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perrycody16
Samba Member
Joined: September 15, 2009
Posts: 102
Location: Sacramento, CA
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 Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 1:07 am Post subject: lifting super beetle |
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hey guys. me again. i want to get my super into the air for some offroading (PLEASE DO NOT GIVE ME MORE LINK TO WHY A SUPER IS NOT A GOOD OFFROADER), and I want to know how to get more height in the front and back. Longer shocks in the back? Coil spring spacers in the front? What works? I have also heard of rabbit springs inside of stock super springs for more height but I need to know how to do that
_________________
Car Info
1972 VW Super Beetle
Baja Style for light off-roading
Body Straight with some rust
No paperwork
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"Don't worry. I'll find it. That's what I do, find things. I find you annoying. See?"
"Hmmm, feathers in your armpits. Tickle yourself stupid."
_____Sleep Talkin' Man |
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pafree
Samba Member
Joined: August 16, 2005
Posts: 2298
Location: dayton, the one in texas
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| Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 4:41 am Post subject: |
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the rear is easy. just reindex the springplates a couple notches, notch the spring plates for more travel and change CV joints if the angles become too extreme.
the front as you know is the tricky part. if i was to try this project, i would go with strut spacers (if you weld then homemade would let you make them as tall as you want), camber adjusters and reinforce the suspension pieces with extra steel to keep bending to a minium. here is a thread but dont read the your going to put your eye out first part and go on to the second. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=321797 you are mainly have to look at your front suspension parts and reinforce what you think might bend when it hits a rock. play in your mind which way the wheels will want to move and pressure that will be applied to which area of the suspension connections. you might even reinforce the sheet metal with plate where the suspension connects to the body and fab new suspension pieces out of harder steel. when you are done, take it out and beat the he## out of it and see what you can do to make it better or stronger.
make this work and prove the world wrong and get rich selling conversion kits to the super baja builders. you dont even have to put my name on it. |
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JasonBaker
Samba Member
Joined: February 08, 2010
Posts: 1642
Location: Cleveland, TN
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| Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 7:22 am Post subject: lifting super beetle |
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Look up the number and Call www.toplineparts.com
The rear can be done without and new parts
The front is a different story
This might work.
Don't bitch about the price and I won't mention that your lifting a super! |
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raygreenwood
Samba Member
Joined: November 24, 2008
Posts: 21507
Location: Oklahoma City
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| Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 10:49 am Post subject: |
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I don't really care that you are lifting a super....but trust me....this will not live 100 miles. You will need major welding and strengthening at the upper strut mount. For that matter...youwill need to be using something like that from topline shown in the last post....although there are much better (Foxx, Bilsteain etc.). Expect to have to spend in the neighborhood of $1300 to $1500 for the fully adjustable strut units.
Also....you WILL need to cut the chassis and weld in totally difffernt upper mounting points for the shocks mentioned. Also....you do not have the range of travel on the control arms necessary for this. You will need to make custom mounting points for them.
Also....the ball joint internal springs on the stock super beetle ball joints...will not survive the first two jumps before they shatter. You will need an aftermarket custom balljoint source. There are some good ones....figure about $300-500 for all it entails.
You will need a full triangulated frame for the front end to keep the strut towers from collasping...even going over minor 6" to 1' high jumps and ruts.
Its not that people are giving you crap about working with a super beetle...its just that you have no idea whats involved here with this suspension system. Ray |
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perrycody16
Samba Member
Joined: September 15, 2009
Posts: 102
Location: Sacramento, CA
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| Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 1:06 pm Post subject: |
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ok....Now i know about the back. How do I adjust it? never done this before and I just need some extra ground clearance for some backroads and hills out at prairie city.
_________________
Car Info
1972 VW Super Beetle
Baja Style for light off-roading
Body Straight with some rust
No paperwork
------------------------------------------------------
"Don't worry. I'll find it. That's what I do, find things. I find you annoying. See?"
"Hmmm, feathers in your armpits. Tickle yourself stupid."
_____Sleep Talkin' Man |
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vw_hank
Samba Member
Joined: February 07, 2001
Posts: 5371
Location: Everett WA
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| Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 1:46 pm Post subject: |
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| I have to agree with raygreenwood. know one is just giving shit over A super baja.. lots of people have thot about it and A lot have tried it.. It's A lot of work and A lot more money, If you have both Go for it, Id love to see A Super Baja! |
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pafree
Samba Member
Joined: August 16, 2005
Posts: 2298
Location: dayton, the one in texas
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Joel
Samba Member
Joined: September 04, 2006
Posts: 11099
Location: NSW Australia
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| Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 4:03 pm Post subject: |
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if your just doing some basic off roading supers can work well, its when u start launching over jumps and stuff they start to suffer
but when i was a kid we had a 72 super for a paddock basher and mates had a 73 super and both stood up to years of offroad abuse, it was only the bodies rusting away that killed them.
you raise the front abit but not much cos it frigs with the suspension geometery.
you can get about 1" lift by rewelding the lower spring cup higher on the strut and swapping the upper spring plate to a 2 bolt style gives about 1.5" lift as well but the key to good ground clearance is bigger tyres
adjustable struts like above wont be any use, as all of them are shorter to start with, so they lower anyway then theyre only designed for going down not up
another member on aussieveedubbers has a superbaja too
its got some decent clearance just with bigger tyres
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Quick little bug, you got a Porsche motor in that?
1974 Germanlook 1303 2.5 Suba-Beetle |
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perrycody16
Samba Member
Joined: September 15, 2009
Posts: 102
Location: Sacramento, CA
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| Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 11:29 pm Post subject: |
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| Buggin_74 wrote: |
if your just doing some basic off roading supers can work well, its when u start launching over jumps and stuff they start to suffer
but when i was a kid we had a 72 super for a paddock basher and mates had a 73 super and both stood up to years of offroad abuse, it was only the bodies rusting away that killed them.
you raise the front abit but not much cos it frigs with the suspension geometery.
you can get about 1" lift by rewelding the lower spring cup higher on the strut and swapping the upper spring plate to a 2 bolt style gives about 1.5" lift as well but the key to good ground clearance is bigger tyres
adjustable struts like above wont be any use, as all of them are shorter to start with, so they lower anyway then theyre only designed for going down not up
another member on aussieveedubbers has a superbaja too
its got some decent clearance just with bigger tyres
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Nice super! I am planning to go with that color paint but black QP's and fenders. What did you do the front and back to get the lift?
_________________
Car Info
1972 VW Super Beetle
Baja Style for light off-roading
Body Straight with some rust
No paperwork
------------------------------------------------------
"Don't worry. I'll find it. That's what I do, find things. I find you annoying. See?"
"Hmmm, feathers in your armpits. Tickle yourself stupid."
_____Sleep Talkin' Man |
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Joel
Samba Member
Joined: September 04, 2006
Posts: 11099
Location: NSW Australia
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| Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2010 3:57 am Post subject: |
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that ones not mine but all we did with mine was at the back wound it up a 1 spline and front dad just welded the spring cup abit higher
cos it was just a paddock basher i took all the gaurds off and we got some old worn 4wd offroad tyres for free from the local tyre shop
bout the same size as what was on that bug but it was 16 years ago so cant remember sizes
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Quick little bug, you got a Porsche motor in that?
1974 Germanlook 1303 2.5 Suba-Beetle |
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perrycody16
Samba Member
Joined: September 15, 2009
Posts: 102
Location: Sacramento, CA
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| Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2010 9:23 pm Post subject: |
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how do you move the lower spring cup? I think it welded all the way around, right?
_________________
Car Info
1972 VW Super Beetle
Baja Style for light off-roading
Body Straight with some rust
No paperwork
------------------------------------------------------
"Don't worry. I'll find it. That's what I do, find things. I find you annoying. See?"
"Hmmm, feathers in your armpits. Tickle yourself stupid."
_____Sleep Talkin' Man |
|
| Back to top |
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Joel
Samba Member
Joined: September 04, 2006
Posts: 11099
Location: NSW Australia
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| Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2010 12:42 am Post subject: |
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yep they are, best way is to spin the weld off in a lathe but if your very carefull you can grind them away with a small grinder,
thats how i used to do it
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Quick little bug, you got a Porsche motor in that?
1974 Germanlook 1303 2.5 Suba-Beetle |
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Shawn_Wood
Samba Member
Joined: March 01, 2018
Posts: 12
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| Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2018 1:59 pm Post subject: Re: lifting super beetle |
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| I lifted my super. I did the standard spline turn on the spring plates in the rear. On the front, I did two things, I got some "rally springs" from aircooled.net. That didn't do what I wanted it to so i cut and re-welded the spring cups on the strut housing. I moved them 1.5 inches up. With the springs, I probably netted about 2-2.5" lift. I don't understand why everyone craps all over the idea of lifting a super. I say: Everyone slams a super, why not do something original? And I don't understand all the talk about the struts failing either. If you plan on doing the baja 1000, don't use a super beetle, but lets be honest, most people who modify vehicles just want something that looks cool. I drive my super off road plenty, just dirt roads, nothing too extreme but I've taken it plenty of places that you would never be able to take a modern 2WD car. I actually have more ground clearance on my beetle than I did on my 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee. So far, after a year of driving it, my suspension hasn't failed. People act like the oil filled strut is all that's holding up your car, there are still springs, coil springs. Modern Jeep Wranglers all use coil springs. I'm ranting a bit now, but yes, you can lift a super, it's not that hard, it will last way more than "100 miles" despite what people may tell you. |
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Shawn_Wood
Samba Member
Joined: March 01, 2018
Posts: 12
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| Posted: Sat Feb 19, 2022 8:23 pm Post subject: Re: lifting super beetle |
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Here's some photos of my lifted super. The suspension is holding up fine after a couple years. It's the dang motor that I can't keep running! You can see in the photos that it's not a baja monster, just a small lift to give it that off-road look and ability. It actually has pretty good ground clearance and I've added a skid plate. I also added a strut tower brace to stiffen up and strengthen the front suspension. Front bumper mounts are welded to make them solid and the bumper and mounts are reinforced so that I can use the welded d-rings on the front to get towed when my motor craps out. I added some race style bucket seats too which were a huge upgrade. These pictures were taken before the interior upgrades though.
The idea is for this to be my flagship vehicle for the overland and camper van gear company my friend and I started www.vanlifegearcompany.com. I like showing that you don't have to fit one specific mold and that your car should be an individual expression of you and what you think is cool and what makes you happy.
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Dusty1
Samba Member
Joined: April 16, 2004
Posts: 1405
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| Posted: Sun Feb 20, 2022 6:59 am Post subject: Re: lifting super beetle |
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| Shawn_Wood wrote: |
| I don't understand why everyone craps all over the idea of lifting a super. I say: Everyone slams a super, why not do something original? |
I have more air time in my old Bugs than my brother had in his Cessna.
Offroading is all about the weakest link. The weakest link in the Super is the strut front end. Beat on it hard, you will separate a ball joint. If you've ever broken a ball joint you know you be goin' nowhere. There isn't really a bush fix to get you home. What I'm sayin is beat on it hard, you be walkin'.
Further, think about the ordinary plain Jane standard Bug. Suspenstion loads don't transfer into the body. The Super transfers suspension loads into the body. A strut tie bar as often seen on watercooled VWs is a good idea.
Time for one of my trademark apples 'n' oranges anecdotes. Years ago a kid showed up at my shop with one of those 4WD Toyota Tercel mini- hearse wagons, 1988 or so. He had been pestering me for a VW, his mother bought him the mini- hearse instead. Kid figured it was four wheel drive, why not do a little four wheelin'? Which he did. Turns out the strut tower(s) tear loose in a Tercel before the single solitary forlorn ball joint (on each side) fails. Kid tore the spot welds out of the strut towers just like a broken zipper.
I managed to jack, crank and hammer the strut towers half- assed (maybe 3/4- assed or better) into alignment. I drilled through the spot wels everywhere I had good contact and twisted in some enormous sheet metal screws to temporarily hold it. I then removed the screws one at a time and rosette welded each hole with my trusty SP100. When I had some of the sheetmetal where I wanted it and restrained I hammered the rest of it to where I wanted it and welded that down. It was probably stronger than new when I was done. I threw a quickie string, tape measure and broom handle alignment and got it reasonably right, surely better than it was with one strut tower flappin' and the other half torn loose.
That's why you want to adopt one of the many forlorn Baja bugs that are littered across the California countryside. Beat on a Super Beetle offroad, you will learn all the reasons why you shouldn't. |
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Mikedrevguy
Samba Member
Joined: October 15, 2008
Posts: 2237
Location: Medford, OR
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| Posted: Sun Feb 20, 2022 8:41 am Post subject: Re: lifting super beetle |
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Rally springs
Cut relocate the lower cups.
Lifted spindles.
Find DustBugy on YouTube. Yes they’ve probably got high dollar in the front end but still.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2423734
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74 1303 (RevBug): plan for German Look
76 914 with 2260
79 VW Iltis
69 Bwajaja
"The wise speak because they have something to say; while the foolish speak because they have to say something." Plato
Illigitimi non-Carborundum!! |
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