Does anyone know what brackets/ modifications I need to fit an early Type 3 Swing Axle into my Split??
Cheers
Gaham.

Do a search for "straight axle", there's heaps of stuff on here about this conversion.
Cheers, ian.

JUST FOUND THIS ON THE SAMBA , he says what i try to say lol , i wouldnt waste any cash on straight axle again , not to long ago i was all for straight axle its easy and cheap now i dont even want to sell the straight axle stuff i have in the shed , i feel its a waste of money but thats your call...

FROM THE SAMBA
Straight axle kit works great if you want to lower 4 inches or more. Any less than 4 inches and you end up with positive camber \ / . It is scary to drive a bus with positive camber, they are all over the road.

There are three different bug axle lengths
66 and earlier, short axle/short spline
67, long axle/short spline
and 68, long axle/long spline.... this is what you guys want!
*all type 3 swingaxles are also long axle/long spline*

this is something many people miss and have troubles with later. Most straight axle kits are built off of short axle tubes. This means that you need the corresponding bearing caps from a short axle. If you use the caps that your long axle trans came with the area that the bearing sits into is too shallow, then you can’t tighten it down enough and the backing plates are loose and floppy!


IRS is nice at any height, it just costs more and takes more time to set up. It doesn’t camber as bad as straight axle or reduction boxes either. You can use weld in tabs then install the bug stuff or buy a bolt in kit. I am not much for permanent custom mods so that is my route of choice.

Thanks for the reply T2.
So will I have the bearing cap trouble using my early type 3 axle??
I`m not concerned about the positive camber as I will lower it one spline aswell. Yes, I want it to sit on the floor!
Cheers
Graham.

i had the bearing cap problem , as he says you will need bearing caps from a bug that uses short end casting axle tubes.....
what you need to do is make the early short end casting axle tubes the same length as the later long end casting tubes.
when you do it tap a wheel bearing into the end of each axle tube, one in the long plus one in the short , then modify the short end casting axle tube to the same length as the long using the bearing face for the length measurement on each tube (one bearing sits slightly deeper in the housing).
cut the tube as close to the gearbox end as you can this way when you weld it the weld will be coverd by the boot.
the way i did it was use 2 long and 2 short to make them up.

i had an idea of another way to go about making it easier to fab up your own s/a tubes, figure out exactly how much length you will need to add to the short tube , then when you are sure just how much needs to be added cut the tube around 20/25mm from the base , measure the internal diametre of the tube , then measure the external diametre of the tube.
use those sizes to get a sleeve made up that is a nice tight fit so you can hit it in, make sure you have clearance on the internal bore of the sleeve for the drive shaft ,the nice tight fit will help keep the axle tube good and true also keep the tube strong , the only down side will be you will have to weld the tube twice and one weld could possably be visible ...........
i think it would work well, if you cut the tube to short this will allow you to have plenty of adjustment and time to check before final welding .
i made a crap drawing of the sleeve i hope you get the idea , or you might choose to laugh at it and disregard altogether lol

[ Edited on 18-5-2006 by t2 ]

Nah, that`s a great help t2, thanks!
Nice drawing/idea btw!!!
Gra.