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Lowering caddy
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kylebeck_34
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 2:08 am    Post subject: Lowering caddy Reply with quote

I have a 1981 VW Caddy im looking for ways and parts to lower it anyone have any ideas?
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mike yapps
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 5:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have an 81 caddy as well and it's lowered. It all depends on how low you want to go. What I did is drop springs in the front as usual. As for the rear, I removed all the leaf springs except for the main one. So it's a mono leaf setup. I used rear beetle coilovers for the shocks to stiffen it up a bit. I did add some leafspring helpers just so I can haul stuff.

If you want it real low you can do an axle flip. That's what they do over the pond, but theirs are higher to start with. I was thinking of doing that originally but it seemed that it would be too low and I would need to fab longer shackles or something. If you want to flip it you'll need to cut the the spring perches and weld them on the opposite side of the tube since the axle will sit on top of the springs rather than below it. You'll also need to find some shorter shocks as well.

I suppose you can also bag it as another option.


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kylebeck_34
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 6:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the info, but i have a few qustions. where do you get the front lowering springs from and i saw it the picture that you did a rear disk conversion what did the disks come off of?
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mike yapps
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The front springs are the same as the rabbit. I searched around on ebay for a front pair.
The rear discs and spindles are mk2 GTI with mk4 calipers. You can use mk2 or mk3 calipers too. I modified the original e-brake cable to work with the mk2 calipers, but bought different ones for the mk4. Not sure what they came from. The discs and calipers are a bolt on operation. Easy swap. I've read that you want to change the master cylinder too when you do the swap, but I haven't yet and it works fine.
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kylebeck_34
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 7:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

wow so the rear calipers bolt right on to the drum brake set up
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ditchdigger
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 4:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The other option for lowering the rear is to use drop plates. These leave the spring rate and suspension travel unchanged and allow you to use the stock shocks.

http://store.blackforestindustries.com/cadrpl.html

Easy to make out of 1/2" plate and some drill bits and a tap. Works great.
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mike yapps
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 5:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

kylebeck_34 wrote:
wow so the rear calipers bolt right on to the drum brake set up


You'll need the spindles for the disc setup. The drum ones won't work. I just went to the local boneyard and found a mk2 golf gti and took all that I needed. I just bought new pads, rotors and bearings at the time.
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kylebeck_34
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 2:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Im kinda new with the vw watercooled scene so what does mk1 mk2 mk3 mk4 mean. im guessing they are different modles of vw's
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mike yapps
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 3:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

They are the different generations. Mk1 are the Rabbit bodystyle, such as your Caddy, up to 84. MK2 is the golf from 85 to 92. MK3 is the next bodystyle, 93-97/98. Mk4 98-05. Mk5 06-current.
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raru
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

you can check out the drop plates here, though these are made by a guy on the vortex...

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3670431

this guy narrowed his axle and welded on the drop plates...

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3498925
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kylebeck_34
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

so what year and vehicle did you get the spindles and calipers off of?
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mdnick
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 6:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

it doesnt matter what rear set up you use. from the scirocco all the way to the 98 vr6 all watercooled vw's had the same size rear discs... there's 4 bolts that hold the spindle to the rear axle... the bolts match your truck.

another option for lowering is flipping the beam... this involves alot of welding, but we had a friends truck dumped... it looked bad ass.
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kylebeck_34
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 9:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

yeah but im afraid that if i flip the axle it will lower it too much i dont want it sitting on the ground.
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mdnick
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 3:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

it doesnt slam it... it lowers it about 3 inches. we then made an adjustable plate mounted to the rear end of the leaf and mounted where the leaf normally mounts. that plate had holes drilled in it for different ride heights. like if he wanted to put shit it in... which never happened except for our bmx bikes.
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kylebeck_34
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 7:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

i saw in your pix of the rear of your caddy it looks like you had longer shackles in it. did you put long shackles in? im thinking of doing the same thing in the rear of mine but im going to run air shocks instead of coilovers so i can change the springs rate and ride height on it.
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