TheSamba.com :: View topic - My beam is rusty and I don’t know what it is...

Tue Sep 15, 2020 6:54 pm

My car is a bit of a Frankenstein.

It seems to have the right bits for the most part but it’s a bit of a mystery what some of them are.

I was trying to ID my beam tonight and found some rust holes I didn’t like.

What beam is this? The drums are 4 bolt.

Should I be worried about this rust? The passenger side is worst.

Tue Sep 15, 2020 7:38 pm

Later model ball joint beam. Weld some patches on it and drive it. What year is this car supposed to be?

Tue Sep 15, 2020 7:47 pm

It is a 60 but the engine and trans are 70...

Tue Sep 15, 2020 10:02 pm

Sounds like the body might be a '60, but the pan is later. Ball joint front end came out in '66, and IRS rear in '69. Seems like its not just the engine and trans that are '70.

Wed Sep 16, 2020 6:57 am

VIN number on pan will tell you what year pans is that will validate the BJ front end.... VIN on pan probably does not match VIN in spare tire well...

Dale

Thu Sep 17, 2020 8:48 pm

Well it’s definitely a newer pan... it doesn’t have IRS so I have the worst of both worlds.

Fri Sep 18, 2020 4:55 am

When you said the trans was a '70, I assumed IRS.
Well, dont automatically discount the ball joint/swing axle set up. I have a fiberglass buggy thats on a '67 pan, so same thing. While I eventually changed the swing axle to IRS, if I had it to do over, I would have left it alone. I used this buggy all over Glamis, took it to car shows, explored trails all over Big Bear, towed it behind a motorhome and drove it all thru Yosemite, my wife picked the kids up from school, and it worked great. Its a very simple, trouble free combination.

Fri Sep 18, 2020 8:04 am

unclebilly wrote: Well it’s definitely a newer pan... it doesn’t have IRS so I have the worst of both worlds.

For a general purpose buggy(street/off road/occasional auto X) the is noting wrong with what you have... Please explain "worst" comment.... I have had buggies with full BJ/IRs and now only one with SA/K&L and quite frankly and don't find either much superiors over the other for general purpose.... Only exception is BJ/IRS was a bit better in hardcore Auto-X car....

Dale

Fri Sep 18, 2020 12:00 pm

Based on what I have read, LinkPin / IRS is the most desirable setup. I have Ball Joint / Swing Axle.

The car is used 90% off road on our farm (my 10 year old drives it instead of the quad or his dirt bike most of the time).

I am not going to patch this beam - you can see daylight through the uprights, I will replace it.

Should I get a widened beam or keep it stock width?

It is worth upgrading to a link pin setup? I would probably use the adapter plates that HBB recommended against in the suspension sticky above (the car isnt going jumping).

The beam repair / upgrade will be a winter project and we will continue to use it 'as is' until then.

Fri Sep 18, 2020 12:56 pm

Sounds like you should get a stock replacement as you said its only being used on your farm. If you go wider in the front you have to go wider in the rear which would mean going to IRS and then you're spending a lot of money on a farm bug lol people want link pin and IRS because you can get more travel out of them for things like jumping :wink:

Fri Sep 18, 2020 7:21 pm

unclebilly wrote: Based on what I have read, LinkPin / IRS is the most desirable setup. I have Ball Joint / Swing Axle.

The car is used 90% off road on our farm (my 10 year old drives it instead of the quad or his dirt bike most of the time).

I am not going to patch this beam - you can see daylight through the uprights, I will replace it.

Should I get a widened beam or keep it stock width?

It is worth upgrading to a link pin setup? I would probably use the adapter plates that HBB recommended against in the suspension sticky above (the car isnt going jumping).

The beam repair / upgrade will be a winter project and we will continue to use it 'as is' until then.

VW never produced a bug with a link pin front end and an IRS rear end. All of Baja bugs and buggies you see with a Link pin front and IRS rear were modified at one end or the other. Changing either end, or both ends is a doable project and there are advantages to all of the different options. Weigh all your options along with the intended use of the car and decide what works best for you. The ball joint beams have different diameter tubes and they are spaced apart differently than the link pin. It is not a simple swap the beam deal. Have fun with the car and enjoy

Sat Sep 19, 2020 5:14 pm

If you use it in the woods, keep it skinny.

Sun Nov 01, 2020 8:41 pm

The pan was built in Oct 65 so I’m guessing it’s an early 66.

I thought I found a good beam but it was rusted through like mine. I’m just going to patch mine up on the car.

Mon Nov 02, 2020 1:43 pm

You can do external patches on the shock towers out of 1/8" plate. You can do a wrap reinforcement around the perimeter of the tower with 1" x 3/16" strap. But when you're welding to the beam tubes, the weld heat can destroy the trailing arm bearings. And your reinforcement SHOULD be welded to the beam tubes. You can remove the bearings (carefully to not destroy them with that) while welding.

Bearings can be replaced with urethane bushings. But having just put a set of current urethane bushings in my own beam, I DO NOT recommend the current ones. They're very soft rubbery junk, not the solid nearly hard ones that used to be sold. Delrin bushings are probably OK.

Sat Nov 07, 2020 8:35 pm

Instead of patching mine, should I replace the beam with a new one? If yes, who makes a stock BJ beam that isn’t lowered and is stock width?

Sat Nov 07, 2020 11:09 pm

https://www.cbperformance.com/product-p/6286.htm
Only $340 :shock:

Maybe I should sell the one I have in my back yard?

Caramba!
:roll:

Sat Nov 07, 2020 11:15 pm

unclebilly wrote: Instead of patching mine, should I replace the beam with a new one? If yes, who makes a stock BJ beam that isn’t lowered and is stock width?

In reality either way works fine. If you like to weld things go to town, or just spend $50 on a barebone beam and move everything over.