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Mon Jan 30, 2012 10:05 am

I had a 74 about 7 years ago and i lowered the front end with '66 Bug spindles. It sat perfectly for my taste (i know many of you will disagree). No problems scraping the ground, no problems turning the wheels all the way to the right or left nor problems hitting the fenders. Was this safe to do? I heard someone say the wheels could have fallen off! it this true? no too interested in narrowing the beam. Let me know your thoughts-thanks.

Mon Jan 30, 2012 10:57 am

Spindles are spindles... use the proper spindle with the proper brake system(disc spindles are different), and install all parts correctly and your wheels won't "fall off"......

The Thing has raised spindles from the factory, so swapping to bug spindles will give you an instant 3" drop up front. No other suspension geometry is changed(beauty of dropped spindles)....

I think that covers it, from what I understand of your post....?

Mon Jan 30, 2012 6:43 pm

Does that also go for the arms? Will there be no problem when putting bug arms and spindles on to a Thing? I've got 2 little one and don't want anything going wrong doing 60 down the freeway.

Mon Jan 30, 2012 6:48 pm

If you use bug spindles, you'll need to use both upper and lower bug control arms. They will fit on with no modifications.

Sun Feb 05, 2012 9:24 am

dells68 wrote: If you use bug spindles, you'll need to use both upper and lower bug control arms. They will fit on with no modifications.

Or just press in bug ball joints to your thing arms.

Tue Aug 07, 2012 10:14 am

Bashr52 wrote: dells68 wrote: If you use bug spindles, you'll need to use both upper and lower bug control arms. They will fit on with no modifications.

Or just press in bug ball joints to your thing arms.

hey guys/gals! im working on lowering my THING right now. this page has been great help, just have a question, i have the bug spindles already, and see that you can just buy the ball joints instead of the whole control arm... will these work? http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1323058 i dont want to have to buy twice and just looking from confrimation from the experts that these will push into my existing thing control arms? and if they will work does anyone have a DIY on how to swap these out, sorry im new to this platform...thanks so much in advance :-)

Tue Aug 07, 2012 3:12 pm

So how will putting bug ball joints work in thing arms with beetle spindles? Thing arms both go in from the top and beetle arms go in top on the uppers and from the bottom on the lowers

Tue Aug 07, 2012 4:59 pm

Ron Domeck wrote: So how will putting bug ball joints work in thing arms with beetle spindles? Thing arms both go in from the top and beetle arms go in top on the uppers and from the bottom on the lowers

Well you see, if you put the right lower arm on the left lower position and vise versa for the other side then the ball joints will point in the correct direction for bug spindles

Tue Aug 07, 2012 5:58 pm

Has anyone tried to flip the arms and did it align OK?

Tue Aug 07, 2012 7:30 pm

I'm running Ghia spindles up front on my Thing. I'm using a Thing beam with adjusters and the Thing arms. All I needed was bug ball joints, eccentrics, and spindles. Just pressed them in the Thing arms pointing the right way, and off I go!

Tue Aug 07, 2012 7:45 pm

Great, I was looking at beetle and thing arms side by side and could not see any difference.

Wed Aug 08, 2012 5:23 am

Ron Domeck wrote: Great, I was looking at beetle and thing arms side by side and could not see any difference.

I think the difference is all in the wall thickness. Lay them side-by-side and look in the end of one vs the other. The Thing parts are a thicker material IIRC.

Wed Aug 08, 2012 2:19 pm

Bashr52 wrote: I'm running Ghia spindles up front on my Thing. I'm using a Thing beam with adjusters and the Thing arms. All I needed was bug ball joints, eccentrics, and spindles. Just pressed them in the Thing arms pointing the right way, and off I go!

you guys/gals are awesome help, i cant wait to get dirty now, do you have a picture of this?? showing the ball joints and spindles for both applications, thanks in advance...where did you buy your bug ball joints from? i want to make sure i get the right ones...sorry im really new to this platform, i have two other vws but both watercooled, and by far the aircooled is my favorite. :-)

Wed Aug 08, 2012 8:43 pm

maybe this will help

thing with bug arms , bug spindles, bug ball joints

stock thing ft axle

Thu Aug 09, 2012 11:22 am

this is my current set up and if i understand everyone correctly i have already purchased 69 stock bug spindles, i just need to purchase bug balljoints and press them into my current thing control arms, the top balljoint will remain pointing down, and the bottom ball joint would be pressed in but facing up?? then assemble everyting back together and i should be good? where is the best place to buy these balljoints from? any good diy's out there that show the process. starting tear down this saturday thanks in advance guys/gals you been awsome help

My 1974 type181 "Gus"

Thu Aug 09, 2012 8:05 pm

I just finished this project last weekend.

Here's my setup: Thing beam and trailing arms all around, new Thing upper ball joints and camber eccentrics, new Beetle lower ball joints, and Beetle spindle.

- the Thing eccentrics have the same outside taper as the Beetle pieces, with a hole drilled for the larger ball joint stub.

- Beetle and Thing ball joints are interchangeable as far as pressing into the trailing arms. The difference is all in the stubs.

- If you compare a Thing lower joint to a Beetle lower joint, you'll notice that the Thing has the flange on the top, where as the Bug has it on the bottom. Both press in from the top of the arm, but this allows the Thing to point down and the Bug to point up.

- Pressing Beetle upper joints in will work just fine as long as you have Beetle camber eccentrics.

- Suppliers are pretty hit and miss. It really helps to have a good set of calipers on hand to check the press fit. Ideally, you want the I.D. of the trailing arm and the O.D. of the joint to be within 0.010in of each other. Too much larger than that, and the press will destroy the joint. I used German Thing joints from German Motor Works. They were a tight fit, but went in "okay". My lower joints were Brazilian "Nakata" brand. Also good quality and a slightly looser press fit, they went in much smoother. My dad destroyed a German "Flennor" joint that happened to be slightly too large. I'd lean towards Nakata, but can't provide any data on their life expectancy.

- This isn't a terribly hard job, but it isn't for the faint of heart. I found a small two jaw screw-type gear puller to be a big help when pulling tie rod ends and ball joints from the eccentrics. If you're pressing the joints in and out yourself, I can add a few tips for that. Again not a hard job, but be patient and do it right. Things can and will go wrong. Safety glasses are an absolute must-have.

Here's the end result with a 3in drop in the rear (~0.5in lower than the front, leveled my driveshafts and provided a bit more caster).

I have some more info on my car and the modifications if you want to check that out: http://www.shoptalkforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=139718.

Fri Aug 10, 2012 2:44 pm

thanks for the help means alot...im attempting the rear tonight with a friend that has done it before so im super excited, saturday i will attempt the front ill keep you posted how it goes thanks guys/gals means alot

Thu Aug 23, 2012 1:16 am

A few years ago i bought a type1 2"narrow narrow beam and the guy offered whole disk setup with 2.5"drop spindles to me, I said sure without thinking.

Does anyone have a pic of a thing with that combo? Will it be dumped way too low?