Puma style adjuster on a link beam

psimitar Son of Jim - Creator of Good

2,506 posts · joined Jan 2009 · 30 Aug 2009, 6:35 pm

#732483

Hiya all,

I'm wanting to fit those toothed Puma style adjusters to my link pin front beam but am wondering if the central bush needs removing for when you weld the adjusters on. I mean to get good penetration into the torsion tube when welding the adjuster on will that mean that the bush will get stuck to the inside of the tube?
If it does need removing, how do you do this when it's a groove holding the bush in and not dimples like on the ball joint beams?

Any ideas?

madness is in the eye of the beholder 👍

psimitar Son of Jim - Creator of Good

2,506 posts · joined Jan 2009 · 1 Sep 2009, 10:56 pm

#732949

^^^^ Anyone????

madness is in the eye of the beholder 👍

Dirtbag What the hell does standard mean?

407 posts · joined Aug 2009 · 1 Sep 2009, 11:37 pm

#732957

Can you use the sway away style adjusters on that beam instead?

Dirtbag What the hell does standard mean?

407 posts · joined Aug 2009 · 1 Sep 2009, 11:40 pm

#732960

I know the centre bush doesn't need to be removed, as there's enough meat in the beam tubes to stop the weld going right through. The ball joint beams need the centre bush to be "loosened", but like you said, they only have 3 dimples. If I can find anything out I'll put it here.

68AutoBug Beetle Restorer - Experience over 138\% - YIKES --

11,654 posts · joined Aug 2002 · 2 Sep 2009, 12:18 am

#732968

psimitar wrote:Hiya all,

I'm wanting to fit those toothed Puma style adjusters to my link pin front beam but am wondering if the central bush needs removing for when you weld the adjusters on. I mean to get good penetration into the torsion tube when welding the adjuster on will that mean that the bush will get stuck to the inside of the tube?
If it does need removing, how do you do this when it's a groove holding the bush in and not dimples like on the ball joint beams?

Any ideas?

Good question

LEE

- Helping keep Air Cooled VWs on the road - location: SCONE in the Upper Hunter Valley - Northern NSW 320 kms NNW of SYDNEY---

psimitar Son of Jim - Creator of Good

2,506 posts · joined Jan 2009 · 2 Sep 2009, 6:05 pm

#733074

Dirtbag wrote:Can you use the sway away style adjusters on that beam instead?

Indeed I could yet I'd personally like to use the Puma's. If I have too then i'll use the sways. If you're sure that the weld wouldn't penetrate that deep then I suppose the thing to check now is that the central bush can rotate within the tube. If it don't move then the only option would be to heat the grooves and knock the bush back and forth within the tube to un-groove the grooves 🙂
Hmm, now which adjuster would take more work 😂

madness is in the eye of the beholder 👍

Dirtbag What the hell does standard mean?

407 posts · joined Aug 2009 · 2 Sep 2009, 6:30 pm

#733082

Hey psimitar. I don't know a lot about VW's but I just did a narrowed beam for a beetle and fitted the sway away adjusters. They were really easy. The narrowing part was the biggest job. If sway away adjusters are available I'd go that way, like you stated, it's a lot of work using the others. I posted a thread on the beam I did called "first timers guide to beam modification" . Might be of use? Let me know if you need a hand.

psimitar Son of Jim - Creator of Good

2,506 posts · joined Jan 2009 · 2 Sep 2009, 7:05 pm

#733100

Hiya Dirtbag, yea I saw your thread. very useful 🙂 I've actually just had a quick look at the centre bush and on a link it looks like the grub screw thread is part of the tube and bush. I'm not sure they could be used with Puma's ???

Looks like to save messing around it's sway aways. I may take you up on the offer of help. How many six packs will it cost me 🙂

madness is in the eye of the beholder 👍

Dirtbag What the hell does standard mean?

407 posts · joined Aug 2009 · 2 Sep 2009, 7:26 pm

#733109

Hello again psimitar. Six packs......mmmmmmm....... 😂 Just make sure sway aways are available for your beam. Tube diameter and torsion leaf shape (the hole in the middle of the sway away adjuster) will be the main things to check. If you want to bring your beam to my place it shouldn't take too long to get them fitted.
Unless you want to narrow it at the same time???

psimitar Son of Jim - Creator of Good

2,506 posts · joined Jan 2009 · 2 Sep 2009, 7:46 pm

#733120

Cheers for that. I'll make sure they're the right ones. Ball joints are stepped central bushes and links are square 🙂

I just had a bit more of a dig and I don't see how they can sell the puma as for both types of beam. The grooves on the beam crimp into a channel in the bush but only where the tube groove is and not all the way round. hence you either have to heat the grooves up and bash the bush back and forth till the beam groove is no more or cut the beam grooves out and weld a curved patch in. Thats quite a bit of work.
Oh and my beam now looks like swiss cheese so a good excuse for some sway aways 🙂 🙂

Once I have the cash for the sways I'll let you know and come say hello 🙂

madness is in the eye of the beholder 👍

psimitar Son of Jim - Creator of Good

2,506 posts · joined Jan 2009 · 8 Sep 2009, 8:53 am

#734107

Dude, think I will shorten the beam too by 1.5inches to allow for disc brake conversion.

I can grind off the framehead locating brackets and steering damper bracket so then we can use your jig to line it back up once the narrowing is done 🙂

Let me know what you think

madness is in the eye of the beholder 👍

Dirtbag What the hell does standard mean?

407 posts · joined Aug 2009 · 8 Sep 2009, 9:35 am

#734113

Yeah, sounds good. That jig worked really well on Glens beam and I feel the more I use it the more I'm glad I took the time to make it : )