My buggy had two adjusters already fitted when I got it, but I noticed that it was set up to be low for the road and one adjuster was around more than the other. I decided to raise it for off road and set the adjusts to the same point so that the torsion bars were working equally. I marked the original ride height and then jacked the front up to where I wanted it to be then marked it again. Then I knew where I wanted them to be. One by one I cut the original welds and moved them around to my marks. I moved one more than the other to even them up.
If you do two then you can always adjust them to what you want, but I believe that some people get away with one. If you only do one also remeber that your adjustable range will be less than if you do two.
Hope this helps.
Steven
Craig Torrens6 times Australian, 7 times State Hillclimb Class Champion
For maximum adjustability, I'd use two and set them so that the lowest setting is about 'stock' - ie. the lowest setting you envisage yourself using on the road.
This should allow you a considerable lift, but you have the option of using less by decreasing the adjustment on one or both adjusters. 🙂
Kruizin Kol
Craig Torrens6 times Australian, 7 times State Hillclimb Class Champion
that's the same as what I do for lowering, although in reverse:thumb
I just thought that if you could only raise by.. say 2 inches, then I may as well set the adjusters at stock height when they are Half way ! then I could raise 2 inches (offroad) from stock or lower 2 inches (road hoon😀). Maybe I should use CB performance raised spindles ?
The basic rule is use 2 and offset them to get a progressive spring rate for the light buggy front end.
raised fronts always suffer from bump steer. The only fix is to use raised spindles. K&L front ends can find australian country buggy front ends and use them. Ball joint guys can buy thing front ends from the US and use them. The thing front end is stronger than the CB raised spindles.
Brad is running a thing front end, and I have one in my shed ready to be installed when I get some time.
The thing front end had both balljoints pressed into the arms from the bottom up. This means when you hit bumps hard the ball joints get jammed into their seats even harder. Whereas the standard beetle front the bottom ball joint gets pulled out of it's seat.
The arms and beam are very similar apart from the ball joints pressing into the lower arms from the opposite side.
Another difference is the thing wheel mounting point is slightly further out than the beetle, effectively making it a wider front end. This is why I haven't fitted mine yet, I am figuring out what to do. I think I will narrow a beam to get my front wheels back in the right spot.
The other disadvantage of the thing front end is that it only comes with drum brakes. Me and Brad are also working on making suitable adaptor plates to fit factory ball joint disc brakes and calipers. It shouldn't be too hard.
Hey Craig - October Hot VWs has an article on a "kit" for reversed bushes. Fitting the bushes from the other side was actually done 30 years ago - these days you can get extreme angle ball joints to go with it!
Autostik, if your talking about a bump steer kit then that only works for lowered beetles.
Craig, The thing spindles are raised about 3 inches. If you want the lift you need the thing spindles.
You can't change the beetle stub axle to mount the ball joints from the other way. It won't give any more clearance and physically won't work.
You can press the ball joints in the wrong side of the beetle arm to suit the thing spindles, I know some guys in the US have done it. However to do it properly you would have to machine the other side of the arm flat to make the thing ball joint seat properly.
Thing ball joints are also slightly different to beetle ball joints.
Baja Wes wrote:The thing front end had both balljoints pressed into the arms from the bottom up. This means when you hit bumps hard the ball joints get jammed into their seats even harder. Whereas the standard beetle front the bottom ball joint gets pulled out of it's seat.
MMM, come to think about it, the standard vw balljoint is pressed in from the bottom as well !
Or is it that your trying to say the stub axle sits below both trailing arms (both balljoints facing down,pressed up) unlike the standard beetle which sits in between(balljoints facing each other,pressed up), therefore using the beetle stub would be impossible?
Craig Torrens wrote:Or is it that your trying to say the stub axle sits below both trailing arms (both balljoints facing down,pressed up) unlike the standard beetle which sits in between(balljoints facing each other,pressed up), therefore using the beetle stub would be impossible?
notice how far the ball joint mounts are spaced. Both arms have the ball joints press in from the same direction as the beetle top arm. That is the cause of the wide spacing.
so the beetle spindle don't have the room to be set-up the same.
