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Tue Feb 23, 2010 7:04 am

i recently bought a '79 baywindow and getting it ready for spring time. looking real forward to driving it after working on it the last couple of months. i drove it last Sunday because the weather was nice here and after installing new shaft bushings and shifter it shifts great, i'm so excited and can't wait for nice weather. it's close to rust free and i won't be subjecting it too bad weather to keep it that way. i really like the way it sits lowered but after driving it home from when i bought it and driving it this weekend i just don't like the ride. i have done some searchs on lowering but how will i know how many clicks he went down to get it that low and how many to get it up some. it is darn near on the bump stops and really shows in the ride quality. i really need some advice on what to do to get it back up some so i can enjoy driving it more than a little drive here and there. thanks in advance, i am new to buses.

Tue Feb 23, 2010 7:15 am

Congratulations, read this to start with: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=399837

Tue Feb 23, 2010 7:18 am

turboscotty wrote: how to raise my bay back up?

won't that depend on how it was lowered? sure, you might be able to adjust the rear spring plate angle to raise the rear, but you made no mention of how the front was lowered.

Tue Feb 23, 2010 7:38 am

i am kinda just guessing on this but i would have to say it was lowered by going down some clicks on the torsion bars, ive been under it and i don't see any "new" parts he installed. the sway bar is only a couple of inches off the ground in the frt. because of the way it was lowered, it also looks like it wouldn't be the best on the ball joints and such due to the angles everything is in. i would like to take some pics but when i get home from work it's dark. i would say he did it the cheapest way he could because he rarely drove it after he lowered it, he probably didn't like the ride either but i got a really good deal on it after i looked for a bus for well over a year i feel like i almost stole it, at the price i gave. i'm new to buses and i need all the advice i can get. i bet he didn't mark anything before he changed it.

Tue Feb 23, 2010 7:59 am

Hmmm...., you may have problems with the front. The rear is usually a case of resetting the angle by reindexing the splines but the front has no splines. It hopefully just has dropped spindles installed, easy fix, change the spindles. It may have adjusters installed on the blocks in the middle of the beam that hold the torsion leaves, potentially easy fix if it was done right, readjust back to stock height. Or if they did it the wrong way and just removed some leaves you'll need a replacement set of leaves. Are the bump stops still on the front beam?

Tue Feb 23, 2010 8:02 am

take some pics of the front and we might be able to tell what has been done to lower the front.

I have some standard spindles if yours does have drop spindles on it.

Tue Feb 23, 2010 8:39 am

wow, i just got done reading all the links to the adjustment procedures sounds like it's going to be a couple of weekends job. it seems that since i don't know exactly what he did to lower it so it's going to be real fun too. i am not looking forward to doing the adjustments but i want it to be right. i would like to raise it some to get a better ride but not back to stock ride height. thanks for the help so far busdaddy, as far as the front i don't know, hazetguy, i got the bus the way it sits but had know idea how bad it rode lowered the way it is. also noticed the CV axles are darn near rubbing the body underneath which is a huge concern too. looks like they are making contact when hitting bumps by the marks on the shafts, just plain scary. i will continue to read more and look at my Bentley when i get home tonight but any more input would be helpful as i have never messed with the suspention on a bus. i will get all the new bushings and such as mentioned in the procedures.
thanks

Tue Feb 23, 2010 8:44 am

it may have an adjustable beam on the front. like i said pics would help.

It may be if it rides badly that the PO has just removed some of the torsion leaves :?

Tue Feb 23, 2010 8:56 am

wow, you guys are quick. looking around i don't see any replaced parts like narrowed beam or drop spindles, i'm betting on the removing way of lowering, would be my luck. and yes, busdaddy it is right on the lower bump stops.

Tue Feb 23, 2010 9:02 am

excuse me if i sound dumb, like i said i'm new to these but i do remember seeing what looked like an adjuster with teeth on it towards the inner part of the beam and they did look like they had been moved but not replaced. i know pics are worth a thousand words but i don't have a way to get pics untill the weekend because i stay at the shop till 8 some nights working on customer's cars.

Tue Feb 23, 2010 9:05 am

teeth would be in the centre of the beam and look something like this:

Image from wagens west

there would 2 sets on the beam upper and lower torsion tube

Tue Feb 23, 2010 9:15 am

Here's Bursch/Madmax's beam with them installed for reference (your's may not be on the same angles but should still be in the middle):

Tue Feb 23, 2010 9:20 am

the ones i saw on the lower look something like that, seemed a bit bigger and bulkier but same design and way they work i think. i didn't look around a whole lot, i was installing new shift rod bushings and looking for rust, that's when i noticed how close the bump stops were and the angles of the ball joints, but this before i drove it again and decided to raise it up.

Tue Feb 23, 2010 9:39 am

looking at that picture, busdaddy, they look a lot like that and in close to the same location. so that's how they lowered it in the frt. i'm guessing they, the adjusters, were not on the beam from the factory, it was something the PO welded on to lower it? if they added the adjusters they did it quite a while ago by the looks of them.
thanks, thanks!

Tue Feb 23, 2010 10:26 am

There is a good technical article on the basics at Germansupply here:

http://www.germansupply.com/xcart/customer/home.ph..._type2.tpl

Safety is paramount if you are going to do this job, not just for the handling of your bus while on the road, but also your immediate safety when you undertake the work. In the article there are some wise words:

Quote: Consult the Bentley Manual for a step-by-step process of removing the spring plate. I don't want to be responsible for ANY injury here.

Tue Feb 23, 2010 10:34 am

at least if you have adjusters then you have a way of moving the height of the car up or down as much or as little as you want (within reason)

Tue Feb 23, 2010 11:31 am

reading that helped a lot Chimneyfish, along with the pics that everyone showed me i feel much better about the frt. Yes i agree that safety is number one when doing the job and the end result the bus being safe. it's not going to matter how it looks and rides if i don't do it the right way and i die crashing the bus. my son will also be driving it from time to time and his safety and all passengers are the most important to me along with everyone else on the road. that being said the adjusters look very well welded on and seem to have been done a while ago. next question would be do i set the frt up where i want it and adjust the back to match? sounds like the way to do it that i've read. again, thanks all for giving me some advice and taking your time to help me. frt. sounds easy but the rear is going to be a bit of a pain.

Tue Feb 23, 2010 11:53 am

Quote: frt. sounds easy but the rear is going to be a bit of a pain.

It's really not that bad. It took me about 5 hours to do both sides, which included changing out the flexible rear brake lines. If you go back to the thread that busdaddy linked, I've added a write-up of the procedure with photos.