Beam with Avis adjusters, torsion springs resting differently

[jaymonkey]

Hi there, I'll list what I'm running and then describe my issues.

2" narrowed beam with avis adjusters, brand new from cip1
2.5" drop spindles (because I had them before)
lowered balljoints, brand new

I installed the new beam and proceeded to set the height, fought with it. Took the shocks off, continued to adjust and test drive. I found that after setting the height it would settle a LOT, maybe an inch or more (is this normal?).

As it sits right now, both the upper and lower torsion tubes are completely loose and the wheels are off the ground. In this position the lower tube is maxed for height, but the upper is not. They are indexing differently and it appears the balljoints are bottomed out for movement and preventing the movement I need?

I'm looking for maybe a total of 3" drop in the front, the rear is 2.5".

I'm thinking that without popping the spindles of and setting the adjusters I won't get the position I want. Thoughts?

Thanks so much

Jason
_________________
1969 Beetle (Sadie)
1953 Kombi 23A -Sold
1969 Buggy Sold
1975 Buggy underdevelopment
insta @boldroguebuggy

[ashman40]

Are your ball joints installed correctly w/ the notch lined up correctly with the mark on the trailing arms?

This is what happens when they are not lined up:

From your description it is not clear if the front is sitting too low, or not low enough?

The ball joints have a limited range of motion. Once you hit the end of that range of motion they cannot rotate any more as they are resting against the end of their slot. The "lowered ball joints" give you a few extra degrees of motion.

That your adjusters have not reached the end of their motion may not be a ball joint problem but rather a bad job welding the adjuster in place. Can you post a pic of your adjusters as well as your ball joints/spindles. Here is a pic I found of the original grub screw threaded hole in the front beam with an outline showing the desired cutout to provide both an up and down range of motion.

This tries to illustrate that the adjusters can be welded in almost any position giving you: only lift, only drop or a mix of lift and drop (as in this pic). Understanding where your adjusters have been placed relative to the original grub screw will help you understand this.

Before you installed the spindles were the trailing arms nearly parallel, or were they at angles to each other? The typical install of the adjusters would have the grub screw that holds the center of the torsion bars in the same position as stock while the adjusters are at their highest (greatest lift of the front). Then you could change the angle from there to lower the front. The grub screw that holds the torsion bar is not always the one that you can see from the outside.

Are you running all the spring leaves in the upper and lower tubes?

The front should settle a few inches. The torsion bars in the front tubes are springs. You would expect the springs to compress some when the weight of the front end is applied. Just make sure you don't have something excessively heavy like your tool chest of a bag of concrete causing the front to lower more than normal.

[jaymonkey]

Ball joints are installed correctly. Running all leaves. Car sits too low and I can't seem to adjust the top torsion tube anymore.

Sorry I'm on my phone I will re-read your reply more thoroughly when I'm home
_________________
1969 Beetle (Sadie)
1953 Kombi 23A -Sold
1969 Buggy Sold
1975 Buggy underdevelopment
insta @boldroguebuggy

[jaymonkey]

I will post pictures when I get back to the garage.

I bought the Narrowed beam from cip1 with the adjusters installed already. I'll have to double check the ball joints, I'm fairly certain we indexed them correctly when we installed them.

With the wheels in the air and the weight off the wheels the trailing arms are parallel. When it's sitting on the ground they are not.
_________________
1969 Beetle (Sadie)
1953 Kombi 23A -Sold
1969 Buggy Sold
1975 Buggy underdevelopment
insta @boldroguebuggy

[ashman40]

[jaymonkey]

I am running drop spindles as well. I was hoping for an overall drop (including the Spindles) of around 3". Seems like I should be able to get there if I can get my issues sorted.

I think I better start with double checking the balljoint installation.
_________________
1969 Beetle (Sadie)
1953 Kombi 23A -Sold
1969 Buggy Sold
1975 Buggy underdevelopment
insta @boldroguebuggy

[ashman40]

What you need to confirm is where is the grub screw in the center torsion bar disc?

Here is a pic of a stock BJ beam:

Notice the grub screws holding the torsion leaves in place is angled at 45deg up from horizontal. The adjusters work by rotating this grub screw point up or down on the beam. Down from the original 45deg location will drop the front end lower than stock; lifting it up from the original 45deg location will lift the front end.

The problem is the screw you see extending out from the Avis adjuster may NOT be the grub screw holding the torsion leaves in place! This pic shows a hidden grub screw on the center torsion bar disc. This could be the actual grub screw that holds the torsion leaves in place. It is this screw that should be at 45deg up from horizontal for stock height.

_________________
AshMan40
---------------------------
'67 Beetle #1 {project car that never made it to the road }
'75 Beetle 1200LS (RHD Japan model) {junked due to frame rot}
'67 Beetle #2 {2019 project car - Wish me luck!}

[jaymonkey]

I ended up loosening off the balljoints in order to get the top torsion to at full height. I set my height (guessing where I thought was good) and then snugged the balljoint back up.

It's good to go and almost where I want it, I may drop it a little more.
_________________
1969 Beetle (Sadie)
1953 Kombi 23A -Sold
1969 Buggy Sold
1975 Buggy underdevelopment
insta @boldroguebuggy

[norris]