Lowered swingaxle beetle question.

[wellcraft]

My mexi beetle was lowered by the po about 2.5" and today a friend of mine was driving behind me and old me the drivers side has more camber than the passenger side. When I came home I parked the car in a flat area and measured the rear fenders and found out the drivers side measure from the ground to the fender 23" and the pass side 24".

I need to correct this as I have to get new tires soon. I will like to go back k to stock but unfortunately the po installed drop spindles in the front and I don't have the stock ones. So I will just try to adjust the rear and maybe try to go a bit higher without looking bad compare with the front.

This would be my first time doing this and have watched some videos on how to do it And have a question, how do I now how low it would be when adjusting, should I just move one tooth?

What would be the max to start having camber issues with my new tires?

[Multi69s]

The only real way to get the car back to or close to stock height is to get an angle finder and the Bentley, especially if you have never done this before. There is a relationship between the angle of the car and the amount of droop in the spring plates. Without know what this relationship is and having the tools to measure it, you can take a job that takes a couple of hours, and turn it into a week long full of cussing.
_________________
69 road Bug 2110
73 Squareback - 2L, T4, Automatic W/ AC
Gone, but many fond memories 69 Baja Bug 2010 - 5 Rib Bus Transaxle
Gone but not forgotten 72 Baja Bug 2010
My builds
T4 into Squareback http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=458944&highlight=
Auto Trans Rebuild http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=516066&highlight=
AC in Squareback https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...highlight=

[andk5591]

Use the chart on this link. I think its a couple posts down.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=237102

When you pull things apart, you NEED to measure the current angle and I would suspect that one side is set diffently. And be very careful doing this job. You can get hurt if you screw up.
_________________
D-Dubya Manx clone - 63 Short pan,1914.
Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Cindy's daily driver.
Max - 73 standard Beetle hearse project - For sale
66 bug project - Real patina & Suby conversion
There's more, but not keeping them...

[wellcraft]

Thanks yuys. This would be the first time I do this. I do have an angle finder. Is there a detail instruction on how to do it as I don't have the Bentley manual. I do have the cheap one from autozone.

I read before t hat I must be very careful when workin with this, which I will have, would like to find a detail instruction on how to do it.

I found a video of a guy doing it but it didn't have any tension in the spring and it looks verybsimple. I remember seeing that the part where the splines are is numbered, I'm I correct?

When does the plate has tension in it? I ask because of that video, I would assume that at some point it should have tension and that's why I believe I should be very careful.

Thanks again.

[wellcraft]

This is the video I was watching http://youtu.be/_3d9yp5B9DY

[wellcraft]

How do I know of what's the stock height when looking at the splines, is there a factory marking, what shape?

On a video I just saw they say the rule of thumb is 1 spline = 1 inch, is this true?

[Multi69s]

That's the problem right there, knowing where to start. Essentially, your car is jacked up ass high. Put the angle finder on the door sill to find how much off level you are. Add or subtract what ever amount it takes to get zero on your door sill. Then you take this same amount and introduce it into the angle you are getting on the spring plates. This will get you into the happy zone. I am not being stingy with the Bentley numbers, I just don't have them for a swing axle car.
_________________
69 road Bug 2110
73 Squareback - 2L, T4, Automatic W/ AC
Gone, but many fond memories 69 Baja Bug 2010 - 5 Rib Bus Transaxle
Gone but not forgotten 72 Baja Bug 2010
My builds
T4 into Squareback http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=458944&highlight=
Auto Trans Rebuild http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=516066&highlight=
AC in Squareback https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...highlight=

[Aussiebug]

[andk5591]

Rob has you covered - without reading his link, I dont know if he has the variations on how to get the plates on and off. Would try a search on here in casethey arent there, but I would be surprised if its not covered. The one trick I use (and he probably covers this) is to get at least 2 new bolts for the spring plates 3/4" or so longer than stock. You use these when you are putting the end covers on initially to get them pulled in enough to get the factory bolts started. Then you take the long ones out and put the factory ones back in.

I have a small digital level and one of those cheap ($ angle finders. Both work equally well.

If you have a local VW club, see if anyone has the actual tool for removing and installing the spring plates that you can borrow. I have one and it makes life MUCH easier and safer.
_________________
D-Dubya Manx clone - 63 Short pan,1914.
Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Cindy's daily driver.
Max - 73 standard Beetle hearse project - For sale
66 bug project - Real patina & Suby conversion
There's more, but not keeping them...

[wellcraft]

Ok guys , I'm working on this today and have one of the spring plates off with out any problem. I'm reading through some information I have but can't understand the part were it say for example 20 degrees 20 minutes, what do they refer to minutes?
Can I just go buy the angle in the angle finder?

Also, how do I know what would be the correct angle I would say to get the car back to stock height?

Thanks.

[wellcraft]

I just took the angles and I'm not getting this, not sure what angle I need to get back to stock height so I will post the info I have for the experts.

Driver side
DOOR SILL angle was about 5.5 degrees with the angler finder and with a digital one was 5.2 degrees
SPRING PLATE angle with the angle finder was 13 degrees and the digital one was 13.6 degrees

Passenger side
DOOR SILL angle was 5 degrees with the angle finder and with the digital one was 5.6 degrees.
SPRING PLATE angle was 13 degrees with the angle finder and with the digital one 13.2 degrees.

If I move 1 spline up outer it goes to 5 degrees and if I go 1 spline down outer it goes to 20 degrees.

If i move the spring plate down whatever splines I need, would the car be higher or the opposite?

When I measured the car at rest it measured 23" drivers side from ground to edge of the fender and passenger side was 23 3/4 but another day the measurement on the pass side was 24". I know there is a difference in height and the dr side looks more squad compared to the passenger side.

[wellcraft]

UPDATE

I measured everything again but using the regular angle finder so I guess we can forget of the previous post.

DRIVERS SIDE
DOOR SILL angle was about 5 degrees with the angler finder.
SPRING PLATE angle with the angle finder was 13 degrees.

I measured the spring plate with the floor at the actual position and it measured 10 1/8", now if I go 1 spline up the it goes from 10 1/8" to 12 9/16" and 5 degrees.
If I go down 1 spline then it goes from 10 1/8" to 7 3/4" and 21 degrees.

PASSENGER SIDE
DOOR SILL angle was 5 degrees with the angle finder
SPRING PLATE angle was 13 degrees with the angle finder

I measured the spring plate with the floor at the actual position and it measured 10", now if I go 1 spline up the it goes from 10" to 12.5" and 5 degrees.
If I go down 1 spline then it goes from 10 1/8" to 7 3/4" and 21 degrees.

So its a 8 degrees difference going up or down either side, my guess is that I should go 1 spline down and I should be a stock height , M I right?

If I'm right, how do I address the difference when I measured the car when it was in the ground, there was 3/4" difference between dr side and pass side.

[andk5591]

You dont care at all about the measured distance - its all about the angles. If your door sill is 5 degrees and the spring plate is at 13, then the question is this....are they the same direction or opposite directions? I bet they are opposites. This would mean you need to add the two angles. You are at 18 degrees. Makes sense?

Now you should have the tables that show what one click outside does and one inside does. FYI 1 outside clicks changes it around 2" if I remember correctly. Its kind of a pain to figure out which way and how many. What I do before I start adjusting is make a witness mark on the end of the spring so I know what my starting point was.

And the minutes - (28 degrees 30 minutes) is 28.5 degrees. 60 minutes = 1 degree.
_________________
D-Dubya Manx clone - 63 Short pan,1914.
Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Cindy's daily driver.
Max - 73 standard Beetle hearse project - For sale
66 bug project - Real patina & Suby conversion
There's more, but not keeping them...

[wellcraft]

What do u mean by opposite direction?
Sorry for the ignorance but even thou I been reading I can't understand much about th3e angle stuff, first time working with angles

[EVfun]

[Dougy Dee]

I had one in the shop a while back with similar situation. Drop spindles, screwed up rear camber... Turns out it had stock BJ shocks on the front that were bottoming out on one side making the rear camber uneven...
So be careful...not all drop spindles are made correctly. The correct short shocks may be your solution.

[wellcraft]

[wellcraft]

when u referred to opposite direction is when the swing plate is pointing down instead of level or up like the door sills?

[modok]

There are 40 inner splines and 44 outer splines, so you can adjust it 8.2 degrees or 9 at a time, so that means you can fine tune to within one degree by moving inner and outer splines.

Move it one inner spline in the direction you want to go, then move back one outer, and you have moved it about 1 degree.

If the car appears to sit lower on one side then I'd go ahead and set one side 1 degree higher than the other, you know, "fudge" it a little in the desired direction.
To see if the car sits level you should go off the front and rear torsion housings. Fenders vary, and even when new the bodies were not 100% accurate.

Deep in the service manuals there is specs for the angle it is supposed to be. I would guess somewhere between 19 and 22. A lot of the IRS cars were set at 19 but being a 68, it might be 21, 22.....something like that.

[wellcraft]