Went to El supercheapo last night and bough a trolley jack, so this morning I jackes the car up and took off both back wheels, and measured them both and they are both the same. Bugger. They are beetle 4" centers onto ??? 14" rims so thats that. Checked the drums were the same, there not but they measure the same, and then swapped the wheels over and let the car back down. But measured the ground to arch height on both sides, (also did a once around the block just to let the suspension settle) and the passenger side is a good 2" higher, so im guessing worn bushes? or is it soft torsion bars? or is it that my car has had no love from its previous owner for over 8 years and now is just feeling a bit saggy and old?
My Beetle is a bit lower on passenger side than driver's side... something about torsion leaves in mine. Hence why I bought a 2nd-hand beam to have narrowed and swapped over with my dying one. :P
Pretty standard for drivers side to be lower, after all there is always a driver in the car. Could be a combination of sagging torsion bars and worn bushes. Replace the bushes then reset the height. I have heard of people setting the drivers side a bit higher to compensate for the greater loading.
Ain't nothin' like the wind in your hair.
Pretty_Blue_Bug wrote:My Beetle is a bit lower on passenger side than driver's side... something about torsion leaves in mine. Hence why I bought a 2nd-hand beam to have narrowed and swapped over with my dying one. :P
Probably won't help you PBB as it's the rear torsion bars that sag; they carry more weight.
Fireball; 2-inches is lot. The way to level the car is by adjusting the torsion bars at the rear, install new bushes at the same time. As Purple said, some people 'jack' the driver's side of the car so it is level when somone is sitting in it
Pay your debts, CxxT
Hey VWCOOL, the back is all good though as far as I have been told... oh well, I want a narrowed beam anyway! :P
It could be some one has tried to compensate the sag and not correctly adjusted the height. Or you have a snapped torsion bar. it does happen.
empi
"If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you." - Anonymous 🥷
Pretty_Blue_Bug wrote:Hey VWCOOL, the back is all good though as far as I have been told... oh well, I want a narrowed beam anyway! :P
lol... I thought you might! Okay for show cars, but no good for street/handling as they stuff up geometry, especially with the 'short' tie rod
The way to check the rear for sure is to park car on flat, level concrete and jack up the front of the car in the exact centre using a very narrow piece of timber etc on sittingthe jack. With the front no longer influencing the ride height, you can see/measure any true difference in rear sag from side to side
Pay your debts, CxxT
Ok, thanks, can you buy uoprated torsion bars as replacements if mine have sagged?
OfOr will just adjusting them be ok?
Fireball xl5 wrote:Ok, thanks, can you buy uoprated torsion bars as replacements if mine have sagged?
OfOr will just adjusting them be ok?
adjusting will be fine - do you know about different numbers of inner and outer splines?
Pay your debts, CxxT
Been reading the tech manuals, bit confused, where do I get a protractor from?
And how long will the job take? Going to be using space in a mates flat car park but will have to be in and out in less than a day, would like to do front at same time but think it may be a little ambitious(dammed spelling).
pbb - rear of the car - not the beam...
2 inch is massive - is like a 2 spline difference?
seems more than just worn bushes etc
nick
Any of you lot feel brave enough to have a look and see what you think??
Would try and post pics but digital camera broke at weekend.
When car was in air today, tried to wiggle wheels but nothing mooved obviously...
the old wheel "wiggle" lol
Worked a treat on the mini....
Fireball
here is a "how to " from the VW trends site for a super beetle
Am guessing it will be the same for a Type 3
http://www.vwtrendsweb.com/tech/0312vwt_1971_beetle_super_project_part_6/Futue te ipsum!!!
Thinking I might take th ecar to vintage vee dub for a quick look over to make sure there is not something nasty wrong with rear suspension.
Will it not be quite tricky to get both sides the same height when lowering due to its sagging nature at the moment?
if you have some mechanical skill, setting height or hieght and replacing bushes in rear not that hard and basic tools....just time consuming....have a look at rob and daves shadetree mechanic site...it covers the procedure well, just need new bushes
however....make sure there is nothing else obviously wrong, for example...if you have gas shocks and one side is bad, the car will lean....or if you had a broken torsion bar the car would lean but would make a bit of noise i would imagine and would be riding on the bump stops....if the bushes were worn out or collapsed on that side it would be lower but there would still be some suspension travel
not that hard to get it level.
Fireball xl5 wrote:Been reading the tech manuals, bit confused, where do I get a protractor from?
And how long will the job take? Going to be using space in a mates flat car park but will have to be in and out in less than a day, would like to do front at same time but think it may be a little ambitious(dammed spelling).
NUP will take you more than that the first time - took me two days when I was learning; I can do it in about two hours now - Type 3s take a bit longer though, due to minor differences here and there
Pay your debts, CxxT
Oh well, will get bushes tomorrow and then start on sunday!!
Hopefully, someone has adjusted one side wrong....
I know people who have done it 3 - 4 times in the one day.... on Beetles...
First time is the killer....
I have never done it..... it scares the hell out of Me....
and it can be dangerous...
but then taking a wheel off can be dangerous....
With Beetles there are inner and outer splines...
and You adjust them for the correct ride height...
Laura,
1968 Beetles are noted for their soft rear torsion bars...
I know of people who have
adjusted their rear end Upwards, as they have sagged...
in 1500 beetles... over the years...
I hope Mine settle down a bit more.....
I like beetles a bit lower than what they were when new..
Front too....
cheers
Lee
- Helping keep Air Cooled VWs on the road - location: SCONE in the Upper Hunter Valley - Northern NSW 320 kms NNW of SYDNEY---
