K&L beetle beam - BD mods

[Terry Gaudet]

Hi there,

So I have a BD with a custom 64-67 narrowed bus beam. I have 356A brake set for both front and rear. I have the rear all sorted out (easy). Now comes the challenge. It will be impossible to fit the 356 brakes to the later bus spindles. So I was thinking of using a stock beetle front beam and modify it to fit the BD chassis. I would then use beetle trailing arms and spindles to get the 356 backing plates and drums to fit.

The mods to the beam would include moving the mounting brackets from the front center to the rear outer. I will be using a later 55-67 steering box so appropriate center pin mount bracket will be fabricated for this setup. I will also install adjusters in the center to provide some adjustment.

My question is this. Can I get away with stock beetle torsion leaves? Has anyone installed a sway bar on this type of setup?

And lastly, does anyone know of a shop that builds a beam like I described above? Maybe it's already available.
_________________
Terry Gaudet

1950 Beetle Standard
1955 Canadian Custom
1956 Kombi w/SO23 kit
1965 Kombi walkthrough
1965 Double Cab

[EmpiGT]

I've always wondered about doing this. Why couldn't it work? Maybe the weight rating of the torsion springs? Maybe upgrade the springs to the ones offered for off-road use.. Are beetle trailing arms the correct length to position the wheels correctly.

[flat]

Terry,

I've never seen what you're proposing, but I'd assume the torsion springs would be too soft.

But it's fairly easy to adapt beetle stock height spindles to the BD trailing arms, just need to make a custom LP bushing and a few spacers. This gives you a good drop, and the 356 brakes will bolt on.

As you don't have the BD beam, maybe you can adapt the beetle spindles to later 55-63 arms, not sure if it'll work. Your current 64-67 arms wouldn't work as they have the bigger LP.

Lanner
_________________
www.vdubengineering.com
IG: VdubengineeringCanada

[mr. warehouse]

[flat]

Hey Greg,

Your setup would work if he swapped to 55-63 arms right? Same size LP as BDs if I'm not mistaken.

Lanner
_________________
www.vdubengineering.com
IG: VdubengineeringCanada

[mr. warehouse]

[djfordmanjack]

I am currently thinking about exactly that setup. haven't started on the beam. But you should know that the distance between axle tube centers is different between the axles. but of course can be fixed with reworking the shocktower lenghts inbetween the tubes. also the tubing diam is different so you need shims welded to a bug axle to fit the og BD frame cutouts. trailing arm length should be pretty close between bugs and buses. At this point I have no way of confirming if this will work/ride/handle well.

[Lind]

[Rusting Hulk]

[Scotty]

I think you'd definitely be better off using a bus beam for lots of reasons. The tube diameter, torsion spring rate etc. You can easily fit the 356 brakes as mentioned above. There are no benefits in using a beetle beam
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[flat]

[Terry Gaudet]

Great feedback on this topic. Thank you all for chiming in.

So from what I understand, someone has adapted 356 front brakes to a late style bus beam (63-67)?

If that is the case, could I please have that person's name so I can contact them and get working on the conversion.

I know it will require some custom sized bearings and maybe some machining to the spindle or the ID of the drums as well as some custom mounting for the backing plates.

Once I get in touch with someone who has already done it, I will be in heaven, because I will be able to keep my late split bus beam that is already on the bus and use the 356 brakes that are patiently waiting on a shelf....lol
_________________
Terry Gaudet

1950 Beetle Standard
1955 Canadian Custom
1956 Kombi w/SO23 kit
1965 Kombi walkthrough
1965 Double Cab

[Lind]

[Mr. OGPaint]

[CaLiBus]