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Thu Jan 27, 2011 4:31 pm

There has been alot of talk about pre53 changes lately. Was thinking today about the mounting of the rear frame horns. On my 51 and 52 they are welded to the torsion tube and supported with a small vertical piece of metal above and below.
On later barndoors arnt they welded to the torsion tube and covered in all round. Hard to explain, I'll look for pics.

Thu Jan 27, 2011 4:41 pm

Not the best but they explain what I mean

Where the horns meet the torsion tube

Thu Jan 27, 2011 6:49 pm

god,thats cool stuff,another thing i didnt know about..........maybe somebody....hint hint,should do a thread showing all the differences thru 52? then maybe another for the 53-55 changes? it seems theres some updating of info about due

Fri Jan 28, 2011 3:55 pm

My Feb 54 has the early rear frame horns...

Sat Jan 29, 2011 11:27 am

Yep, My Jan '54 sc has too. 8)

Sat Jan 29, 2011 2:05 pm

The change took place between 20-086697 and 20-088422

-Tonny

Sat Jan 29, 2011 5:36 pm

Tonny_Larsen wrote: The change took place between 20-086697 and 20-088422

-Tonny

20-087824 has late.

Sat Jan 29, 2011 6:56 pm

Is it just me or does the bottom of the cradle look to be flatter on early than late

Sun Jan 30, 2011 3:08 am

The flat bottomed cradle was another change until 20-04066.

Sun Jan 30, 2011 4:04 am

BryanM wrote: Is it just me or does the bottom of the cradle look to be flatter on early than late

I think you are right, and as I can find, the change took place between 20-033490 and 20-036112
http://www.barndoor.dk/detaljer25.html

-Tonny

Mon Jan 31, 2011 4:59 am

My January 1953 wreck find from the last weekend features a pressed steel profile cradle; similar to post 56 models.

Definitely no hand made accident repair conversion and straight spot welded from the factory.
So no cutouts for the cradle tube in the vertical sides of the main chassis rails above the rear axle.

And no telescope shocks´ mount; so definitely factory made (as telescope shocks were available from March 55).

I think the Wheelerdealer panel has the same pressed cradle (once received some pics from F. Ehrhardt).

Why did they experiment with different versions?

Tue Feb 08, 2011 8:11 am

Here are the pics. 1953 BDs with pressed steel cradle ... no tubes ...

This is the gearbox cradle from 20 - 048xxx:

And this from the Wheelerdealer panel 20 - 046xxx.

Are there other early 53 models with the pressed steel gearbox cradle around???

.

Wed Feb 09, 2011 11:13 am

This Swiss 54 was probably hacked a bit with later front axle and stuff but the rear could be original then also ?

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=972868

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54107910@N08/with/5074211681/

Wed Feb 09, 2011 12:47 pm

I seriously doubt VW used a post BD style hanger for part of a model year, went back to a tube then went back to the post BD style, although i guess anyting is possible.
both of the above pics show a late style hanger with BD redux boxes, narrow torsion, and the Swiss bus has late hanger and late redux boxes, likely that someone hacked in an entire late rear torsion

Thu Feb 10, 2011 9:33 am

Had to be something installed later in it's life. They used round pipe til early 56.

Thu Feb 10, 2011 4:33 pm

Was gonna mention this but didn't have pics or exact vin #....
my main man bruce has a early single cab like Jan or feb of 56...it has a u channel for cradle and I discovered they had an option for heavy capacity or something early and that appeared to be the upgrade...

Fri Feb 11, 2011 12:38 pm

bubba wrote: Had to be something installed later in it's life. They used round pipe til early 56.

Hi,

I´m sure that on my 53 remains and on the wheelerdealer panel it´s original.

The 53 sat on its place since 1962. I doubt that in these 9 years of active service someone put in just a later hanger assembly (which is quite a big effort!) and then went back to lever shocks etc.

Everything looks factory.

I suppose that this was some kind of option or Volkswagen just experimented with different parts already at that time.

Nothing went so straight in production that 60 years after we can give a definite statement without thorough research.

Just remember: 1953; last year of Korea war; lack of raw materials all over the world; rising material prices ... so keep in mind that any suggestion for cheaper production with less energy and less waste was welcome also in Wolfsburg.

Compared with the tube version the pressed cradle is more effective regarding costs and energy. Just put in flat steel into the die and press. Neatly shaped parts fall out and can be assembled. Tubes are more expensive and have to be bent. Also there are more welding seams to be set as we all know when we look at the round cutouts in the rear chassis rail area above the rear axle. The pressed version was just resistance spot welded to the inner frame liner!

Maybe we´ll never know but I just don´t want experts to point at some BDs later with the devastating sentence: "That´s not original"

The assembly on the 54 from the djfordmanjack´s is a later conversion as the ends of the torsion tube don´t show threads for lever shocks.