TheSamba.com :: View topic - swing axle 1600 buggy to Van trans question

Fri Aug 30, 2024 12:23 pm

Hey guys i have a self built 4 seat buggy with an early swing axle and a 1600. its great but i have always heard about bus trans being better. I have found a 79 van with a 6 rib i can get pretty reasonably but dont have a clue if this is a drop in type thing or way more involved.

Im sure lots of you know the answer to this in 2 seconds.

The van is complete and I could take anything else i need from it.

My buggy has a hydraulic slave.

TIA

Fri Aug 30, 2024 5:00 pm

going from a early swing axle to a late bay is a major rear suspension rebuild.

Fri Aug 30, 2024 6:12 pm

halfassleatherworks wrote: going from a early swing axle to a late bay is a major rear suspension rebuild.

that is kind of what i was starting to think but wasnt sure if there was a way to bolt the swing axles to the IRS trans and leave most everything else intact.

I designed the buggy to use U bolt clamps to hold the torsion tube to the frame so I "could" if i wanted swap in a whole IRS system(which i actually had untill just recently from a '71) easily with no welding.

I am pretty happy with how plush the swing rides so maybe I will just leave it as is. Not like I have broke a trans yet or anything .

Fri Aug 30, 2024 8:08 pm

I did that same swap the easy way by taking the complete Bus rear suspension and welding it into my sand rail. Don’t do that! The Bus suspension is rated for one ton load capacity plus the Bus itself. The result is that the rear torsion bars never flex and the bumps are all absorbed by your kidneys and spine!

The low gearing is very desirable though…

Fri Aug 30, 2024 9:25 pm

oprn wrote: I did that same swap the easy way by taking the complete Bus rear suspension and welding it into my sand rail. Don’t do that! The Bus suspension is rated for one ton load capacity plus the Bus itself. The result is that the rear torsion bars never flex and the bumps are all absorbed by your kidneys and spine!

The low gearing is very desirable though…

yea we use this mostly on logging roads in Bc so dont really need mega suspension anyway. it would be very easy to switch to IFS if wanted to but as i said im kinda happy with the plushness of the swing axle so i guess im saving myself a bunch of work haha

Sat Aug 31, 2024 5:18 pm

The gearing would be ideal for logging roads.

Sun Sep 01, 2024 2:31 pm

You have a stock 1600? I guess it doesn't really matter, your trans will hold up to a 1600.

People put the bus trans in when they have a big motor.

The way to do it is to put in Type I IRS suspension, which gains you travel, and the Bus trans.

Depending on how you drive, it could be overkill.

Sun Sep 01, 2024 3:32 pm

You would be surprised… it’s easy to grenade a bug transmission with a stock engine. Off road, it’s not as much about the power or engine size (to a point of corse), but down to shock loading. A stock transmission can support as much as 150hp… but it only takes one landing on the gas to slam the teeth off the spider gears. Also, I have seen 1st gear strip from wheel hop driving up hill on a wash boarded gravel road. Driven appropriately, I have seen a bug transmission hold up great behind a turbo motor for years.

Sun Sep 01, 2024 5:10 pm

I run a stockish 1600 but to me the strength of the Bus transaxle and weakness of the Beetle one never really came into the decision at all. It was the gearing I was wanting. That was the valuable thing to me.

Sun Sep 01, 2024 6:29 pm

Same line of thought for me. I have 33” tires in the back and wanted lower gearing.

Mon Sep 02, 2024 10:45 am

Care to share any photos of the U-bolt set up? Sounds interesting.

Sun Sep 22, 2024 10:55 pm

You could get your SA rebuilt w/a 4.86 R&P....you could also get close ratio 3rd and 4th gears put in. It will be over $1,000 (CHump-Change....maybe not). BUT, the bus box isn't gonna be so cheap either....AND, it will have to be adapted.

If it were me, I'd keep the Swing-Axle

Tue Sep 24, 2024 5:43 am

Run it until it pops.

I swapped the swing out of my berrien a long time ago and went with a 094 vanagon trans. You never want a bus torsion though. You get a sedan IRS torsion, graft that in carefully, then make the new trans fit. It is not beginner level stuff but a lot of people have done it. I was extremely careful doing mine and somehow I still ended up with a funky camber issue I'm stuck with now.

[I don't know if I'm in a funk today or it seems like every new question lately could be answered with a thorough search. -Not that I don't like to see some chatter in Off-road finally.]