Identification Question.

[Mrobinson55]

Hi,

I need help identifying what this rear end came out of?? I cant find anything like it. All the Beetle rear ends I can find have different shock towers. This one seems to have more of a "car frame"

Maybe a silly question, but thanks for the help!

[BFB]

Additional pictures would be helpful but id guess that to be from a bus
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[TDCTDI]

That looks to be a very early bus torsion housing.
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[Mrobinson55]

Thanks for the responses. It definitely is a bus rear end. Is there any difference between a bus rear end vs using a beetle rear end?

Thanks!

[Dan_Lockwood]

It probably has gear reduction boxes on the end of the axles. Does the axle go straight into the brake backing plate, or is there gear boxes on the ends?

If it has the gear reduction boxes, they were never used in the Beetles. Also if it has the boxes, the ring and pinion is flipped in the transaxle because of the different rotation the gear boxes provide.

Dan

[BFB]

those aren't RGB's, the drum would be sitting lower if they were.
biggest issue with this would be that the bus torsions are waaaay too stiff for buggy, unless someone has altered the torsion bars or something which I highly doubt. probably great if you wanted to run a heavy engine though
_________________
Forced induction can overcome a lot of obsticles that gets in it's way
"You are the Engineer and the Mechanic.  
Build it your way not the way someone else does it. Their way might not work for you." - clonebug
An interesting thing happens in forums where everyone starts parroting the same thing and "common knowledge" takes over.
“ The monkey see monkey do mentality seems to run deep in VW people. "Gene Berg said it was so 30 years ago so thats the way it is" “ - bdkw1

[oprn]

Yes, Bus torsion bars are indeed too stiff for a light sand rail. I can confirm that from personal experience! VW rated the type 2 at a 1 ton load capacity and a sand rail weighs about 800 pounds.

To my knowelage there is no fix for this. Those torsion bars only came in one size and are not interchangeable with anything else in the VW line.
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Our cars get old, we get old but driving an old VW never gets old!

[BFB]

800 is erring on the light side, ive weighted two of mine and both were 1200 without passengers. ive seen a lot of guys post theres weigh in at more than that but not typically more than 1800. yes they can be 800 but that's not typical. unless you meant to say KG....
and I dont see it happening but the original builders could've, or OP could turn down the torsion bars to a smaller OD. or run coilovers or nitrogen shocks and lose the torsion bars
_________________
Forced induction can overcome a lot of obsticles that gets in it's way
"You are the Engineer and the Mechanic.  
Build it your way not the way someone else does it. Their way might not work for you." - clonebug
An interesting thing happens in forums where everyone starts parroting the same thing and "common knowledge" takes over.
“ The monkey see monkey do mentality seems to run deep in VW people. "Gene Berg said it was so 30 years ago so thats the way it is" “ - bdkw1

[oprn]

I have asked about turning the torsion bars down. There are mixed opinions on the success of doing that given tempering issues. It seems opinions are that the tempering might not be consistent across the cross section and if the outside is cut down some of the tempering is lost. I don't know if that is true or not. Also the cost might not be very palatable.

I had not thought about just removing the torsion bars and going to coil overs. Good suggestion!

I should weigh the Buggy, I am just guessing 500 lbs on the rear axle, 200 on the front and another 200 for battery, fuel tank and seats etc.
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Our cars get old, we get old but driving an old VW never gets old!

[BFB]

[oprn]

I tried to center drill and thread the end of one to aid in pulling out. That didn't go well. I do not own a drill bit that will cut one of those!
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Our cars get old, we get old but driving an old VW never gets old!

[BFB]

[oprn]

I have a lathe that is large enough but I think the only practical way to reduce the diameter of a torsion bar would be to set up a grinder on it to do the job. I think a small angle grinder mounted on the cross slide...

Maybe someone with a crankshaft grinder could be talked into trying it.
_________________
Our cars get old, we get old but driving an old VW never gets old!

[BFB]

Im pretty sure weve had this conversation before ….
_________________
Forced induction can overcome a lot of obsticles that gets in it's way
"You are the Engineer and the Mechanic.  
Build it your way not the way someone else does it. Their way might not work for you." - clonebug
An interesting thing happens in forums where everyone starts parroting the same thing and "common knowledge" takes over.
“ The monkey see monkey do mentality seems to run deep in VW people. "Gene Berg said it was so 30 years ago so thats the way it is" “ - bdkw1

[oprn]

Yes and the answer is still unresolved. For the present until more pressing things are taken care of I will continue to run 10" wide ATV tires at 4 psi. It makes driving the rail possible without loosing the fillings in my teeth.
_________________
Our cars get old, we get old but driving an old VW never gets old!