Air Ride without changing Beam?

dpetteng · Samba Member Joined: November 14, 2006 Posts: 353

Been thinking about my square. Has anyone used air shocks on a standard type 3 beam by changing the torsion bars? Just an idea?....

supersuk · Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 1:10 pm Post subject:

I kept the beam as is. What I did was to lower the front as low as I want and use the air shocks to lift the car. Works fine so far. Not sure what psi is needed to lift the front because i'm using a height based system, accuair.
_________________
68 Fastback Build: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5396323#5396323

eyetzr · Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 1:10 pm Post subject:

the issue is the torsion spring will need to be secured in the beam. There was an article about modifying the torsion springs & putting in a bearing to allow rotation. If you search through the posts on air rides you will see the issues. "If it was easy everybody would do it" good luck

Cracker_box · Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 4:58 pm Post subject:

i rock air shocks on the front, with the bars still in place like stated above.

rides great. i'm lowered to about an inch of beam clearance when airred out for saftey reasons.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

i got rid of the black plastic fitting and stepped up to a 5/16th push lock air line.

dont have any photos of the new fittings.

i've been driving on this setup for over a year now. no problems.
_________________
70' Square, 71' Fasty, looking for a notch now!

Yabbadubbadoo · Samba Member Joined: May 21, 2012 Posts: 914

When I bought my car it had never been involved in a crash but it had a cracked shock tower that had been welded and gussetted with a plate. It was a country car so I suspect it had seen its fair share of cattle grates and pot holes but still I have proof that they can crack just under the top shock mount. I have since changed the front beam but my concern with using the towers for air spring load is that they might not be entirely strong enough lifting a load + dampening as opposed to just being there for dampening. I'd say keep an eye on it and keep that area clean so you can spot cracks if they start to develop.
_________________
Sydney, Australia.
66 Type 3 Fastback

dpetteng · Samba Member Joined: November 14, 2006 Posts: 353

Nice, I love the simplicity of using air shocks without any other changes. What shocks did you use?

eyetzr · Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2014 3:11 pm Post subject:

They look like Munroe shocks. I have a set that I was going to use on my type 1 beam conversion

supersuk · Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2014 8:50 pm Post subject:

I'm using the MONROE MA785 shocks. I forget, but I think I removed the metal and rubber bushing from the OEM shock and put it into the Monroe shocks.
_________________
68 Fastback Build: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5396323#5396323

type3nut64 · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 10:01 am Post subject:

You can get a lot more lift if you take out the torsion bars and grind down the splines off one end. grind the end on the opposite side of the control arm. get some bearings and a longer bolt to hold the torsion in and you have free floating system. you can get 8 inches of lift with right air shock setup.

you can see what i did in this pic. look at the beam and you can see where the bearing is.

930 · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2014 10:01 pm Post subject:

type3nut64 · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2014 10:48 pm Post subject:

My set up was a little more involved. The beam was raised and the shock towers were raised/extended and I used full size truck rear shock. Actually I think they ere for a mid 80s suburban. With all the work I did I had about 10-12 inches of lift. And minimal psi in the air shocks. Hope that helps.

dpetteng · Samba Member Joined: November 14, 2006 Posts: 353

type3nut64 · Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 10:31 am Post subject:

sorry no just what was in my gallery. I dont have the car any more either. I actually took the torsions out and had a machine shop put them on a laith and smooth them out to near perfection. My buddy woked at a place that built industrial oven for powder coating and we used bearing from there doors. really heavy duty. but you dont hav eto all that. a grinder a good bearing and som elock tite will do the trick.

dpetteng · Samba Member Joined: November 14, 2006 Posts: 353

So anyone tried putting a pancake tank in the bulge in front of the spare wheel? Looks like it will fit and then you can have everything up front?

dpetteng · Samba Member Joined: November 14, 2006 Posts: 353

supersuk, which accuair system do you use? do they have one just for the front?

Yabbadubbadoo · Samba Member Joined: May 21, 2012 Posts: 914

dpetteng · Samba Member Joined: November 14, 2006 Posts: 353

LOL I see what you mean... was trying to find a way to keep under the hood nice and clean without running the lines from the back

supersuk · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 10:39 am Post subject:

I used a system similar to this one:

http://www.accuair.com/airmanagementproducts/e-level-air-management-package-w-rocker-switch-3

I put the system together myself which came out a little cheaper. Instead of one compressor, i'm using two. I'm controlling all 4 corners with the vu4 valve, but if you want to control only the front, then you want the vu2.
_________________
68 Fastback Build: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5396323#5396323

dpetteng · Samba Member Joined: November 14, 2006 Posts: 353

anyone seen a good quality auto levelling 2 way system for this kinda thing?

markpetersonii · Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2014 9:12 pm Post subject:


Hello! Log in or Register \| Help \| Donate \| Buy Shirts	See all banner ads \| Advertise on TheSamba.com

	Forum Index -> Type 3	All times are Mountain Standard Time/Pacific Daylight Savings Time Page: 1, 2 Next
Page 1 of 2