Swing axle questions, tougher?

I have a offroad buggy which was originally swing axle (beetle)
It is currently being revamped and i have to figure out what gear box to run, it will have a 12a rotary engine.
It is currently a swing axle gear. How tough are these boxes compaired to a beetle IRS box?
Any easy mod's to toughen it up?
Kombi box is the last ditch option due to the need for custum drive shafts.

swinger box is stronger in the sense that it has less things to go wrong like cv's etc.

however swinger boxes are older, more worn out, they give less articulation that a double jointed IRS box.

u could run a swinger box, maybe a 1500 box but i think u will find you will be repaceing the box a lot.

option two is that u build up a strong Swinger box, this will cost lots of money and when it blows u cant just bung another one in,

option 3, u convert to IRS and run a single side plate IRS box from a 1303s bug, the strongest of the bug boxes and replace it when it brakes

option 4 build up a tough irs box and have the same problem as the built swinger.

or convert to kombi box, which if your serious about your conversion u will probobly do in the long run anyway after you have broken a few boxes.

yeah after doing a little research on ratios etc a 1600 kombi box with 29-30'' tyres should suit. I can get shortened drive shafts readily from COC which is good.
I dont like the beetle trailing arms though. Kombi arms are simpler and being a solid pipe should be stronger but then the whole rear end width would need to be changed. What are the type 3 arms like?
Then stud pattern will need to be change on the conversion back to wide five 🙁

Nothing is easy!

to put a whole kombi rear end in will increase your sprung and unsprung wieght in the rear, which is not something u want,

u can get aftermarket beetle stuff which is stronger.

if you really want wide 5 then there are ways around that too.

Go the kombi box. No question.

matberry wrote:Go the kombi box. No question.

Yep, couldn't agree more.

My brother 'terminated' 6 or 7 swing axle 'boxes in less than a year in his Baja before doing the Kombi 'box/IRS conversion. The Kombi box went in almost 2 years ago - haven't broken anything yet....

Also broke the (diff) end off a number of axles when it was a swinger - we believe that it was because of the rear suspension being as high as it could go at all times....

His Baja is powered by a 2.1 Type IV with EFI - and it's not driven gently!

Go the Kombi Box - save a lot of time and effort in the future.

R 🙂

[ Edited on 11-10-2007 by ratty 63 ]

Yep Kombi box is the go.
Use type 3 Auto left axles
and brace up the stock trailing arms if you want some extra beef.

PS don't use too much clutch on that 12A
if you want good life from ANY tranny.