Suspension Question

[medsteve25]

I just bought a fiberglass dune buggy a couple weeks ago. The beast rides pretty rough, I wondering if anyone had any suggestion as to what can be done to make it a smooth ride.

I will mainly be driving it on the road with the occasional through the field.

[KIM-P.]

use cheap oil filled shocks, gas filled shocks are too tight for the light body and lower the air pressure in the tires
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Beat it to fit...Paint it to match

[nightmanx11]

Most tires are designed to have 30 -40 PSI and a load that far exceeds the total weight of a buggy.

The buggy will weighout at about 1600# with you in it, which is about 30 - 40% of a regular car.

Reduce the air pressure in the tires to 15 - 20#. You do not need 35# of air to support the buggys weight.

There are other things that can be done. This method is one of the cheapest and quickest improvements you can do.
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"IN GOD WE TRUST"

[medsteve25]

thanks for the advice, any suggestion on brand of shocks if i go that far?

[Dale M.]

[LeeVW]

I agree with oil filled shocks and lower tire pressure. Both make a huge difference.

Speaking of shocks, see if your buggy has coil over shocks. People often install them on the back (and sometimes the front) in order to compensate for tired torsion bars. They make the buggy ride like a pogo stick. The proper fix is to switch to regular shocks and reset the preload on the torsion bars, but we won't get into that unless you determine that's the problem.

[nightmanx11]

Thanks Lee, I forgot about the coil overs & their problems. My bad.
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"IN GOD WE TRUST"

[manxdavid]

As above, oil shocks, low tire pressures, plus avoid very low (eg lower than 60) profile tires and remove the sway/anti roll bar if fitted.

[jspbtown]

NAPA carries low cost oil shocks.

[jsturtlebuggy]

You really want the single action oil filled shock absorber like what VW used originally.
They compressed easily and valving was stiffer for slowing down the supension as it extends.
When I was working on VWs for a living. I replaced more Monroe's, Gabriels, and other American shocks that the customer had them installed at places like PepBoys from having there teeth rattle from the dual action shocks being to stiff for the stock VW supension.
Boge was one of the original shocks for VW.
Then came Cofab which work great. They have become expensive.
Empi has an oil filled shock that works them same way as the Boge and Cofap and is cheaper.
I have no long term experience with the Empi, so I cannot tell you how long they will last.
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Joseph
Fair Oaks/Orangevale, CA
Elrod Racing
Motion Tire Motorsports
Having fun with Dune Buggies since 1970
Into Volkswagens since 1960
Manx Across America, coming in October 2013