I have a 63 split an just wanting comments on lowered ball joint with adjusters vs lowered king pin with dropped spindles???? I am leaning slightly tarwards king pin but wondering about ball joint. Rear of my bus is gonna be straight axle. To get the ball joint front i have that low it would have to drop about 4.5 to 5 inchs. Would the ride be to hard??? cost to rebuild either??? Any advise would be great.

you can buy dropped spindles for ball joint beams but they will widen your track width by 12mm a side and only offer a 2.5 inch drop , you could also fit bay discs on that beam but it will change your stud pattern, so if you want to keep the original stud pattern you will have to use adaptor plates or buy wide 5 discs which are around $1300 set but worth the cash i think or use wide 5 drums, not to sure what years the wide 5 drums were on in regards to bay windows
if you use a link pin beam the dropped spindles will lower the bus 3.5 inches and the torsion tubes are closer together so it will be lower than the ball joint beam straight away, then if you fit adjusters aswell you can get it on the deck, also the dropped spindles wont widen the track width. but if you want discs and are not much of a engineer like rob k who made up his own front discs for a link pin beam, the only option is to keep the front drums or buy wide 5 discs but as i said before not to cheap, but i like the wide 5 discs and will be investing myself .
i hope that helps and didnt confuse you to much
cheers darren





[Edited on 14/5/2005 by t2]

thanx for your thoughts. At the moment i'm not really interested in disc's as I want my bus stock but low and i want higher gearing as i live a fair way out and have to travel on the fwy where ever i want to go. i have just pulled the front end that was in it out which is from a 68 bay, and at the moment looking to swap for a king pin front if someone is interested. I think the king pin front is a better option for me. I will be after some dropped spindles shortly if someone can get in contact with Rob K as i heard they are A1. Thats if he still does them. ta Rick

dont know where you live but an old timer vw mechanic can reset the link pin stack and presto you have a dropped spindle..the tool is important ...do a little more investigation..the ride quality is better than the ball joint as is the turning circle.cheers dsk steve

I am using a set of Robs spindles on a K&L front and a straight axle.
Runs really nice and is quite low.
I feel a photo op.

Cheers
Dave

i have a straight axle convertion in mine and just adjusters up front on a stock linkpin beam
the ride is not that bad if you just want the front to match the rear ,but i dropped mine down as low as she goes
so she rides a bit rough but still drivable.

so it seems king pins win!!!! now i just have to find someone with a king pin front who wants to swap for my ball joint front in melbourne. I really dont want to give a wrecker my ball joint front + $150 smackers to get a king pin front. go on swap me a smelly old rebuildable king pin front for my road worthy ball joint front. you know you wana!!!!!!