Not thinking about it for myself, just interesting to see someone think about different ways of beefing things up.
waveman1500 ·
Very interesting idea.
Aussie Dubbin ·
Interesting... Looks strong but also heavier. Is there a slide in the axle?
Birdman ·
I think wayne penrose are doing that to bens car after the warrick incident. Using jag axles.
polak ·
a few of the more serious dubs here in australia have been using a similar setup for quite while now, weighs a bit more but definitely puts up with the punishment.... still if u have the power to need these, then the extra weight isnt a problem either...
SuperOwen ·
Most have been using folts axle setup's, bus boxes converted to swing with a single uni. At the end of the day have an unbreakable axle will probably just mean a broken gearbox!
pete wood ·
Axles use U-Joints, like a Corvette, instead of the weak CV joints that came on the Beetle.
First up, this is a highly loaded statement. The CVs we got in beetles are actually very clever bits of engineering and naturally very strong... but in low angle configurations. At extreme angles is where they have issues. On a sandrail with paddles is a bad example of beetle "weak"ness coz they are way out of the range of use. One of my engineering mates put CVs this way, "when they are close to straight they are nearly unbreakable". Bus/BMW/930 CVs on the other hand are better suited to big angles, have loads of mods available and can take BIG power. Case in point is that a friends 350hp blown V6 kombi had the same set of stock bus CVs for over 10 years... and he drove it like he stole it. He just repacked the grease in them once a year and swapped them round for even loading.
Just btw, CV stands for "constant velocity", unlike unis that move in un even ways putting more pressure on trans parts by way of impulse/shock loads. There are good reasons why most IRS cars use CVs now rather than Unis.
The reason Folts uses unis in his bus box kit is that CVs don't take lateral loads. But then they weren't designed to.
SuperOwen ·
Actually the latest swingaxle setups use cv joints inside the spool, rancho have the setup detailed on their site I think. But thats big $$$ spendeola stuff. Personally I think that uni joint setup looks butt ugly and has too many adapter plates, but if it works it works!! I dont like the folts setup either but again It's proven to work quite well.
pete wood ·
love to see that new spendiola. got a link?
matberry ·
There was a cv tranny conversion in Hot VW's a little while back. I'm thinking it was to convert a Mendy trans to swing axle for the drag racers.
Race car builders did away with that type of drive shaft decades ago. The biggest problem was the sliding-spline not sliding under high torque loads - the more torque, the more they would 'stick'. When CVs became available, they were the answer to the problem, as they were much lighter, and had good 'plunge & dive'.
Why anyone would go back to that system beats me. It would be like converting disc brakes to drums.😂
bat69 ·
They looks like they are half shafts from the rear of a datsun plus a conversion kit. The funny thing is a lot of datto rally guys 15/20 years where changing the rear drive shafts off their dato rally cars to CV's because they were stronger and copped more abuse then the half shafts. There is no way I would change to this set up.
SuperOwen ·
Well i think that discussion settles the issue, the idea sucks!!!
Ta, looks like a very strong setup. Would I be right in thinking that the splines that go into the CVs are a stronger setup than the axle tangs on the factory swingaxle setup?
PAZZAN ·
yep there where a few datto 1600s I used to race against that changed to cvs because the half shafts would bind up under load stopping the rear suspension from working properly👍