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Mon Mar 30, 2015 1:34 pm

I am looking at what I believe to be a 64 bus??? The guy was supposed to sell it to me 2 years ago but kept delaying. I am hoping that this is the year. It is missing the entire drive line. No motor, trans axle, transmission... I was wondering what year rear ends would work on this so that I could start looking at prices of them. You guys are going to think this is a dumb question but will a vw bug rear end work? I have a 74 bug that has a rear end in it. Thanks

Mon Mar 30, 2015 4:55 pm

That is a '63: small hatch, innie vents, lipped wheel wells and canned ham taillights just to name a few clues.

If you are looking for a trans for the extraction, there are a couple of ways to make you life easier than trying to install a trans in the field on dirt/mud. A buddy of mine has piece of steam pipe(think thick walls) with a stick of appropriately sized rebar in the middle. Then he has some junk brake drums, wheels and tires that he slaps on the ends. There are some washers to keep the drum from moving inwards and I think he uses vicegrips on the outside so the wheel doesn't fall off. There are also two flanges about where the springplate is that are used to bolt the "axle" to the spring plates. Obviously, not suitable for road use, but more than adequate to get a bus to roller status for loading on a trailer. It usually takes less than 15 minutes to raise up the rear and get this masterpiece of hodge-podgery in place.

Another thing I have seen somewhere on this site is a guy that bolts up JUST the RBGs and axle tubes to the spring plates with an appropriate length and diameter pipe inside the axle tubes to keep the tubes from moving too much. There are stub axles in the RGBs with a brake drum, wheel and tire on each side. Et voila roller status.

Either of these will avoid having to wrestle with the trans and attached axle tube and RGBs.

And, to answer your last question, your bug is IRS and a bus is a Swingaxle. IRS can be made to work in a bus. But it is NOT something you want to attempt in the field.

Mon Mar 30, 2015 7:32 pm

You need a spare transaxle, shovels, jacks, wood for blocking up the bus, and lots of work. Here is the NEPA deluxe in mid-extraction:

Wed Apr 01, 2015 7:58 am

Inner vents 6MAR63 thru 18DEC63 Large rear hatch. So really late 1963 thru very early 1964 model.

If you want a really good daily driver get a 1964-67 big nut transaxle to start out with.

If you want to do a total restoration down to the last nut and bolt get the info off the M-code plate behind the front passenger seat. It might be a 1963 with small nut or 1964 model with big nut transaxle.

Yes, you could use the bug transaxle. If it has two side plates so it could be converted to swing axle and you can find the swing axle parts. If it can not be converted to swing axle, then you would have to buy a dual joint axle suspension setup for the bus.
With beetle transaxle would require modifications to the rear bus suspension or making adapter parts and lowering the bus including front end if kept for driving.

Along with not having to modify or buy special adapter parts, the bus transaxle has much bigger stronger rear brakes.

Might try finding a local VW owner who might have a spare bus transaxle you could borrow for the extraction.