Question on legalities. I want to fit disc brakes to a king pin front end in Qld. As this was not available on this version of the VW how do you go legally. I know that at least 2 mobs in Bris/Gold Coast sell them but are they legal. Are the ones sold engineer certified? Do I need a mod plate on my buggy if I fit them? I am looking at doing the front as the rear already has T3 brakes.

Cheers
Doug

No & Yes

http://www.customoffroad.com.au/reardiscs/discbrakes.htm 

i " thought " these were already plated???

ring and ask???

They will need a mod plate to be legal. Before you do anything talk to an blue plate officer. You ring the QLD Transport Modifications hotline on (07)3253 4851 to find your nearest officer or talk to whoever you intend to purchase the kit off about who they use.

I would recommend the Custom Offroad Kit as they use current model Commodore rear callipers for the front conversion. These are cheaper, have more pad area, cheaper pads, more accessible etc. Custom Offroad use Richard Larson from http://www.loadsafe.com.au  for approvals.

Hope that helps

Thanks for replies.

I have already contacted Custom Offroad but he doesn't seem to think that discs on the front would help and only wants to put discs on the rear. I will give him another call as it seems he might do the better conversion especially if it is with Commodore calipers. Much cheaper to buy and also replacement pads etc. I really don't want to go disc on the back yet. I also notice that bluebaja is parting out his baja and has a height adjustable king pin front end with disc conversion. I asked him what sort of discs etc they were and he didn't know.

Thanks again for help.

Cheers

I was told by Custom Offroad that because of the much larger rolling diameter and weight (engine over the rear) of the rear tyres on buggies that the better stopping power needs to be on the rear. He said that putting discs on the light front would cause it to skid rather than brake.
My thoughts are that once I get on the brakes the weight is mostly transferred to the front although it is lighter compared to most other cars with front engine. Can't think of any early Porsches which had discs rear/drum front or the VW when it went discs. They had them on the front and drums rear.
I think that someone else on this site mentioned that they had the same information from them in an earlier post.

it`s been my experience that to get front discs to work well on a buggy, you need to get the front & rear tyre diameters as close as possible. i ran discs on the front with 14" front & 15" rears. it locked up all the time. fitting 15" fronts helped to reduce the lock up, but i think rear discs would be the better option.
cheers,
rick

DougD i would seriosly listen to George at Custom Off Road as he has spent more time playing with VW'S than most of us ameters put together and plus as Rick said YOU try braking hard on gravel at speed ina corner with 32'' back tyres and 26'' front tyres with discs on the front and drums on the rear and see where you end up because it ain't pretty. Trust me as i know because i currently run this combo and those trees come up real quick at 60mph