Creating shock towers.....

[fredc125]

I'm upgrading the king pin front torsion beam on my sandrail by going to coilovers, big tires and through bolts. I've had to remove the existing shock loops from the frame as they were way to small and in the way. My question is: Since there are no shock towers on the beam it would seem plausible to just install a taller set of loop towers, but it seems like i could make set of "warrior" like towers and weld them directly to the frame instead of loops and instead of mounting towers to the beam. It would be super cheap and easy. Any reason not to do this ?

[Vanapplebomb]

Nope, it would work great. Just grab some 1/4” plate and go to town.

If you make the upper shock mount point 12” above the upper tube, you can run 8” travel shocks.

Just go easy and slow when welding them to the upper tube. It is easy to cook the bearings if you put too much heat into it too fast.
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1800 Type 4 Berrien 295

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=487021

[fredc125]

Thank you for your feedback.

[dustymojave]

And be very sure to "cycle" the suspension with through rods installed, arms, spindles and tie rods assembled, without springs but WITH shocks, before you final weld the new upper shock mounts. The upper shock mounts should be pretty much in the same location as they would be if you had a Warrior coilover beam.

And be sure to have the shock mount bolts parallel to each other top and bottom, just like stock link pin front ends have. I just saw a buggy a few days ago with the mounting bolts at 90° to each other. That's a good way to break stuff.
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Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
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[Dark Earth]