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Wed Sep 08, 2010 12:12 pm

Hello. I have a 68 bus and I was curious to know how you go about lifting a bay window bus? Is it fairly inexpensive? I don't want it lifted too much, just enough to put beefier tires on. I have a project in mind and would love some info. Thanks in advance

Wed Sep 08, 2010 12:35 pm

Raising the rear a bit is easy and costs nothing if you do it yourself. It is a good idea to replace the spring plate bushings while you have things apart though.
You simply do some rear suspension disassembly and move the trailing arms down a spline or two on the torsion bar.

The front is a bit more difficult. Parts aren't expensive so if you are a good welder/fabricator you could do it pretty inexpensively. If you need someone else to do the cutting/welding the cost goes up
The best way to raise the front is to weld adjusters into the beam. They allow the torsion bars to be rotated to alter ride height.

Ironically some of the best info on raising a bus is in the how to lower a bus sticky. The same methods I mentioned for raising a bus are also preferred methods of lowering a bus except that things are moved in the opposite directions. When you've got the beam apart it's really a good time to overhaul the front end. This ads to the expense but is well worth the increased safety, handling, ride quality and peace of mind.

The shops mentioned that can build an adjustable beam for lowering should be able to build an adjustable beam for a lift.

Read the Bentley manual sections on front and rear suspension to get a good idea of how things work and go together.

Also before you buy any parts search the forums to see what people are saying about which parts are better and where to get them. There are some absolute garbage parts out there.

Good luck.

Wed Sep 08, 2010 12:39 pm

with a jack :lol:

Wed Sep 08, 2010 4:31 pm

2-1/2" raised spindles on front......... rides like stock with much better tire clearance.... from www.wagenswest.com

You can adjust the rear springplates and gain a couple inches height in the rear ... the ride will be a little stiffer but it's the cheap way to do it.....

Or you can do like i did ...... build lift plates and run 930 cv's with longer axles.... Not cheap... but 4" plus lift for much bigger tires... 8)

But remember... taller tires will drop engine rpms and could cause your bus to overheat if you don't do your homework...
:)

Thu Sep 09, 2010 1:00 pm

Hey, how well does that thing handle on the road?

Thu Sep 09, 2010 2:17 pm

I was / am going to use beam adjusters on the front and on the back, I don't know, possibly boomerang plates to keep my suspension travel. I only want an inch or so of lift, combined with different wheels so I can add another inch or so via profile.
Lift spindles are illegal here, besides as cool as they are I don't want a monster truck ...er bus. Stock height it bottoms out on things more often than I'd like.

Thu Sep 09, 2010 8:45 pm

aeromech wrote: Hey, how well does that thing handle on the road?
Hey Aeromech....... Surprisingly,It handles great.... hard to drive in high sidewinds sometimes ...... I've logged almost 20,000 miles on it... Handles even better with my trailer in tow.... :)
I did finally drop it back down in ride height but have retained the same size tires..... I opted to do this for reliability ..... my 930 cv's were already starting to make more noise than i care for ...... knowing i had a couple 2000 mile trips coming up ..... it was the best solution... 8)

Thu Sep 09, 2010 9:25 pm

Quote: I was curious to know how you go about lifting a bay window bus?

like this

Fri Sep 10, 2010 7:38 am

click, click, click go the cv joints around every corner.

I had my back raised by an inch and a half or so only, up 1 course notch in back. New german cv joints I paid 240 for 4 of still clicked. The spec is 24 degrees I think on a type 4 engined bus, 22 on Type 1? for the cv joint angle. Going around a corner will take you past that with only that much lift.

Fri Sep 10, 2010 7:51 am

Bus Cv's will..... so will Type 4 cv's with this high lift... 930's don't..

Mine didn't click on corners...... they made a occassional chatter noise on deceleration that i didn't care for... I had 930 cv's running at 23 degrees but clearanced for 27 degrees... and they were Indexed for best operation..
I removed and inspected them periodically and noticed no wear..... so it was nature of the beast... I just didn't like the chatter.... :roll:

Biggest thing i noticed was the CV heat increase....... My cv's will seep joint grease after 2000 miles running at those angles... even sealed with rtv they still seem to seep grease a little...
:roll:
I have a line on some axles made to run 45 degrees max and when i wanna pony up $1300. i'll get them.. 8)

http://www.highangledriveline.com/sandrails.html

Sat Oct 22, 2011 4:43 pm

josh wrote: Raising the rear a bit is easy and costs nothing if you do it yourself. It is a good idea to replace the spring plate bushings while you have things apart though.
You simply do some rear suspension disassembly and move the trailing arms down a spline or two on the torsion bar.
.

could anyone explain in a little more detail on this, because i'm looking under the bus still with a little bit of confusion. My rear tires are leaning in at the top, and i would think that its because its because It sits kind of low in the back.

Sat Oct 22, 2011 5:12 pm

SGKent wrote: Quote: I was curious to know how you go about lifting a bay window bus?

like this

I certainly hope those are OSHA approved 2x4's and rock chock block! :shock:

Sat Oct 22, 2011 5:40 pm

Heathintexas wrote: josh wrote: Raising the rear a bit is easy and costs nothing if you do it yourself. It is a good idea to replace the spring plate bushings while you have things apart though.
You simply do some rear suspension disassembly and move the trailing arms down a spline or two on the torsion bar.
.

could anyone explain in a little more detail on this, because i'm looking under the bus still with a little bit of confusion. My rear tires are leaning in at the top, and i would think that its because its because It sits kind of low in the back.

They are supposed to be like that on a late bus. I've read Amskeptic talk about it helping handling for the heavier engine and I've seen myself on plenty of late buses. It does not wear the tires to have that camber back there, and raising it or lowering it will not make it go away. The "lowering a bay" thread talks about using a washer between the .... can't remember what it is called and it sounds unsafe. I would leave the camber there. With that said, it probably does sit low in the back, but the camber is normal. Here is a pic of a tye 4 engined bus with rear camber that looks 'right' to me (edit: posted the wrong image before)

Sat Oct 22, 2011 5:43 pm

or you can just sell your bus and go buy a chevy truck.

Sat Oct 22, 2011 5:48 pm

Heathintexas wrote: josh wrote: Raising the rear a bit is easy and costs nothing if you do it yourself. It is a good idea to replace the spring plate bushings while you have things apart though.
You simply do some rear suspension disassembly and move the trailing arms down a spline or two on the torsion bar.
.

could anyone explain in a little more detail on this, because i'm looking under the bus still with a little bit of confusion. My rear tires are leaning in at the top, and i would think that its because its because It sits kind of low in the back.

Your back wheels are supposed to do that.

There are some good explanations around the place on how to adjust the rear suspension height. You can't see the torsion leaves. They are in the big tube. See those plates sticking out from the tube, going out to the hub? Those are the spring plates. Essentially when the height is adjusted it involves removing stuff so you can remove the spring plates, and rotate the inner and outer ends of the torsion springs to change the ride height. They have a different number of splines on each end so fine adjustment is possible. eg you might go 3 splines CCW on the inside and 1 spline CW on the outside to adjust to where you want it. Personally i don't remember any of the details. If you want to adjust it, find a good explanation somewhere. They exist on thesamba. Don't attempt it wothout looking at them first, because remember you are dealing with big sprung loads.

Sat Oct 22, 2011 7:55 pm

SGKent wrote: or you can just sell your bus and go buy a chevy truck.

Ha funny you mentioned that, i wend from a 5.7 liter chevy to my 1.6 liter bus and have no intent on going back.

Thanks for the quick responses everybody

Sat Oct 22, 2011 9:15 pm

aeromech wrote: Hey, how well does that thing handle on the road?

Well, aeromech, funny you should ask that question. And maybe SGKent might like this with his SCCA background. My first dealer job, first day outa high school, my shop foreman at Russ Thor VW, Torrance, Ca, used to race SCCA Modifieds and he told me when the Corvettes would enter the track, all the spectators would move to the inside of the turn, instead of the outside. When this inexperienced 18yo asked why, he said "damn understeering corvettes handle like a 3 legged dog."

Sun Oct 23, 2011 7:35 am

anyoldubwilldo wrote: Hello. I have a 68 bus and I was curious to know how you go about lifting a bay window bus? Is it fairly inexpensive? I don't want it lifted too much, just enough to put beefier tires on. I have a project in mind and would love some info. Thanks in advance

Pull the beam and disassemble:

You'll need to remove the center pin/pittman arm bracket and steering stops (which are welded back on in the photo):

Drill out the holes for the center block and knock it out of the way so that you can slot the beam for the adjusters:

Index your adjusters and weld them on. These are Beefcake adjusters:

Weld the stops and steering bracket back on:

Paint it and put it all back together:

Sun Oct 23, 2011 7:39 am

Keep in mind that you will be limited in lifting a ball joint beam due to the limited travel of the ball joints. You'll only be able to twist it one or two adjuster teeth before the ball joints will want to bind.

I think that if you're going big with a Bus, you really need some custom spindles.

Good luck!