll. man I wish I had turned it further. I lose about 2 inches when folks are sitting in the car.

Tue Nov 17, 2009 6:05 pm

fastmc25 wrote:
You'll also notice i cutout the rear fenders and made new ones to match the front.

after seeing a ton of pictures of your amazing bus I never noticed. 8)

Tue Nov 17, 2009 6:32 pm

probably the sickest mod ever to make that hing look bone stock, but better

Tue Nov 17, 2009 6:56 pm

fusername wrote: probably the sickest mod ever to make that hing look bone stock, but better

Thanks, That was my goal.......to make it look like Vw could of made it....

in some 3rd world country..... :lol: