Rear camber

[Buzzfagan]

How do I adjust the camber on my rear swing axle? Got it on the ground today and riling but it looks like the camber is such that only about 50-60% of the rear traction/tires are in contact with the road.

[clonebug]

You will need to adjust the rear splines one notch.

You can also adjust the inner and out up and down since they are a different clocking to get more or less drop.

With a swing axle transmission it is a PITA to do the job due to the axles not being able to move far enough out of the way without moving the whole transmission back.
At least that was the issue for me.

I did mine on one of my yearly winter stripdown upgrades since I pull my buggy apart almost every winter to upgrade or change something.

It's kind of a mess right now.

You might want to drive it to see how it settles since it will sit up a little high until you get everything installed and drive it down the road a bit.

I think mine is one outer notch lower than stock if I remember correctly.......although that was in about 2004-2006 that I last messed with it.
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[BIGMIKEY]

You might want to remove those "coilovers" too. They are adding spring rate when you don't need it.

Mike T
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BIGMIKEY

Deserter Series 1 project.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=787047&highlight=

1973 Beetle Driver, Marina Blue.

[Buzzfagan]

What would you replace them with?

[andygere]

Replace them with ordinary oil filled shocks. If you can find a soft, used set, all the better.

[BL3Manx]

You should hold off on re-indexing the torsion bars until its built. The weight of the body, engine sheetmetal, alternator, rollbar, seats, battery, etc., will change the camber, after you take off those helper spring shocks. You can't tell how far it needs to be lowered until its assembled. You want it to have just a slight amount of positive camber with no one in it.

[stevemariott]

[Dale M.]

Listen to everyone... Adjusting camber is absolutely the last thing you want to do in build... Preferably after you have put some miles on buggy so everything has chance to settle in....

And dump the coil overloads, you don't need them... Car/suspension is setup for vehicle that is 600/800 pounds heavier when it has steel body... When you reindex spring plates you are actually going to reduce preload/spring rate of standard suspension parts, coil overs just get in the way as they are not needed....

Dale
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“Fear The Government That Wants To Take Your Guns" - Thomas Jefferson.

"Kellison Sand Piper Roadster" For Street & Show.
"Joe Pody Sandrover" Buggy with 2180 for Autocross (Sold)
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All suggestions and advice are purely my own opinion. You are free to ignore them if you wish ...

[andk5591]

Have you rolled the car back and forth a bit? If not, roll it forward and backward several feet (like maybe 6') a couple times and it will come down some.

And Dale is right on the money with his comment.
_________________
D-Dubya Manx clone - 63 Short pan,1914.
Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Cindy's daily driver.
Max - 73 standard Beetle hearse project - For sale
66 bug project - Real patina & Suby conversion
There's more, but not keeping them...

[BIGMIKEY]

If you are on a budget and don't care to spend more money to replace those rear shocks. (And front?) you could strip off the springs and have usable shocks. Like I did.

Oh and Buzz. If my post came off abrupt it was unintentional. Great job so far keep it coming.

Mike T
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BIGMIKEY

Deserter Series 1 project.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=787047&highlight=

1973 Beetle Driver, Marina Blue.

[Dale M.]

And avoid any gas shocks... plain old maybe even tired oil shocks OEM style...

Dale
_________________
“Fear The Government That Wants To Take Your Guns" - Thomas Jefferson.

"Kellison Sand Piper Roadster" For Street & Show.
"Joe Pody Sandrover" Buggy with 2180 for Autocross (Sold)
============================================================
All suggestions and advice are purely my own opinion. You are free to ignore them if you wish ...

[andk5591]

For once I will disagree with Dale. I have KYB Gas Adjusts on the back of our buggy. Would never use them on the front, but they seem to work very well on the rear. There is enough weight in the rear that they wont lift the car at all.
_________________
D-Dubya Manx clone - 63 Short pan,1914.
Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Cindy's daily driver.
Max - 73 standard Beetle hearse project - For sale
66 bug project - Real patina & Suby conversion
There's more, but not keeping them...

[911pickup]

I've gone the same route as andk5591.
I replaced the worn out shocks on my IRS buggy with cheap oil filled shocks in the front and KYB Gas shocks in the rear.
I figured the gas shocks would work well with the extra weight of the engine.

[Jacob Baja63]

Im having the same issue on my baja bug with "coil overs".
did you end up swapping out for gas shocks? if so did it fix the camber issue?

[andk5591]

Pull the coil overs and see how it sits. The Gas adjusts may give a very slight lift in the rear, but not anything like the coil overs usually do.
_________________
D-Dubya Manx clone - 63 Short pan,1914.
Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Cindy's daily driver.
Max - 73 standard Beetle hearse project - For sale
66 bug project - Real patina & Suby conversion
There's more, but not keeping them...

[Jacob Baja63]

[andk5591]

Would suggest taking the car for a ride around the block after you pull them to help things settle. I hate coil overs. I feel like they are a bandaid for folks that want to raise the car and are too lazy to reindex the springs. I have a 77 or 78 vert that we are redoing and they are on it. Once we paint the car, they are coming off. If I need to tweak the springs rotation, I'll do that.

You should notice a dramatic different in ride quality without them.
_________________
D-Dubya Manx clone - 63 Short pan,1914.
Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Cindy's daily driver.
Max - 73 standard Beetle hearse project - For sale
66 bug project - Real patina & Suby conversion
There's more, but not keeping them...

[Deh Shark]

laid out....
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AH TIYAD AH DAT DEH BAI!!!
Organize folks are just to lazy to look for stuff!!

55 3 fold Ragtop
Manx Dune buggy 2387cc