saggy rear end

[bruce pattison]

I have a 1969 beetle, It seems to have developed a saggy rear end on the driver’s side, about 1" . The shocks are almost new, the tire pressures are equal. Could it be a torsion bar? Do they wear out? Because it is tough to adjust, It was suggested to put on adjustable shocks, would that help? By adjusting the shock, would that raise the ride height?

[Eskamobob1]

torsion bars can wear out and even break without a doubt. If you have no leaks from your shocks and your trailing arms are not bent, that is kind of the only option left
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'74 - front disks/lots more work to do

[Dark Earth]

[Cusser]

Two ways to raise a sagging VW rear end: Adjust torsion bars or install air-adjustable shock absorbers in the rear, like Gabriel Hi-Jackers.

I have adjusted torsion bars on a VW just once; on my own 1971 VWI have used the second option for 2 decades.

I can't remember if it was on my 1970 VW that I adjusted the rear torsion bars or a different VW, but that would've been over 4 decades ago.
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1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297

[gt1953]

The cure is to readjust the torsion bar(s). Take some time and is not all that easy. I have performed the operation on my 68 and wish now I would have gone two more clicks on the splines.
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Volkswagen: We tune what we drive.
Numbers Matching VW's are getting harder to find. Source out the most Stock vehicle and keep that way. You will be glad you did.

72 type 1
72 Squareback
({59 Euro bug, 62, 63, 67, 68, 69, 73 type ones 68 & 69 type two, 68 Ghia all sold})

[Cusser]

[beetlenut]

It also might not be the torsion bars, but instead the inner and outer spring plate bushings which are made out of rubber and wear down and deteriorate over time. They support the torsion bar on the outboard side.

https://www.mtmfg.com/part/view/bushings-for-sprin...-246-L%2FR
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scrapyards are for quitters
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[dirtkeeper]

It is probably not a broken torsion bar . If it was it would probably be sagging more.

A possibility could be as simple as loose bolts on the trailing arm to hub connection. This used to happen to me until I put an extra bolt in.

[drs1023]

Beetlenut's comment above is pretty logical as well. It's fairly uncommon for torsion bars weaken only on one side. The bushings aren't any easier to change than adjusting the splines, but an uneven adjustment from one side to the other (even 1 click) is problematic, too.


I last adjusted a '63 swing axle about 5 years ago. It was a time-consuming job.

[beetlenut]

If those are the original spring plate bushings, they most likely will come out flat on the bottom. When I replaced my original ones on my 74, it definitely made the rear sit a little higher. As long as he marks the position of the spring plate on the torsion housing once he unloads the preload. they go back together pretty straight forwardly. I'll be going back in in the Spring to reindex my torsion bars, which I'm not really looking forward to, but once it's done I'll be happy.
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scrapyards are for quitters
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[andrewvwclassic]

Angle locator, VW Bentley service manual, Trial and error, some things that come to mind.