Narrowed Beam+drop spindles+discs and/or company preference???

[RandyV]

So a million things in my mind I *want* to do (none of which I *need* to do) but first things being first....I'd prefer to drop my front end and simultaneously go disc brakes and tighten up steering, etc. (I haven't tried to adjust steering box slop yet but in my 30 years ago experience that usually leads to a new box anyway)

So I figure maybe just do an entire spindle-to-spindle 4" narrowed beam and find a good "company" for it, all assembled and R & R the old/new all at once?

But I know there might be good beam folks but bad discs or spindles or xxx.

Anybody have good experience with something similar?

TIA....(again)

[RandyV]

In an effort to generate opinions… …. Anybody know what this brace is?? (Not sure it’s purpose)…

TIA

[Dan22]

Looks like some useless metal. Someone's idea of reinforcement. It is not sharing any of the real load on the beam. Weakest points which are beyond outside the mounting bolts are not attached to it.

Maybe I am missing something? Just my immediate thoughts.

Oh, maybe a tunnel access cover guard?!! Keeping that cover protected!
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[RandyV]

Believe it or not I actually thought about that for a second but then I thought what the heck does anybody want in there besides maybe the shift rod bushing LOL! Maybe back in 1956 shift rod bushings were the toilet paper of 2021.

[VW_Jimbo]

Maybe they used it for dragging something with a chain. Or maybe they would hook a winch up to it and dragged it up on a trailer. Just my 2 cents!

If you can weld, you could burn a narrow beam together. On my 70 Bug I cut my beam and narrowed it by 4 inches. I also added front disc from Empi. I think they make great kits. I also upgrade the master
Cylinder to the 21mm unit, when I install them, although they are not required. I would think a 19mm unit would be the minimum size needed. But I am no expert on hydraulics, just a guy that has a few cents! I know punny - right!

If you get an extra front beam and you do not weld or cannot find anyone to weld. Send it to me and I can get it together for you. Not free, but fair! And on my time line, since I do have a full time job and a family.

Good luck!
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Jimbo

There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!

[RandyV]

Thank you Jim. Very nice offer. Im leaning toward Kustom1 as he’s done a few setups lately for friends and if we all had similar setups may be a good barometer for future troubleshooting. (Hopefully none needed). But definitely thinking I wanna go….

-4” narrowed (keep shock towers…K1 seems to like to build in vertical mount ball joint type so no bolting so tightly to body?)
-dropped disc spindles
-discs (probably empi unless somebody thinks better?)

And if somebody wants to take a look at this steering box, mine appears to be blue (aqua?) and definitely some free play which I could adjust out, just historically doesn’t seem to work out long term) -shrug-

[56Cabrio]

I have a 6 inch narrowed beam with disc up front from Old Speed in Paramount, CA.
Great quality. They can do everything your asking for, give them a call.
http://oldspeed.com/

Not my beam but an Old Speed 6inch with shock towers.

My 56 with 6” beam and disc brakes from Old-Speed.

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1956 Rag Top owned since 1988
1956 Convertible owned since 2000
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RIP Dad 4/20/1951 - 2/4/2023

[smclean]

I got my setup from Stuart at Kustom1, super good guy. I went with 2" narrow, 2.5" drop spindle, link pin with towers and oil shocks. He shipped it spindle to spindle. Empi discs with Porsche bolt pattern dual circuit master and no proportion valve as I stayed with drums out back. TRW box. If you get the standard rotors, clear coat the center section as mine were not zinc plated and surface rust showed up within a couple months. I believe Stu has better rotor options now that are zinc plated and drilled/slotted option,Wilwood, etc. Depends on your budget of course. Standard Empi calipers are working fine for me, Wilwoods would be cool but the ROI is questionable to me. More pics in my gallery if you want to check it out. Best of luck with your decision.

[RandyV]

Thank you guys for the feedback! I hope to talk to Stuart today so we'll see what I'm looking at time wise. And I may ask if he's ever seen that bracket before.

Another thought I had.....if you notice, there's nuts on studs on the face of that bracket. Makes me wonder if the whole thing is studded? (Hmmmm). May have to double-nut those out if that's the case. Weird.

[banana split]

Fyi... TRW has discontinued the Beetle steering boxes. The few that are left floating around out there on the market have gone up big time in price.
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My Beetles :
1951 Crotch Cooler 11G Split Ragtop
1953 Zwitter
1964 Chop Top

[rlmartinez]

[1957L331]

[Volksvr6gti]

[Chadd_T]

I would also suggest going with an Oldspeed beam. That pic above is actually one of my old beams. I have run a 6 inch and a few 4 inch link pin beams from Russ and have no issues at all. I am now running one of his 3 inch ball joint beams on my 67 I just finished up and I am very happy. I have run quite a few other kinds of beams but none have compared to the quality and drivability of an Oldspeed beam. I personally will not run any other beams on any of my builds.

[56Cabrio]

[RandyV]

Ok here’s more pics. I took picks of the e back of the front bulkhead where the beam bolts up to get a look at the holes from the back. My concern was that somebody stripped those holes, maybe welded some studs in & that’s why that bracket is sitting in front of the beam. But with these looks, it appears the pan inserts are fine (nothing funny looking at least from the back) and the profile side pic I took basically shows that the front brace thingy really doesn’t compress anything. Of anything it’s just added on & hanging out in space.

Anyway, here’s some pics to gander at & you can see some crusty ole parts I a new one here & there from PO that is always nice to see but still gonna all get replaced soon.

[Busstom]

The whole angle iron brace thingamajig is suspicious looking and, apparently, unnecessary. But it's a bit difficult to tell what's going on between the angle hack and the beam brackets themselves...as you intimated, it looks like a PO may have used studs, but I think he/she ran them into the framehead and followed with some spacers, the angle iron and then the nuts. Because of the framehead design, you could easily weld studs behind the beam and still not use that crazy angle iron weldment for anything. In either case, IF studs were welded on there, it would be next to impossible to install the beam, as it would interfere with the body on its way up, I don't think you'd be able to get the beam over long studs projecting from the framehead. So I'm doubting that scenario.

Myself, I'd be super anxious to extricate that hulk of scrap metal from the vehicle and investigate the condition of the threaded bosses in the framehead. Like you said, they "seem" to be okay, but first you should get this very affordable hardware set from WW (linked below) and be ready for the inevitable, i.e. installing new hardware. I just purchased this package and the screws are very nice, they're class 10.9's just as the factory used.

Until then, you're just scratching your head pondering this strange hack-on.

Here're the screws: https://www.wolfsburgwest.com/cart/DetailsList.cfm?ID=111401000

[RandyV]

Ok I’m now thoroughly confused. Never seen anything like this. I took a video too that may even help explain better to see what happens when I turn the main nuts but just wow…..

[RandyV]

Ok….so happy I could cry. I’m 99.9% sure I figured it out. I have NO idea why a PO did this or what purpose it served but the mounting for that god forsaken bracket is 3/8-16 nuts welded into the heads of the M12 - 1.5 beam bolts. Yep….I seriously can’t believe it myself but true. (I’ll still post the video & you can see how everything is turning, I just freaked myself out because I hadn’t noticed that the entire bolt (M12) was coming out along with the smaller 3/8-16 stud. (I actually think it’s just a 3/8-16 x 1” bolt welded head to head with the M12). And yes….epic facepalm!!!