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BajaJames Samba Member
Joined: September 24, 2022 Posts: 11 Location: Colorado Springs
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2022 12:09 pm Post subject: 1969 Beetle snapped member of swing arm |
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Afternoon! So I have a 1969 Beetle that was converted to Baja sometime in the 70’s that I am going to restore. I will not lie that I am learning as I am going and prefer to do legitimate repairs and not DIY “hold my beer” maintenance. Today I was removing the starter to bench check when I found these members of my swing arms (see photo) have actually cracked. I cannot find any information on this online (I have dug for hours) outside of torsion arm indexing limitations for raising the backend.
Can anyone tell me if I even need these connected, what’s the practice for best repair, is there a part I can order to repair with? It is even common to have these connected?…is it safe to drive with these in current condition? (I would imagine not but it doesn’t hurt to ask).
Any help anyone can give or offer is greatly appreciated and thank you.
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TDCTDI Samba Advocatus Diaboli
Joined: August 31, 2013 Posts: 12846 Location: North Carolina
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2022 2:23 pm Post subject: Re: 1969 Beetle snapped member of swing arm |
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That helps support the body by holding up the outer edge of the pan support. A local shop lops those off when they do pans.
None of their customers seem to notice a difference, but I’m sure that it will cause sheet metal fatigue in the long run. How much off roading do you plan on doing? _________________ Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.
GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!
An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.
Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it. |
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BajaJames Samba Member
Joined: September 24, 2022 Posts: 11 Location: Colorado Springs
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2022 2:33 pm Post subject: Re: 1969 Beetle snapped member of swing arm |
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TDCTDI, This may be heresy lol but honestly I just planned on some dune running and that might be all I ever do. I had my wife jump in the big and give it a good up and down just to see if the gaps got larger and smaller with motion but that did not occur. I was worried that they are structural elements of the chassis. Since I posted my initial comment I made myself very educated in the chassis layout by watching full restoration vids and that’s where I discovered that it isn’t part of the swing arm assembly but rather the chassis itself. My chief concern was that without those connections the chassis horns would be able to flex or drift left to right…I am an aviation guy by trade so seeing cracked members that look integral is never a good way to go lol.
I appreciate you for elaborating on this issue a bit more, if you wouldn’t mind helping just a bit more would you be able to find out any contact info for that local shop you were talking about? If they have done it then chances are they can answer some of the rabbit hole questions I have lol.
With regards to pan warping that might be true given the location of the reinforcement. If I can just cut them off I will most likely just fabricate a Molybdenum doubler that supports the outside edges through material strength and mount location. |
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TDCTDI Samba Advocatus Diaboli
Joined: August 31, 2013 Posts: 12846 Location: North Carolina
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2022 2:50 pm Post subject: Re: 1969 Beetle snapped member of swing arm |
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Personally, I’d take it to a shop, have them jack it up, pound it back into place & lay a bead on it. _________________ Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.
GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!
An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.
Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it. |
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cbeck Samba Member
Joined: January 14, 2014 Posts: 2495 Location: high ridge, mo
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2022 3:01 pm Post subject: Re: 1969 Beetle snapped member of swing arm |
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Get the Baja bugs and buggies book.
Try to close the gap and weld the crack closed. The book will show you where to add a piece of flat stock between the pan and the torsion housing to gain additional strength.
The gap is there because something shifted. _________________ My cut in half and rebuild thread
www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=647779 |
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Q-Dog Samba Member
Joined: April 05, 2010 Posts: 8699 Location: Sunset, Louisiana
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2022 3:09 pm Post subject: Re: 1969 Beetle snapped member of swing arm |
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That tab helps keep the end of the torsion tube from flexing under heavy load. I would weld it up, but I would check to see if the tube has bent first. _________________ Brian
'69 Dune Buggy
'69 Beetle Convertible
'70 Beetle |
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Pruneman99 Samba Member
Joined: February 22, 2012 Posts: 5013 Location: Oceanside
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2022 3:27 pm Post subject: Re: 1969 Beetle snapped member of swing arm |
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Unrelated to your issue, but you cannot bench test the regular unsupported starter. It will damage it. If you have an autostick starter, it's self supported, and you can bench test it. |
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BajaJames Samba Member
Joined: September 24, 2022 Posts: 11 Location: Colorado Springs
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2022 4:07 pm Post subject: Re: 1969 Beetle snapped member of swing arm |
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All, thank you for the info…starting out on something new is probably the hardest thing to do in life. It is however a reassuring thing to know that there are so many experienced people willing to share insight and knowledge. I will be grabbing the book suggested, I have a friend who welds so I will get that planned out for the future.
Thank you as well for telling me about the bench check condition. The engine would not turn over so I proceeded to chase the issue and the battery is hot, voltage regulator is solid, starter relay is in great condition so my last logical conclusion was the starter was just on its last legs. In this case I will pick up a new starter (since I was going to replace it anyways and call it a day on that end. I am yanking the block out this winter and doing a full rebuild/inspection so I will take a gander at the tube and verify it’s being bent or straight.
Thank you all again, I am stoked to start this rebuild and get another one on the road for another 50 years. |
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Pruneman99 Samba Member
Joined: February 22, 2012 Posts: 5013 Location: Oceanside
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2022 10:12 pm Post subject: Re: 1969 Beetle snapped member of swing arm |
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BajaJames wrote: |
All, thank you for the info…starting out on something new is probably the hardest thing to do in life. It is however a reassuring thing to know that there are so many experienced people willing to share insight and knowledge. I will be grabbing the book suggested, I have a friend who welds so I will get that planned out for the future.
Thank you as well for telling me about the bench check condition. The engine would not turn over so I proceeded to chase the issue and the battery is hot, voltage regulator is solid, starter relay is in great condition so my last logical conclusion was the starter was just on its last legs. In this case I will pick up a new starter (since I was going to replace it anyways and call it a day on that end. I am yanking the block out this winter and doing a full rebuild/inspection so I will take a gander at the tube and verify it’s being bent or straight.
Thank you all again, I am stoked to start this rebuild and get another one on the road for another 50 years. |
Do yourself a favor and just order an autostick starter. That way you can toss that unsupported starter. Or just turn it in for the core charge. That's what I did many many years ago. |
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