lowerin my thing

[wackert]

what all will it take to lower my thing not realy wanting to get the drop spindles but what else can i do to get her lower ?

[suntour]

Use a standard bug front end trailing arms and spindles. That will take 2.5” off the front height. If you use adjusters in the beam, that can lower it even further. The back end is simple just do the opposite of raising it. Look in the off-road forum for info on raising the back and just turn the torsion arms the other way.

I personally don’t recommend cutting and adding adjusters to a stock Thing beam simply because they aren’t as common Bug beams and there are plenty of people looking for good stock Thing beams including myself. Hell I will trade you a good Thing beam for my bug beam any day. (just my .02 cents.)

[wackert]

ok so if i use a bug beam and the lugs are differnt do i have to get wide five front spindles or can i just find the four lug ones and put um on the back? cause if i cold just swap um that would be way cooler cause then i cold get the hubs re drilled?

[wackert]

????????

[iltis74]

The only difference between the two are the spindles, ball joints, and trailing arms, and the shock towers have had reinforcements welded to them. Disconnect the brake lines and pull the whole drum/backing plate unit off the spindle, and pull the spindle and trailing arms. These are all that need to be replaced with ball joint Beetle parts. The beam itself can stay in the car. It will drop you about 2 1/2 inches. You'll throw your old backing plate/drums back on and therefore your old wheels. If you decide to trade your spindles and arms with someone you should be aware that your Thing parts are somewhat rare and getting harder to find, and worth a lot more than the beetle parts you'll be replacing them with. This may be a consideration should you ever decide to sell the car or go back to stock. I myself would pull the spindles and arms from a ball joint Beetle in a junk yard and put yours on a shelf for later.

[iltis74]

I also would not add adjusters to the Thing beam, if you want them I'd just buy an adjustable beam or get a spindle to spindle Beetle beam and put adjusters on it, but to each his own I guess. At the rear just turn the torsion bars the exact same as lowering a Beetle, nothing needed but labor and if you want to go too low you may have to notch your sping plates. The procedure for this is detailed in so many books and forum threads that I won't get into it here.

I know you said you didn't want them but thought I would mention if it hasn't hit you already that drop spindles are going to dump a Thing about 5 full inches, and also require different arms with Beetle ball joints in them.

Also with a Beetle beam I do not think you will be able to install the tubular supports connecting the outer ends of the beam to the pan. This is no big deal. The beam is just a heavier duty version of the Beetle beam and these added supports are merely part of that. If you're lowering chances are you're not going to be doing any offroading anyways, plus there are a ton of baja bugs that are offroading without them and not bending anything.

http://www.geocities.com/vwtyp181/index.htm

This link may be of interest to you.

Good luck and have fun.

[iltis74]

OK one more thing I just thought of. If you are on a budget and/or don't have the time/tools to do all this, you may poke around any local clubs and find an off-roader more than willing to roll your car in his garage, throw a Beetle beam in it and drop the rear to match in an afternoon, all for the upgrade to a Thing beam and supports. Of course you may have to entice the deal with a half rack.

[181freak]

lets see some pics when you are done!!!! definitely just go with a bug beam and pull off your brakes etc.. and drop the back like 1 spline.. if you go too many you will have some major issues.. i had mine down 2, but had to bring it up... good luck!!
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