Softer ride

[droff85]

How does everyone's rail ride? I've just now been able to get my somewhat drivable and in a matter of minutes it will make my butt sore from bouncing. It appears to have stock-ish vw shocks on the front with an obviously bent cheap coil over on the rear. It is a kingpin front and swing axle rear. The tires are 31-15.50-15 v-tread rears with a set of 7.00-15 v tread fronts. I'm sure I could take some air out of the tires to help some since the tire shops around here don't realize how little air a vw tire needs. As well as replacing the bent rear shock. But other wise what would be recommended to soften the ride up a little or do I just need to get used to it since it is meant for off roading in the rough stuff anyways?

[joemama]

If they are your typical cheap chrome springs over a cheap shock, take those off. Your torsion bars are already there, and they were enough for a stock weight bug, I would think your rail is lighter. If someone has cranked up the rear torsions (you would be able to tell by the way the rear tires sit), you might have to crank those down. Try maybe 14 lbs of air in the rear, and 8 to 10 in the front. Experiment with your air pressure. Maybe KYB GasAJust shocks for the rear, the old cheap stock oil shocks you have on the front are probably just fine. I dont have a rail, but a fiberglass buggy, and this is what I run.

[Krochus]

In order to get my front suspension to do anything at all I had to uncrank the center blocks first.

The bottom beam tube got an adjuster

The top tube got the center removed completely

New bushings and shocks. I used air because I had a pair and they had no compression damping just rebound. I run them at very low pressure

Rides great and handles like a Polaris slingshot

[andk5591]

You already know about air...would not run any more than 16 in the front....Maybe 20 something in the rear. yeah - loses the coil overs. Many kit cars and buggies have some spring leaves removed from the beam to soften the ride. And just a a cheap oil shock should be fine all around....
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There's more, but not keeping them...

[Dale M.]

On a rail you can probably lose one set of leaves in front and replace with through rod, keep old worn out shocks on front, you don't NEED real shocks in front but you need some...

On rear as others have said, lose coilovers, anything you need to do on rear (soften/stiffen ride) can be done by setting preload of splines on torsion bars....

Drop tire pressures 10-15 on front and maybe 15-20 on rear.... It's something you have to play with to get acceptable ride quality and still keep tires on rims...

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 ...

[dustymojave]

Is the buggy to be used for putting around town on paved streets?
_________________
Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

[droff85]

Dustymojave I originally bought the rail to off road with it. I have a few times since buying it. But right at the moment I am in the process of putting street tires on it to go to a fun day at a local drag strip and race some of my fellow club members. So after that event it may be more of a street rail than a pure off road one.

[oprn]

I swapped a 68 bus 4 joint rear suspension into my rail to get the IRS and the lower ratio gear box. The ride was absolutely brutal!

I switched out the rear tires to some 14" quad tires and put 5 rib implement tires on the front. I run 6 psi in the front and 4 psi in the rear and the ride is quite acceptable now. Big difference!

Off road only car.

Re-indexing the torsion bars does not change the ride softness by the way, it only changes the ride HEIGHT!

[dustymojave]