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Thu May 22, 2014 8:17 pm

Has someone ever rigged up something to use as cruise control. Because I know after an hour and half my foot starts to hurt pretty bad. I know I'm not the only person that has experienced this.

Thu May 22, 2014 8:23 pm

patban82 wrote: Has someone ever rigged up something to use as cruise control. Because I know after an hour and half my foot starts to hurt pretty bad. I know I'm not the only person that has experienced this.

36 horse bus with a choke. buddy rerouted a choke cable to operate the throttle from the dashpod. Worked really well.

Thu May 22, 2014 11:47 pm

Audiovox makes a simple cruise control that can be adapted to a bus. They are not expensive on ebay. There is a thread here about them somewhere.

Fri May 23, 2014 7:11 am

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=525117&highlight=audiovox

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=402334&highlight=cruise+control

Fri May 23, 2014 8:29 am

I use a fat closet dowel about long enough to rest my palm on.

Fri May 23, 2014 10:02 am

I read in one of those threads someone would wedge a stick from the pedal to the parcel tray? Sounds promising. I would need to find the exact length to keep the engine at 3 500 rpms. Might be harder than I thought

Fri May 23, 2014 11:37 am

If you use the stick-

Make sure you find aftermarket airbags also.

Fri May 23, 2014 12:42 pm

Just what you want, thoughts from a first time poster.

I ran JC Whitney cruise on my bug and Ghia in the 70's.
There is no VSS signal for vehicle speed, so in glued the supplied magnets to the CV shaft and rigged a bracket to hold the sensor close to the magnets. You would have to mount the magnets to a brake drum in a swing axle setup. The hard part was running the wires from the control on my dash back to the vaccuum servo mounted in the engine compartment.

I also took a piece of copper water pipe from a toliet feed, and mounted one end at the rear of the engine compartment and made a gentle bend upward towards the throttle linkage on the carb. I ran the shielded cable from the servo that moves the throttle inside of that water pipe. You really want the cruise cable to pull straight back on the VW throttle cable.

The Audiovox unit is almost the same one I used back then. It comes with the stuff for VSS and magnet speed sense.
You need to connect the cruise disconnect wire to a brake light, so that the cruise cuts off when you hit the brakes.
These units come with a ball chain like you use to turn on a ceiling fan. Install it., There needs to be some slack between the cruise cable and the VW throttle when not in use.

I have the same setup on my CBRXX. It works good at speeds too fast to post about.

Of course, we always used to say the best cruise control for a VW was a brick on the pedal.
It's hard to go past the speed limit with a stock setup.

Fri May 23, 2014 6:16 pm

kanniff wrote: If you use the stick-

Make sure you find aftermarket airbags also. That does sound dangerous.

Fri May 23, 2014 7:04 pm

redxxrdr wrote: You would have to mount the magnets to a brake drum in a swing axle setup.

I would think that wouldn't give you a high enough count. Maybe 4 magnets on the drum or that wheel's rim then calibrate up or down from that.

Fri May 23, 2014 11:52 pm

I have an aftermarket cruise on my beetle. It did not need any magnets. It hooked up to the coil + and - to get speed sensing. Hooked up to brakes. The shop person said it was a GM replica unit.

Sat May 24, 2014 12:01 am

quartermilecamel wrote: I have an aftermarket cruise on my beetle. It did not need any magnets. It hooked up to the coil + and - to get speed sensing. Hooked up to brakes. The shop person said it was a GM replica unit.

Do you know who makes it?

Sat May 24, 2014 11:01 am

Its been 20 years but will try to look on cruise control main servo to see if I can see a name.

Sat May 24, 2014 11:44 am

The Audiovox unit mentioned above comes with both magnets for speed pickup and coil pickup so that it counts your RPM. You can use either. I think there are DIP switches you set to determine method.

Sat May 24, 2014 1:00 pm

GarryA wrote: The Audiovox...coil pickup so that it counts your RPM.

With the rpm count I still don't get how it could work in any gear other than top gear.

Sat May 24, 2014 2:09 pm

BarryL wrote: GarryA wrote: The Audiovox...coil pickup so that it counts your RPM.

With the rpm count I still don't get how it could work in any gear other than top gear.

Gear does not matter. 3,000 RPM in first, second, third, fourth gears is the same 3,000 RPM. Cruise control only needs to maintain that RPM. If it does not then it should kick off and driver has to take over and decide to stay in that gear or downshift due to road conditions.

Sat May 24, 2014 5:52 pm

I have heard that a governor and a stick below the parcel tray make a very effective cruise control. It is on my list of things to do.

Sat May 24, 2014 7:01 pm

Eric&Barb wrote: BarryL wrote: GarryA wrote: The Audiovox...coil pickup so that it counts your RPM.

With the rpm count I still don't get how it could work in any gear other than top gear.

Gear does not matter. 3,000 RPM in first, second, third, fourth gears is the same 3,000 RPM. Cruise control only needs to maintain that RPM. If it does not then it should kick off and driver has to take over and decide to stay in that gear or downshift due to road conditions.

But don't you want mph? Like say you set it to cruise at 45mph then you come to a hill, it bogs and starts to slow down. Now you downshift and what ever the rpm you set it at in 4th for 45mph would be the new rpm in 3rd.

Sat May 24, 2014 7:11 pm

BarryL wrote:
But don't you want mph? Like say you set it to cruise at 45mph then you come to a hill, it bogs and starts to slow down. Now you downshift and what ever the rpm you set it at in 4th for 45mph would be the new rpm in 3rd.

RPM = MPH, unless one has a slipping clutch problem.

When you engage the cruise control it sets to the MPH and RPM you set it at.

In other words if you set it for 3,000 RPM in fourth and hit a hill, disengage cruise control, and have to shift down into third or second, or even first gear, you can set it for any RPM in those gears. Heck you could even set it for whatever RPM in reverse gear if need be.

Sat May 24, 2014 7:19 pm

patban82 wrote: Has someone ever rigged up something to use as cruise control. Because I know after an hour and half my foot starts to hurt pretty bad. I know I'm not the only person that has experienced this.

Really? Your foot hurts? I had no idea this was a problem for people. I have heard of people thinking about cruise control for an old bus, but I just thought it was because they were used to it on newer cars.

I find it helps to shift around when driving long distances, and take a break with a walk about every 200 miles.