4 wheel drive

[B. Rich]

Hi:
I'm a newbe and didn't get anywhere with the search key, so...I live in the northeast. I have a '68 bug convertible for good weather and a Jeep for the other 9 months of the year. I'd love to go air cooled year-round, and was wondering does anyone here know of a reliable 4wheel drive thing conversion-maybe with a subaru transaxle or something lite. Not looking for a monster lift, just something that can handle snow.

[Towel Rail]

Anything is possible with enough money, time, and determination.
_________________
1974 Thing -- under the knife
1967 Beetle -- spring/summer/fall driver
1996 Subaru OBW (EJ22, 5-speed, AWD) -- winter car, 3-seasons "don't feel like biking today" car

049 > 070 > 053 > 009

[npconnor]

I thiiiink wht you will find is that there is not enough room under a stock Thing for 4 wheel drive.

but then again, with enough fabrication, money, and brain power, almost anything can be done to a VW.

What I also think you will find, is that a Thing is pretty decent in snow. Just slap a larger engine in yours and maybe a "grandma low" short 1st gear and you should be good.
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'73 Thing
Austin Air-coolers Gang

[typesoneandtwo]

Take a look at this thread ...
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=270766&highlight=land+rover+discovery
and watch the videos in post #1.
With the right tires, 181s do very well , even better than some 4WD vehicles.
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Each day is precious.

[csmith181]

To go 4WD there are a few things that need to be changed:

Front end. You would have to get power to the front wheels. This would involve getting rid of the front suspension and grafting one from either another car or fabricating one from scratch. Either way, that's a HUGE amount of work. I doubt there are any Schwimmerwagen front ends available anymore.

Engine. The stock motor has barely enough umph to get the car down the road as it is. Try running a transfer case for the 4WD system and there is even less power. The Jeep doesn't seem to mind, but has either 190 or 225 hp to play with. The thing has 54 on a good day.

Weight. The thing is a VERY light car (less than 2000#). Adding a 4wd system could easily add 25-40% more weight.

VW didn't add the Syncro AWD to the Vanagon until long after they gave up on the Type 4 engine and went with a more powerful water cooled motor. One of those transaxles would bolt in, but you'll have dealing with the above issues.

For snow use snow tires, or the Jeep. I hate being cold, and even a 73 with a good gas heater is never warm enough above the waist for me. Or you could use my solution and move to the Keys. Top down driving over 330 days per year!

[kuebelwagen84]

If I remember correctly in the Kübelwagen: A Military Portfolio book they had a conversion for the typ 82 to make it 4 wd and I thought some actually were made to 4wd specs... I'll have to take a look later and see if I can post some pics from it
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// '73 Thing "Jeep Zerstörer" currently being restored / kustomized
// '07 Rabbit taking over daily driver duties

1600s of air-cooled German muscle!

[Captain Spalding]

[Van-go108]

I wonder how much they were asking for that. You can barely see the slots they cut for the radiator. That should be in the "vw abortions and homemade bastards" forum. It's cool though. I've seen worse.
_________________
"Okay, so there's 6 beers and 5 of us. You know what this means don't you? 4 of you are going to have to leave."


1973 Thing
1957 Continental Mark II Click to view image

[spaeth]

I have seen a picture of a Thing body sitting on a Vanagon Syncro chassis. They were selling it unfinished. The Vanagons are a unibody setup so you need to do a lot of reinforcing to make this work, probably some kind of exoskeleton style cage. It would be a cool rig but there is probably a reason why it was being sold unfinished.

Craig

[Ferretkona]

Just buy a VW Iltis 183. 4x4 with even a diesel option.
http://www.iltis.us/

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74 181 Thing
2008 Ford Sport Trac V8 4x4
2008 Ford Escape V6

[mattt]

[mattt]

[Captain Spalding]

[mattt]

[stevehenderson]

The old Zambonis have 4 wheel drive and used a 40hp industrial AC VW motor. I am just waiting for the local rink to unload there old one which has been sitting for years. I want the propane setup on it !!

[danfromsyr]

funny you should mention this combination.
I have a syncro 'chasis' stripped of everything above the floor from a PO with just that intention, and decided it was far moe work then his ample fabrication shop wanted to get involved with.
funny part is I Also have a Thing project and I'm NOT going to try and graft the 2 either. the syncro is going under my 2wd westfalia a MUCH easier merging of parts.
the thing will remain 2wd, but liekly with a Turbo diesel and WVO system.

[Original Manx]

You could now do this conversion with all Subaru components, reverse-geared transaxles are now available.
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Reversed gears for Subaru Transmissions
Fit a 5 speed to your rear engined car
www.subarugears.com

[uberautowerks]

Oh yeah? Cool....
...Do you have some kind of new style front axle to go along with that?
How about a front diff too?

_________________
--- The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at and repair.
- Douglas Adams -
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'74 Thing (White)
'71 Single cab (White too)
'70 Weekender (White three)
'05 Evolution VIII (White also!!!)
'68 F-250 (White over black)

[Original Manx]

[Ian Epperson]

Wow! Just read through your site.
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VW-181 shirts and stickers.
http://ian.epperson.com/vw