Quality narrowed beams

zombie · Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:05 pm Post subject: Quality narrowed beams

I'm looking to buy a 4 inch ball joint beam for my car and I have about 500 bucks spend. I want a complete front end (minus the spindles), narrowed leaves, tie rods, all that fun stuff, without shock towers. I called KCW and I'm leaning towards a beam from them, but I was wondering if there are any other good quality beams out there for cheaper. My car isn't a show car (it's actually a piece of shit to be quite frank) so it doesn't have to be art but it's my daily, so I want something that can take the abuse. What are some of you guys running and how do you like it?

Earlybugs · Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:05 pm Post subject:

have you gone to any local VW shops?

also search the classifieds

zombie · Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:11 pm Post subject:

There aren't any VW shops anywhere near where I live. I live in waterpumper central. I searched the classifieds and I found a couple, but I wanted to hear from other people.

FireBug1966 · Samba Member Joined: August 26, 2006 Posts: 483

I bought my 4" bj beam from Keoki. Good stuff. He also offers shortend leaves and tie rods.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=390833

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Alan Willis · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 6:31 am Post subject:

Both KCW and Keoki beams are crap IMO. Franklins,RLR, or CBPerformance would be a better bet,as they retain the micarta bushings and needle bearings Wink

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Hotrodvw · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:52 am Post subject:

Yes, defnitely find one that retains the needle bearings.
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zombie · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 10:08 am Post subject:

I've heard bad things about keoki. I was looking at them a while back and everyone said the adjusters were fucked up on all of them.

Thanks Alan, I'll look into those.

Slowlow · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 12:52 pm Post subject:

90% of people build beams with Urethane, but a bearing beam DEFINATELY rides better.
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Erik G · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 1:25 pm Post subject:

How could the adjusters be all fucked up? EVERYONE uses the same adjusters. The only difference in adjusters I've seen are the avis style, which use teeth to grab, but almost no one uses those any more. Or maybe using the regular style, and mounting it upside down for more clearance

I just got off the phone with Keoki, and he really seems like a standup guy. I wouldn't hesitate to purchase a beam from him, and will probably be doing so for my next car. He's a down to earth real person, not an internet persona.
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zombie · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 2:26 pm Post subject:

I don't know exactly what is wrong with them, but I hear a bunch of people complain about them. They don't adjust up, they only adjust down or something, even when they're adjusted up the car is still completely laid out. I'm just repeating what I've heard, I don't have any experience with a keoki beam myself.

HERC · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 3:17 pm Post subject:

It's his welding. He basically just tacks everything without running and entire bead, you can see in the pictures that the welds aren't full length and some guys have had the beams come apart...
I had Jerry at JER FAB make my beam and his welds are excellent...
I use the delrin bushings that the sand rail guys use..They're smooth as silk and last for years..
If you look at this picture of georges beam(Keoki), you can see there's virtually no welding on the front mounting brackets and that just plain spells out danger

Here's the kind of welding that you want. If you look closely, you can see the full complete welds that Jerry made

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Lee. · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 3:43 pm Post subject:

metalchomper · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 4:01 pm Post subject:

IMHO, The urethane in general isn't bad for occasional driving. I just have never seen a good urethane bushing (UB) on the market that maintains the correct clearance. Theoretically the UB should be undersized and reamed for clearance. The reamer would look similar to the one used for KP bushings. I have never seen anyone use a reamer on a beam. I've seen pics of the reamer used for the inner bushings in the Bentley manual. The cars I've had in my shop with UBs were always loose and causing the caster and toe to change when the car was motion. There also isn't a seal to keep grime out of the joint with cause accelerated wear. I'm not sure why they are popular with the offroad guys. A trend maybe? It seems to me a needle bearing setup with the proper torsion seal would be preferable.
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Slowlow · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 4:38 pm Post subject:

Lee. · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 5:50 pm Post subject:

Vee Dub Nut · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 6:45 pm Post subject:

We'll I've got a Keoki beam and here is my take...

Personally I would have done a little more welding on it. If you look at his pictures its not welded all the way around at the clamp and end plates. In his defense, the part that is bolted to the car is just providing clamping force for the beam, so although not much welding, probably adequate for the job at hand. The end plates are also not welded all the way around, but there again the plates are there to stiffen the ends of the tubes and not support the car, so the welds should be fine. That being said.. I don't see why there not welded all the way.. wouldn't take that much longer to make.... At some point when I'm back into the front end I'll be finishing the welding, but I'm not scared to drive it as it sits Wink

Second, the shock towers he has work, but its a TIGHT squeeze to get them past the body. It took a lot of persuasion to get the beam into position. Knowing what I know now and how it rides, I would have left off the towers..

The adjusters are indexed WAY LOW... I have my adjusters turned all the way up and the car is at the point were I wouldn't want to go any lower.

He's a super fast shipper and very easy to catch on the phone and extremely straight forward. I tired to contact several other manufacturers and there was either a huge lead time on the beam, or the seller wouldn't respond at all (Franklins)
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sloans265 · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 7:03 pm Post subject:

zombie · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 1:12 pm Post subject:

So I called Franklin's today and they told me that they don't retain the needle bearings and they wanted $630 before shipping. So that marked them as a no on the list. Any more suggestions?

rory_a · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 1:33 pm Post subject:

I'm a happy Keoki customer. I found the minimalist welds interesting, but as Vee Dub Nut stated, the welds are not structural, so I'm not worried. The shock towers are tight against the body, and having to use the lower shock mount relocators isn't the best IMHO, but I figure that just goes with the narrowed beam territory. I finished my pan and then lowered the body onto it, and had no problem working it between the shock towers. I think it might be a pain to wiggle into a complete car though.

I ordered my Keoki beam up as November or so, and at that time he asked me if I was running dropped spindles. Apparently he's had a few people unhappy that their cars were too low with his beams when running dropped spindles. He has two adjustable versions, one for use with dropped spindles, the other without. I got the one for dropped spindles, as he provided images of a dropped spindle car with a non-dropped spindle beam at full up height, and it was really low, how I wanted my car to sit.

Unfortunately, I might be happier with the non-dropped version as the dropped version is a little high for my tastes. For bare shell mock up I had to pull the bottom adjuster out to give me the right ride height clearance and body work checks.

When I'm ready for another narrowed beam it will come from Keoki because I found his prices and quality were good. KCWs are nice too, I didn't see anything wrong with them, but I like to help the little guys when I can.

zombie · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 1:36 pm Post subject:

What do you guys think of this? http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=477263

One adjuster?


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