Lowering the rear

[iaccy]

For those of you who are pretty low in the rear what psi are you running? I put my 165's to 30psi and it rides well but the inside of the tire is still buckled. Just wondering what other people have it at.
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[Mrbubblehead77]

Hello all!

Great information. I am attempting to lower the rear on my 1967 bug and have a few questions.

When using the inclometer gauge and measuring the swing axle angle. Should this be done with the car in the air off the ground and the spring plates off the stop thing...When i do this my swing plate is reading 30 degrees ( setting zero on the door sill). Seems alot higher then any other numbers on the chart???

or was this supose to be done with the car on the ground?

Is two clicks on the outside spline rear, to low for a Cal look street bug?

Thanks in advance!

[asesapie]

Ok ive been doing a lot of searching but can't find how much 1 spline will drop the car? Also how much toe in will you get from 1 spline moved? Is it enough to really make a difference? I've been going between either getting some jerfab drop plates or just usin stock plates depending on the toe in you get from going 1 spline.

[drscope]

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Mother Nature is a Mean Evil Bitch!

[asesapie]

Well i screwed up this morning. Before I took the spring plate off in the drivers side I forgot to mark where stock was and it pulled the inner splines out as the outer splines came off also. So how do I find where stock was for te inner splines so I can get back to stock for the outer splines? I know that my pass side which I marked is at about 15* stock. Hope this makes sense

[asesapie]

Thanks for the chart but what does the +1 or -1 mean? Is +1 moving the spline clockwise and -1 moving the spline counter clockwise?

[Ace]

The torsion bar is splined on both ends. (if I remember right the springplate has 40 splines and the other end of the torsion has 42 splines) By rotating the springplate 1 spline clockwise on the torsion and the inner part of the torsion where it mounts in the torsion tube 1 spline counter-clockwise, you are adjusting the ride height about 5.5 millimeters. This is known as a "tuning adjustment".

In other words, when you move the spring plate one spline clockwise, you would have raised the rear 5.5 centimeters. Then when you move the inner torsion 1 spline counter clockwise, you are lowering it 6 centimeters. therefore you have lowered it 5 millimeters total on that wheel (5.5mm actually).

Repeat this process 5 times and you lower the ride height a little over an inch. (2.75 Centimeters).

[67Rusty67]

I have a 67 vw bug and was wondering if 16 by 7 911 Porsche funchs will fit in the rear? I also have stock fenders.

[raramury]

mine was already lowered when i got it how can you know the measurements and how much is lowered thanks
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[johnfraser]

Hi

Can I ask please, what is dangerous about this? What is under huge spring load and what steps can be taken to avoid being killed?!

Also

I have the car jacked up, drums off. When is the spring plate at its normal position for measuring the angle, now or after I pry it off the axle/other plate?

I am going to spray the plates so need to remove them. Can't mark them as the paint will cover it so need a correct angle.

Any help very much appreciated

[Northof49]

It's not until they are off the stops that they droop to the angle you need to measure. The stops are holding the spring back from fully decompressing, and thus the dangerous tension. I placed the vehicle on jack stands and then used a floor jack under the arm to lower it under control.
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1958 Karmann Ghia owner

[phatdawg]

Here is a video that might help:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tev8wW4-TE
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[johnfraser]

Hi thanks for the replies
So, as I understand so far
Four bolts to take the cover off to reveal the plate/axle, easy peasy
Prise the spring plate off the inner piece ( is this the arm) with a bar and let it drop
Take a measurement/make template/mark this angle
Take it off fully, aswell as inner bit(?) get it painted put it back on

Sorry but I don't understand how a jack under an arm comes into this, is this to adjust the inner plate? If so, this leads me to ask-what are the advantages between adjusting inner or outer? I know the inner has more adjustment, but if I'm only going down two notches-does it matter which is adjusted?? Is it simply just a matter of a certain height?

Is it easy to take the inner piece off to paint? Sorry I'm not familiar with the part terms....

I can't find any decent videos or step by step guides, believe me I have searched

Many thanks

John

[Northof49]

The swing arm is under great tension, even when its sitting on the stop at the bottom of the plate. It still has a way to go down under spring tension. If you manage to pry it off, without anything to lower it softly, it will slam down violently. The jack will allow you to lower it in a controlled manner, rather than have it slam down.

The splines are rather course, and moving it a whole spline, causes large changes in height. Since the inner and outer splines are not the same spline rate, but less than a degree out from each other (50 minutes), if you move one in the direction you want to go, and the other the opposite, you get a small movement (0.5 cm) instead of a large one (6 cm).

Move the inner up one spine and the outer down one spline, and you come down 0.55 cm. Do that two splines each and you get twice as much change.

You also need to loosen the bolts between the swing arm and the bearing carrier, or else its too hard to pry the arm off the stop.
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1958 Karmann Ghia owner

[johnfraser]

Thank you so much
So to further...
Put jack under wheel end of swing arm and try to pry off with a bar at the other end. Then mark. Then work out how to take the other bits off are the other bits as dangerous/hard? Or are they unbolt and off jobs?

So when people say they have come down two notches, for example, and have a negative camber, bottom out top in, I take it they mean two notches up on the outer plate to achieve such a big drop? Moving 0.5cm a notch isn't going to achieve this surely

Also, to put the swing arm back on whilst trying to feel the splines, do you need the jack or is it safe at that point?
Thanks again!

[Northof49]

Only the swing arm is under tension. The rest may need some coaxing to put back in place or pry off, but its not spring loaded.

You can feel the notches and take measurements with the swing arm hanging down. Be sure to get initial measurements so that you have a reference point.

Moving a couple of notches is drastic change. Hey, maybe that suites some, but I wanted my tires near straight up and down, zero camber or only slight negative, and that meant I had to move it only an inch. 5 or 6 notches of both ends I believe was what I ended up with to move an inch.

Buy a couple of longer bolts for the cap plate so that you can use them to draw the plate and bushing back in place when its time to reassemble. Put the two bolts on the diagonal of two holes. The original bolts may be too short to get it started back together.
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1958 Karmann Ghia owner

[johnfraser]

hi
thanks very much again for the help...
it all went well, although the torsion bars did come out, how much does this matter? they have bound to have turned as they have come out so not idea on how to put them back in without changing the angle

[johnfraser]

Also, regarding the torsion arm bushes....

The bush inside the spring plate cover was definately one of these

http://www.vwheritage.com/vw_spares_Bush-torsion-b...tartRow=30

however this says they should be the inner ones? This means the ones you get to after you take the spring plate off i take it?

Could it be that mine at the wrong way round currently? The one in the link above was definately in the cover!

[johnfraser]

does anyone know the answer to this please?

the bush inside the cover is definately like the one that is labelled inner on the vwheritage site, and the cover also has the shape of these machined into it-so im not sure how the website can be correct?


also....does anyone know how i can get the inner splines of the torsion bars into the original position??

thank you

[Slimwonder]

i think your getting your all confused over something thats actually not that hard.

if you have messed up the original spline position dont panic

you can get the car back to stock or infact lowered like you want with ease. its not a 5 min job if you haven't done it before and or the car has never been apart as things will be pretty rusty/dirty (a good time for a clean)

the bushes you just posted are correct

how i would do this is get both the spring plates off. start one side and get them back on the splines i think i started with 4 degrees. do the same for both sides. bolt up the axles with one bolt. (you only going to have to do it again so ones fine just done driver it) replace the spring plate covers. ( plenty of how tos on that)

now get the car back on the ground and see how it sits. get it on flat ground. Use tape measure to the bottom of the spring plate casting. (under where the cover mounts)

if its sitting pissed. you have not got both sides at the same angle.

repeat the above again.

Its gets easier the more you do it.

Just change the angle of the UNLOADED spring plates untill you have it sitting as you want it.

First off id go grab a cuppa tea and watch this


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tev8wW4-TE#t=169

just to get your head round the whole spline thing. Its on a ghia but the principle is the same.

post pics if you get stuck
Enjoy doing it !!! thats what its all about