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Sun Sep 09, 2018 4:33 pm

So.....my 5' tall wife is having a very difficult time driving the new bug. She is having to wear some platform sandals to fully depress the clutch and reach the pedals. And has to lean forward a good bit to shift into 1st and 3rd.
Who makes some sort of pedal extensions??
Who makes longer/angled shifters that are close to oem? I don't want alo5 of aftermarket racing looking stuff like Hurst shifters and stuff.
Any help would be greatly appreciated

Sun Sep 09, 2018 5:27 pm

Chadabear wrote: So.....my 5' tall wife is having a very difficult time driving the new bug. She is having to wear some platform sandals to fully depress the clutch and reach the pedals. And has to lean forward a good bit to shift into 1st and 3rd.

What year is your VW? Super or not? Do the seats adjust readily, like all the way forward? If not, clean/lube, and repair them. And seats adjust to upright position?

I ask because in the 1970s I knew some gals that size who had no issues driving a standard issue VW with regular shoes.

There are bolt on pedal extenders available for little people, do Google search. The Roloffs installed these on their red VW on Little People Big World.

Sun Sep 09, 2018 6:02 pm

Cusser wrote: Chadabear wrote: So.....my 5' tall wife is having a very difficult time driving the new bug. She is having to wear some platform sandals to fully depress the clutch and reach the pedals. And has to lean forward a good bit to shift into 1st and 3rd.

What year is your VW? Super or not? Do the seats adjust readily, like all the way forward? If not, clean/lube, and repair them. And seats adjust to upright position?

I ask because in the 1970s I knew some gals that size who had no issues driving a standard issue VW with regular shoes.

There are bolt on pedal extenders available for little people, do Google search. The Roloffs installed these on their red VW on Little People Big World.

Sorry...mine is a 72 Super...I changed the seat bushings, quality batch of lithium grease for lube, and the seat is all the way forward.
I may just buy an old set, and modify them. The clutch and brake are too close for her, and I can extend them an inch. That's prob gonna be the best solution.
Going to just do that also with the shifter.

Sun Sep 09, 2018 11:06 pm

Try adjusting the seat back forward. It makes a big difference. My wife is only 5’ tall and she had no problem when she used to drive our Karmann Ghia, or one of our bugs.

Tim

Tue Sep 11, 2018 3:44 am

Tim Donahoe wrote: Try adjusting the seat back forward. It makes a big difference. My wife is only 5’ tall and she had no problem when she used to drive our Karmann Ghia, or one of our bugs.

Tim
It's all the way up man..

Tue Sep 11, 2018 8:17 am

There's an adjustable pedal stop on the floorboard, behind the brake and clutch pedal. You might be able to adjust that to bring the pedals toward the seat "a little." Be sure to adjust both the brake and clutch freeplay afterward. Be carefull not to adjust it too far, or the tabs on the pedals will miss the stop and flop forward (not good.)

You might be able to do something similar by some judicious grinding on the gas pedal stop. A roller pedal, if you can stand one, might make this easier.

Tue Sep 11, 2018 8:28 am

I recently riveted a piece of aluminum floor threshold to the gas pedal of my 1998 Frontier, to change the angle for my foot to press on the gas pedal for longer drives (it has no cruise control). I expect one could add wood blocks to existing pedals.

By the way, the 2018 figures for average adult female height in USA is 64" https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321003.php so 60" is well within the expected range that the VW was designed for.

Tue Sep 11, 2018 8:47 am

The old Microbusses offered a shift handle extender, it was a few inches long and curved, it screwed on to the top of the stock shifter in place of the knob. My Mom used that when she drove our 63 VW Bus. for pedals, maybe some aluminum blocks, drilled and tapped to accept screws thru holes drilled in the pedals. You want something very secure that wont flop around on the pedals since braking is life safety issue.

Bug On, short or tall!

PS...

Link to extenders for shifter, of course make sure it will fit, VW did use different threads on the shifter

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/search.php...ton=Search

and....

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/search.php...ton=Search

Bug On!

Tue Sep 11, 2018 8:48 am

There's these for the shifter. This is just the first "hit" from Google. I'm sure there's more out there.
https://www.busdepot.com/j13457

^^ oops, I didn't see the previous post. We must have posted at nearly the same time. :wink:

Tue Sep 11, 2018 9:44 am

one more thought...

Depending on the pedal and clutch adjustment, the clutch might be fully disengaged well before the pedal bottoms out all the way forward. If that's the case, she might feel like she has to press the pedal much farther than necessary. if that's the case, a spacer on the forward stop of the pedal might make her more comfortable with not having to push the pedal so far down.

Tue Sep 11, 2018 9:46 am

In the early 1990s I had a single cab 1979 Toyota truck, bench seat, manual transmission. To fit a car seat in the middle, the shifter was in the way. I unbolted the shifter, put it in a bench vise, heated it up with a propane torch, and put a bend in it. So consider that bending option too for the VW.

Tue Sep 11, 2018 7:51 pm

Cusser wrote: In the early 1990s I had a single cab 1979 Toyota truck, bench seat, manual transmission. To fit a car seat in the middle, the shifter was in the way. I unbolted the shifter, put it in a bench vise, heated it up with a propane torch, and put a bend in it. So consider that bending option too for the VW.

Ok Cusser I get how you bent the shifter, but what did you do for your kids feet reaching the pedals?

Bug On!

Tue Sep 11, 2018 9:04 pm

bluebus86 wrote: The old Microbusses offered a shift handle extender, it was a few inches long and curved, it screwed on to the top of the stock shifter in place of the knob.

That sounds like what I have in my bug except the knob screws onto the top of the extension.