This is why you must NEVER cut all the way through the tubes & weld them back together when putting adjusters in the front beam. Welds are not as strong as tube metal, no matter how good your welding, and a cut beam is a weak beam that can fail at any time. This is DANGEROUS. Yet another f***-up by the previous owner that I've had to fix, and I'm angry about this one because of how unsafe it is: there is a good reason why cutting all the way through is illegal. It took me two days and $440 to replace the broken beam with a new adjustable beam.

For the beam to fail like that is just nothing more that some clown who thinks he can weld when he obviouly cannot, i am involved with coded welding in the offshore oil industry and the weld can be as strong as the parent metal, if that beam was welded correctly you could put it in a hydraulic press and it would bend over the length of the beam without the welds failing, this happens because people in the aftermarket vw industry are not qualified welders, if the vehicle was engineered the engineer should have picked it up during the inspection, just remember the rest of the car you drive is welded together as well.

Quote:

Originally posted by Purple Martin This is why you must NEVER cut all the way through the tubes & weld them back together when putting adjusters in the front beam. Welds are not as strong as tube metal, no matter how good your welding, and a cut beam is a weak beam that can fail at any time. This is DANGEROUS. Yet another f***-up by the previous owner that I've had to fix, and I'm angry about this one because of how unsafe it is: there is a good reason why cutting all the way through is illegal. It took me two days and $440 to replace the broken beam with a new adjustable beam.

Exactly

Yep, nothing wrong with a cut beam when done properly, altho I like to add front end supports to stiffen things up, even stock, the frame heads crack and break when on rough roads.

Sometimes the Engineering thing doesn't work. A few years ago I was in Birdsville and spotted a new Ford Ranger on a hoist at the Service Station with a broken chassis.The chassis had been lengthened 18inches by welding another piece identical to the original with no fish plates and all the welds ground back to hide the job. It had been tagged to make it legal. From memory it was NSW rego.

It should have failed the engineers inspection as the weld's should not have had the beautifiyer applied leaving the welds untouched. as i said a lot of vw places that do these type of mods do not have a welding ticket, at the moment any body can do the job and get it passed by a engineer as long as the weld looks alright.

OK I stand corrected, it seems welds can be strong if done by someone who knows what they are doing. Even so, I'm still feeling angry that the PO did such a bad job of it.

This is the kind of adjusters in my new beam, Avis, they are welded into a rectangle window (so the beam is not cut right through), the adjusters are supplied already fitted in the new beam:
http://www.vollks.com.au/store/VW-Beetle-WELD-ON-BEAM-ADJUSTER-Link-Pin.html 

The only disadvantage to the style of adjuster that you have in your new beam is they are more prone to failure compared to the other style.

Make sure the teeth are all very clean and they are done down very tight after you have adjusted them. It'd only take a small bit of dirt gumming up the teeth of a loose nut and they can slip teeth.

You don't want this happening.





I agree with everyone else that you can build a beam stronger enough with adjusters. If you read my build thread you will see that the first beam I built was not welded well enough and cracked in half. I have redone it to a far higher standard as well as adding beam supports.
I would highly recommend beam supports, even on a stock car that is going to be driven a little hard.

Smiley

That failure looks great! Can you supply a close-up picture of the beam tube face - looks like a shocker of a weld with no penetration to have failed like that.
I agree with guys here - get a ticketed welder to do any welding, they know how to weld correctly, and none of this rubbish would be hitting the streets - imagine if that failed going at speed in a corner!
Cheers DJB

Try to find Avis/Puma adjusters with square teeth. Much stronger than the V teeth. Also they should just be seam welded onto the tube with a slot cut for the adjuster screw.
Avis also only work on BJ beams as LP beams have large slotted dimples front and back that are a bastard to internally hammer out and so LP lend themselves to Sway-a-ways better.

A good weld with full penetration can be ground smooth with little ill effect but the welding MUST be done by someone who knows what they're doing and with a high enough powered welder to get full penetration. 1mm weld gap with 45 degree bevel is how I've seen many beams done.

There is no requiremnet under the current regs for a coded welder to do this work, and this is the problem, to many people think they know how to weld when they do not. i only tig weld my beams, never had a issue.