How to Lower / Raise Front and Rear Suspension

[t-royR]

I went after the other side and like you all have said, much easier than the first time. Went well. Need to wait for new ball joint delivery to put first side back together.
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T-roy
75 Super
71 Super
71 Ghia coupe auto-stick
71 Ghia conv
69 Fasty
74 Ghia conv

[t-royR]

job completed. lowered to a nice stance. better than it was.
Thanks for all the help!

is there a gauge available for checking the toe-in?

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T-roy
75 Super
71 Super
71 Ghia coupe auto-stick
71 Ghia conv
69 Fasty
74 Ghia conv

[Boogievan]

Hey, looks great! Digging the stance, low but not dumb (not that there's anything wrong with dumb). Like those wheels too!
As far as the toe, there are a million writeup on how to measure it out. Or just Google 'cheap wheel alignment'.

[OhHerrooo]

I'm going to be lowering my 67 once it's back from the mechanic - so I took the liberty to download and re-upload all of OP's photos to the samba gallery in case his photobucket goes down. Here's the full post of instructions, with samba-hosted pics.

for the rear -

first thing to do is jack the car up and support it under the torsion bars. once done, with the wheel off, i removed the cover plate on the end of the torsion bar so you can see the outer splines -

i then marked the top of the spring plate with a centre punch so i could see where to line it up again - here i `ve put 2 punch marks -

i then disconnected the handbrake cables, just remove the nuts - i found i had to remove the handbrake lever to let the cables pull back through the tunnel -

this is where the cable comes out - just pull the outer sleeve of the chassis -

then removed the lower bolt for the shock mount -

3 19mm bolts holding the spring plate to the rear axle removed - i needed quite a large breaker bar to get these free -

i then supported the spring plate with a jack and move it upwards so it just clears the step it sits on - a scissor jack here only because my trolley jack is broken -

once this is done, remove the torsion bar cover to reveal the rubber bush -

i then pulled the rear axle free of the spring plate and up above it - i supported it with some wire tied to the rear bumper mount -

next i , i used my `lowering stick` Smile - basically, its from a stairwell and has a hooked end which i can get round the spring plate -

if the car hasn`t been adjusted before, these can be a nightmare to get free sometimes, but it just takes a massive lever of some sort usually!

once its clear of the step, let the jack down slowly to release the plate - keep fingers well out of the way here as sometimes it can spring down with force. at this pint, once its down and not stressed, mark where it is positioned!

here it is after i`ve dropped the plate down, then levered it off the inner splines. the plate did start to come off the outer splines which i didn`t want in this case (i`d turned the oppostie side on the inner splines already). if this is what happens, just hammer the spring plate back on to the torsion bar. once it is not under stress, you should be able to pull it back off the inner splines (hopefully!)

you can raise the plate up to lower the car or pull it down a spline (or 2) to raise the car.

once, you`ve got it where you want, make sure the rubber bush on the inside of the torsion housing is positioned correctly otherwise you`ll struggle to get the plate seated back in.

at this point i always struggle to bolt the torsion bar cover back into place - the bolts never line up with the holes once i have plate raise back into place. i found the best way to get it in place is to fit the cover and get the bolts started before i raise the plate into postion. this way you can raise it into place just above the step, then pull the plate into the housing by tightening the cover down Smile

toget the spring plate started back into the housing i found it helpfult ot give it a wack with the lowering stick -

once its all back in place, torque up the various bolts - job done!
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'67 Squareback
'69 Squareback
'68 Westfalia
'68 Squareback

OCT3 - Orange County Type 3's
www.evenkeelsurfshapes.com

[OhHerrooo]

ok, to raise or lower the front -

in this case i adjusted the lower arm on the inner splines -

here is the suspension. to start with, i made some marks on the housing so i knew where i started from. i then removd the lower ball joint pinch bolt marked here -

here it is undone -

push the lower ball joint out of the lower arm - you`ll probably need a hammer and some sort of clamps maybe to compress the upper and lower arms together. i then pulled the hub clear of the lower arm.

to remove the lower arm of the inner splines i needed to remove the bolt on the opposite side of car - this screws into the end of the torsion bar. by undoing this halfway and tapping it with the hammer, this pushes the bar out of the housing. you can then remov the botl completely and lever the arm out using a large bar of some sort Very Happy

here it is pulled free from the splines -

then either move the arm down to raise the car up up to lower it and push it back onto the splines. you can refit all the bolts and torque them up Very Happy

front done Very Happy

hope thats helpful to people,
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'67 Squareback
'69 Squareback
'68 Westfalia
'68 Squareback

OCT3 - Orange County Type 3's
www.evenkeelsurfshapes.com

[t-royR]

Getting alignment tomorrow. What specs should give to the shop?
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T-roy
75 Super
71 Super
71 Ghia coupe auto-stick
71 Ghia conv
69 Fasty
74 Ghia conv

[KTPhil]

Got a Bentley manual? Or other manual that lists the specs? Chances are it is not in the computer at the shop. Also, chances are they do not know two unique aspects of the VW/Type 3:
- Front camber should be adjusted on the top ball joint only, after putting the bottom one is the "center" position. (POST CORRECTED; I HAD THIS BACKWARDS!)
-Rear toe is adjusted by sliding the axle tube or diagonal arm in the spring plate slots. This is unique to this type of trailing arm rear suspension which almost no other car uses (unless they are a European specialist, then the odds increase to 50/50).

[Bobnotch]

OhHerrooo, for the rear torsion bar covers (re-installing them), I use some longer threaded bolts (threaded their full length), and compress the cover into place. Then I just swap them with the original ones I had removed. This works very well, and the longer bolts only need to be about 3 inches long. I got them at my local ACE hardware store. Your arrow pointing to the torsion bar end bolt is where I also use a longer bolt (swapped for the existing shorter one) to keep the torsion bar in alignment for resetting the lower trailing arm. Doing this makes the job go so much quicker.
I hope this helps.
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Bob 65 Notch S with Sunroof
71 Notch ...aka Krunchy; build pics here;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249390 -been busy working
64 T-34 Ghia...aka Wolfie, under construction... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=412120

[Bobnotch]

[OhHerrooo]

[Bobnotch]

[t-royR]

i had the front end aligned after lowering it, and it rides very well. Nice tight steering and straight down the road.
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T-roy
75 Super
71 Super
71 Ghia coupe auto-stick
71 Ghia conv
69 Fasty
74 Ghia conv

[OhHerrooo]

Currently stuck here:

Having a tough time getting the bottom stud of the ball joint free of the lower control arm. Would it be easier to try and break free the 30mm bolt from the top?
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'67 Squareback
'69 Squareback
'68 Westfalia
'68 Squareback

OCT3 - Orange County Type 3's
www.evenkeelsurfshapes.com

[Mike Fisher]

You have your floor jack under it which might have it wedged/cocked somehow? Jack it under the center of the beam & see if that helps. You do have a big 'pickle fork' ball joint separator you are using?
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https://imgur.com/user/FisherSquareback/posts
69 FI/AT square Daily Driver
66 sunroof,67,70,71,71,71AT,72,72AT,73 Parts
two 57 oval ragtops sold
'68 Karmann Ghia sold

Society is like stew. If you don't keep it stirred up you end up with a lot of scum on the top! - Russ_Wolfe/Edward Abbey

[OhHerrooo]

Nope, no pickle fork. Yeah I think it’s binding. Just not sure how to get it corrected.
_________________
'67 Squareback
'69 Squareback
'68 Westfalia
'68 Squareback

OCT3 - Orange County Type 3's
www.evenkeelsurfshapes.com

[ataraxia]

[OhHerrooo]

[Bobnotch]

[OhHerrooo]

[ataraxia]

Take the nut off the ball joint, seat the bottom in the spindle and then replace the top nut on the ball joint.