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Tue Sep 16, 2014 4:21 pm

Hey guys, I've been restoring a '66 with adjustable front beam with Avis? adjustors. I purchased the bug 'in progress'. It had been blasted and primed and partially reassembled. I've painted it, and have started the reassembly process. It sits really low in the front, to where I can't even jack it. I figured with the adjustable beam, I could adjust it out. Well, the CB Performance disc brakes are mounted on dropped spindles. I can't figure why you'd mount dropped spindles on adjustable beam, but O Well. Problem is, I want to raise it, but the beam hits some form of stop, and won't go all the way in the adjustment slot. Should I cut off the serrated plates and re weld, or find standard spindles? I would like to at least raise it enough to get a jack under the front. I'm not a guy that likes them 'slammed' to the ground. Also have to think about the shocks. Oh, is there some sort of 'stop' built into the beam itself?

Thanks

Tue Sep 16, 2014 5:22 pm

Some folks don't feel they can go as low as they want with just adjusters so they also add the drop spindles.

Other folks started with drop spindles and then wanted more then 2-1/2 inches of drop so they installed adjusters.

Trying to guess why previous owners did what they did is like trying to figure out women. It usually can't be done!

Your 66 is ball joint, so the suspension/bump stop is built into the shocks.

You could have a couple different issues. One is the ball joints. They have a slot in them for the spud to move. Stock ball joints have a short slot because of the amount of travel needed on the stock beam. But lowered beams require lowered ball joints that have a much longer slot to accommodate the increased angles.

Next could simply be that whoever pressed in the ball joints didn't index them correctly when they were pressed in. If the slot in the ball joint is not going the correct way, the spud has a very limited amount of travel.

You may have a long grub screw on one or both of the center anchors that is in the slot for the adjuster. When you try to rotate the center anchor that screw hits on the end of the slot.

Take the adjusters apart and look close to see that the center anchor can rotate completely inside the beam tube.

Tue Sep 16, 2014 6:39 pm

Ball joints are probably bottomed out. They also probably clocked the adjusters and welded them for max drop.

Sat Sep 20, 2014 3:11 pm

Thanks for the ideas. I didn't think about the ball joints bottoming out, and I'm not knowledgeable enough to know what's inside the beam. I think, if I can't live with it as low as it is, I'll try and find someone who wants CB dropped spindles, and swap with regular. I think with standard spindle drop, that the adjustable beam will be OK. Thanks again for the ideas.

Sat Sep 20, 2014 3:11 pm

Thanks for the ideas. I didn't think about the ball joints bottoming out, and I'm not knowledgeable enough to know what's inside the beam. I think, if I can't live with it as low as it is, I'll try and find someone who wants CB dropped spindles, and swap with regular. I think with standard spindle drop, that the adjustable beam will be OK. Thanks again for the ideas.

Sat Sep 20, 2014 3:12 pm

By the way, shocks aren't even installed yet.

Sat Sep 20, 2014 3:54 pm

Ball joints "bottoming out" because they have reached the end of their travel range will prevent you from going lower, but should not effect you raising it back up.

There are no up or down stops built into the beam. Once the front end is up in the air, the control arms should drop all the way down, only the shocks or ball joints should limit this.
With the lock nuts backed off on the adjusters, or even take the nuts and top plate off all together, jack it up and see if the control arms will drop all the way down. You should also see the center grub screw move to the top of it's slot.
If not, you can have control arms that are binding up in their beam bushings too.

It would be better if you could post some detailed pics of what you have, as most of our advise could be off target or a blind guess.

Also be advised, for a 2 1/2" drop, dropped spindles are judged by most to be better than adjusters only on a BJ beam. I'd say you want to figure out why the adjusters won't go back up rather than just dumping the spindles.

Sat Sep 20, 2014 4:06 pm

planenut wrote: It sits really low in the front, to where I can't even jack it.
You should get the front tires off of the ground before you try to adjust the beam adjusters. The weight of the wheels should help twist the torsion leaves back to "raised" position. Use some short pieces of "2X4" as a stair-step to roll the front tires up onto in order to get your jack under the front suspension.

If you raise the adjusters all the way up and keep the drop-spindles, you might be able to use stock length shocks.