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wyatt.bales
Samba Member
Joined: March 08, 2020
Posts: 41
Location: MD
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 Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2020 2:02 pm Post subject: Re: Lowering the rear |
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| canadadude wrote: |
| I didn’t get shorter shocks |
Right now I'm sitting on the bump stop, I saw that JBUG's says to cut them in half. I will do that tomorrow.
I'll get new shocks as well but with that, the car won't ride on the bump stops? |
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canadadude
Samba Member
Joined: November 21, 2015
Posts: 41
Location: Regina ,Sasktachewan
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| Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2020 1:46 pm Post subject: Re: Lowering the rear |
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I didn’t get shorter shocks
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66 VW Beetle |
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wyatt.bales
Samba Member
Joined: March 08, 2020
Posts: 41
Location: MD
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| Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2020 1:44 pm Post subject: |
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| gabyzvw wrote: |
| finally got back to this thread this is what mine looks like after two splines i marked both sides before removing and fortunatly everything went smoothly and love the stance in the rear |
I know this post is old, but did anyone happen to go with shorter shocks on the rear? I lowered mine two splines (4inches) and need new shocks. Figured I'd ask here real quick. |
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canadadude
Samba Member
Joined: November 21, 2015
Posts: 41
Location: Regina ,Sasktachewan
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| Posted: Sun May 22, 2016 2:26 pm Post subject: Re: Lowering the rear |
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Can anyone tell me when using adjustable spring plates and you lower it ,do I remove the rubber stoppers and let the shocks do their work?Thanks
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66 VW Beetle |
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canadadude
Samba Member
Joined: November 21, 2015
Posts: 41
Location: Regina ,Sasktachewan
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| Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 9:25 am Post subject: Re: Lowering the rear |
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Im looking to lower the rear about 3" total was going to move outer spline up 1 tooth and then use adjusters to get the rest will this work? Or will I get this amount of travel with plate in original spot and just use adjusters?Thanks for response![/img]
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66 VW Beetle |
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Dauz
Samba Member
Joined: January 05, 2010
Posts: 1867
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| Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 9:17 am Post subject: Re: Lowering the rear |
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| I'd install those dropped spring plates at the same angle and tune from there. |
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canadadude
Samba Member
Joined: November 21, 2015
Posts: 41
Location: Regina ,Sasktachewan
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| Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 8:35 pm Post subject: Re: Lowering the rear |
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I have a question on lowering my 66 beetle .Ive purchased the adjustable spring plates and want to lower about two inches?Ive marked the inner splined shaft and outer splined collar.Do I install my adjustable plate one spline up (towards fender)on outside collar and then use the adjustable plates to fine tune the adjustmen?Thanks for your help I have read all of these posts and just really confused myself and trying to only do this once,
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66 VW Beetle |
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[email protected]
Banned
Joined: March 13, 2011
Posts: 392
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| Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2015 3:34 am Post subject: |
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| However if you rotate the torsion bar one tooth on the inside (9°) but rotate the spring plate one tooth on the outside of the torsion bar in the opposite direction (8.18°) then you get an indexability angle of .818° (9° - 8.181° = 0.818°). Believe it or not there are other methods to fine tune this madness - all mathematically derived of course. |
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[email protected]
Banned
Joined: March 13, 2011
Posts: 392
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| Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2015 3:24 am Post subject: Re: rear lowering question |
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| OLDBUGPROJECT wrote: |
| [email protected] wrote: |
| OLDBUGPROJECT wrote: |
I just re installed my torsion bars and pre set the angle to 15 degrees. As far as I know thats pretty low. Can anyone give me an estimated drop in inches? Im doing this for the first time. If I need to raise it I have the body off so it will be easier I suppose. I was looking to go 2 notches/splines down originally. I settled on 15 degrees. So before I go any further can someone lend me a hand?
Thanks! |
You will lower your car 1.45" if you index your spring plates at 15° instead of the factory mark of 20°. Every degree that you change lowers the car approximately .3". |
Thank you so much! I watched your youtube videos and attempted to gauge it from there. Im not going for a "dumped" look on my car. Just something that will have a good stance. So my equivalency if we were referring to how many notches that is (since I was merely going off of my angle finder) would be? Just for further reference. |
I've seen a lot of COMPLETELY in accurate information about this on the web, so hopefully this post will clarify this question: if you index the inside of torsion bar only one tooth (notch) alone then the angle change is 360°/40 teeth = 9°, whereas if you index the outside one tooth (notch) alone then the angle is 360°/44 teeth = 8.818°, A LESSER AMOUNT for sure.
Last edited by [email protected] on Sat Feb 28, 2015 3:42 am; edited 1 time in total |
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OLDBUGPROJECT
Samba Member
Joined: May 07, 2011
Posts: 16
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| Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2015 12:14 pm Post subject: Re: rear lowering question |
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| [email protected] wrote: |
| OLDBUGPROJECT wrote: |
I just re installed my torsion bars and pre set the angle to 15 degrees. As far as I know thats pretty low. Can anyone give me an estimated drop in inches? Im doing this for the first time. If I need to raise it I have the body off so it will be easier I suppose. I was looking to go 2 notches/splines down originally. I settled on 15 degrees. So before I go any further can someone lend me a hand?
Thanks! |
You will lower your car 1.45" if you index your spring plates at 15° instead of the factory mark of 20°. Every degree that you change lowers the car approximately .3". |
Thank you so much! I watched your youtube videos and attempted to gauge it from there. Im not going for a "dumped" look on my car. Just something that will have a good stance. So my equivalency if we were referring to how many notches that is (since I was merely going off of my angle finder) would be? Just for further reference. |
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vwnut1
Samba Member
Joined: May 16, 2012
Posts: 495
Location: So Cal
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| Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 7:03 pm Post subject: |
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Notching metal out of the the rear drop plates with a plasma cutter/oxy fuel torch always struck me as crazy. This is old school for sure and NOT a choice I would make, so many other well engineered options currently on the market.
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1957 VW Oval Resto Mod |
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[email protected]
Banned
Joined: March 13, 2011
Posts: 392
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| Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2015 5:01 pm Post subject: Re: rear lowering question |
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| OLDBUGPROJECT wrote: |
I just re installed my torsion bars and pre set the angle to 15 degrees. As far as I know thats pretty low. Can anyone give me an estimated drop in inches? Im doing this for the first time. If I need to raise it I have the body off so it will be easier I suppose. I was looking to go 2 notches/splines down originally. I settled on 15 degrees. So before I go any further can someone lend me a hand?
Thanks! |
You will lower your car 1.45" if you index your spring plates at 15° instead of the factory mark of 20°. Every degree that you change lowers the car approximately .3". |
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Dr OnHolliday
Samba Member
Joined: May 11, 2012
Posts: 1215
Location: was Escondido now San Berdoo
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| Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2015 9:20 pm Post subject: |
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Someone should revise that drop chart to factor in costs of broken rear drums, wheel bearing failures and loss of tire mileage at appropriate points...
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1965 Type 1 sunroof Baja / about 70k miles on self-rebuilt '74 1600 and counting / SP heads and aftermarket valve keepers / non-doghouse shroud with external cooler and filter / 1.5 qt extended sump / Weber 32/36 DFAV progressive carb / 009 dist with Pertronix / 1.25 ratio rockers and ball adjusters / 1.5" stainless steel J-pipes and carbon steel baja exhaust |
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OLDBUGPROJECT
Samba Member
Joined: May 07, 2011
Posts: 16
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| Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2015 8:29 pm Post subject: rear lowering question |
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I just re installed my torsion bars and pre set the angle to 15 degrees. As far as I know thats pretty low. Can anyone give me an estimated drop in inches? Im doing this for the first time. If I need to raise it I have the body off so it will be easier I suppose. I was looking to go 2 notches/splines down originally. I settled on 15 degrees. So before I go any further can someone lend me a hand?
Thanks! |
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[email protected]
Banned
Joined: March 13, 2011
Posts: 392
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| Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2014 2:51 am Post subject: |
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| Germanpride wrote: |
| Lee. wrote: |
| Does anyone have a template or dimensions for notching the springplates? |
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| owokie wrote: |
| I can't be the only one who thinks bugs look like sh*t when people lower the rear by screwing with the splines. It looks like the car is trying to take a dump. Not to mention the increased tire wear and the decreased safety as your contact patch is now halved. Honestly, if I wanted to lower my car I certainly wouldn't do it this way. Can't you get a late model double jointed tranny and do it that way? |
I was digging though the archives and saw this and had to chuckle in agreement. Some of the safety compromising stuff that I have seen suggested by self appointed authorities on the subject is baffling if not downright ignorant. Look... removing material like the above drawings recommend is asking for disaster, and I don't care if it is even recommended in passing conversation by people who have done it. Because what is not talked about is the failure that occurs and the magnitude of it. Usually these conversations are saved for me when my customers admit to me they screwed up and after the wreckage they decide to buy our engineered plates. Tell me I'm wrong. Owokie, good call. For further information on this subject visit: http://atomwerk.org/suspension_tech.html |
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[email protected]
Banned
Joined: March 13, 2011
Posts: 392
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| Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2014 11:22 pm Post subject: |
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| Rad-mobile wrote: |
| Cool thanks for that. I've printed the chart. So there is so specific way to go about it? Just adjust, put it all together and check. Then do it again if it's still not level? |
The easiest way and the safest is to install drop plates that have already been engineered for lowered VWs. With drop plates your car will ride and feel even better that a factory VW despite the drop, plus the installation is a lot simpler than trying to calculate and remember "clicks" to lower. This method is the old school way that was practiced before the movement of drop plates. There is an entire thread on this subject: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=455139&start=0
Just a heads up to ya that most of the advice I have seen given to you has been by the people who wish to keep us in the dark ages, so take their advice with a grain of salt and come to your best educated conclusion. Or just ask the thousands of people who are already driving on drop plates and LOVING them.
Special shout our to Larry Arrieta who is in the new September issue of Hot VW. Larry 100% swears by these plates and was able to install them himself despite that he is not a mechanic. Congrats Larry! |
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Rad-mobile
Samba Member
Joined: January 31, 2012
Posts: 22
Location: Garage, Albuquerque NM
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| Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 5:29 pm Post subject: |
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Cool thanks for that. I've printed the chart. So there is so specific way to go about it? Just adjust, put it all together and check. Then do it again if it's still not level?
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'60 panel
'68 UK RHD Beetle |
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Ace
Samba Member
Joined: July 07, 2003
Posts: 1903
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| Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2014 8:30 pm Post subject: |
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Find a level spot and measure from a consistant spot on both sides and see how far off you are. You can then do tuning adjustments on the side you want to match to make them match heights.
One inner spline clockwise and one out counter clockwise drops you 5.5 millimeters. That's how fine you can adjust. You can just go by the chart and adjust it directly to match. |
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Rad-mobile
Samba Member
Joined: January 31, 2012
Posts: 22
Location: Garage, Albuquerque NM
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| Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2014 7:07 pm Post subject: |
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Does anybody have much experienece adjusting inner splines? I lowered my beetle about 3 years ago and since then, the left side of the car has been slightly lower and actually looks better then the right side. As I learned more and more about the suspension of these vehicles, I remembered that I had accidentally pulled the torsion bar completely out of its housing on the left side when I first lowered it, but ignorantly just shoved it back in and pressed on. I am thinking I can adjust the right side inner splines just to level it out with the left side. Does anyone know how to accurately adjust the inner splines? Or just a matter of pull it out, adjust, and check with angle finder until it matches the left side? Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom.
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'60 panel
'68 UK RHD Beetle |
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61SNRF
Samba Member
Joined: March 29, 2009
Posts: 4657
Location: Whittier 90602
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| Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 7:21 pm Post subject: |
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| hsosa1 wrote: |
| i had a hell of a time getting the torsion bar in and the car. had to use longer bolts. |
Whenever you take out the spring plate to adjust it a notch or two up or down, you need to remember to twist and move the inner and outer bushings a few degrees where they fit and key onto the torsion housing and covers too. The bushings are a tight fitting rubber, and want to stick and not rotate easily. If the four big nubs on the bushings aren't aligned with the notches where they seat and register into the torsion housing and cover, that can make the spring plates stick out too far and make the cover hard to get started, as well as make it hard to make accurate adjustments.
To help ease the friction, take the bushings off and dust them liberally on the inside and also the spring plate where they seat with talcum or baby powder. Try to keep it totally off the greased splines both inside and out, but dust them down all around the outsides, and dust the notched areas inside of the torsion housing and cover too. If you have a little plastic bottle of powder, experiment until you can squeeze it for small controlled puffs of dust right where it's needed.
Wanted to go down an inch or so in the back myself recently, and had to do it twice to get it just right. Didn't powder the old original bushings (which "looked" good) the first time, but found out when I took it apart the second time, the bushing nubs had gotten torn/cracked because I had to force the covers back on.
For that reason, and for all the trouble it takes, I recommend you go back in with all four new bushings so you get a good, long lasting and consistent result side to side.
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-Bruce
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. |
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