Lowering my '67 Beetle

I'm doing the following in January 2011:

* Replacing my front beam with new one with Avis Adjusters
* Replacing front drums with Disc Brakes and 2.5" Drop spindles
* Replacing rear drums with Disc Brakes
* Dropping rear 1 spline

I have two questions:

1. Can i replace bearings and bushes without the use of a press, and
2. What is the best (read safest) way to do the rear spline lowering?

Any advice (constructive please) would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Old Timer

Have a read here on how to lower the rear

http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=78303

Hey thanks Bizarre.

Not exactly the same as my year, but should be instructive none-the-less.

Old Timer

Really easy once you have seen it done but can be dangerous. basically, jack ca and secure, remove axle shafts and lever out the way. Undo the four bolts on the torsion bar cap. Now you could just hit it off while standing out the way ***************** dont put your arms or legs under*************** or you could use a trolley jack and take the weight of the traiing arm, lever it out of the way of its stop and lower in a controlled manner. then once its down reset appropriately and make sure each side is the same, not as hard as it sounds.then jack it up abovethe stop and put the TBar cap back on and bolt up.

You may want to do more eading tha what i have said but hopefully you get the gist.

Er...thanks Aussie Dubbin.

Sounds reasonably straight forward, but scarey at the same time. I guess it's a matter of taking it slow and easy - and safely.

Dumb question, but which way do I turn the splines? To the left if I'm at the left rear (with the front of the car to my left), or to the right? (Make sense?)

Thanks

Old Timer

OldTimer wrote:Er...thanks Aussie Dubbin.

Sounds reasonably straight forward, but scarey at the same time. I guess it's a matter of taking it slow and easy - and safely.

Dumb question, but which way do I turn the splines? To the left if I'm at the left rear (with the front of the car to my left), or to the right? (Make sense?)

Thanks

Old Timer

rotate spring plate anti clockwise 1 spline if you are at the left rear (with the front of the car to your left) and clockwise 1 spline if you are at the right rear (with the front of the car to your right) just be careful not to dislodge the torsion tube from the chassis as there are different number of splines on the inner and outer and you'll be in trouble if you loose the original inner setting
hope this helps
Steve

Do your self a favour and purchase one of these tools that are disigned to raise the spring plate back onto the lower stop once you have adjusted the splines to the position that you disire,
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/VW-SPRING-PLATE-TOOL-BUDGET-VERSION-/110624895669
There is also a good book that cover's the beetle suspension in detail and will take all the guess work out of the suspension work that you are about to under take.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Modify-Volkswagen-Beetle-Chassis-Suspension-B-/220706721340?pt=AU_Non_Fiction_Books_2&hash=item3363254e3c
Also remember to mark the position of the spring plate once it has been released fron the lower stop, hold the end of the spring plate up and mark it's position with a texta, this will give you a starting point if you loose you position, you may find that one spline might be to much and you may have to adjust both the inner and outer splines to achive the disired ride height

Thanks guys - all good advise I'm sure.

Can't wait until January - I'll post some piccies.

Old Timer