Just wondering if it's possible to do away with the torsion bar tubes that sit in front of the rear tyres on an IRS rear end? If so, how do you do it?

Cheers
Mick.

Wondering why You would want to Mick...

that rear end was used on some Porsches...

Coil Over springs - will keep the wheels UP..

but You still need something to Locate the rear end...
as its a major locating item....

OffRoad buggies may use a made up rear suspension???

Maybe an offroader buggy owner can tell You...

Lee

I think you mean the long torsion bars.... to run 33's maybe. It is possible to use this sorter bars and cut down swingaxle springplates to bolt up to the IRS arms

Ah, so thats what they do.... I thought that might be the case. Don't know if i'll bother. I am putting a new pan under my baja with a lift kit and raised front end and 1600 kombi box. I was thinking of trying to run 33's but i think i might just stick with the 31x10.5 desert deulers i already have. I just dont want the wheels to look too small for the car. 3'' lift and all.

I'm pretty sure Wes still runs 31's with his lift

Some 31's wont clear the long bars, BFG Mud Terrains for one, 33's will hit for sure. Longer arms is the way to go for clearance.

Have long can you extend the arms back?

Is there a limit legally or does it start to run into other things, eg the engine/exhaust?

ah , the legal question again. fact is in queensland the legal limit is zero.
I would think that with proper design welding skills and an xray test you may get custom arms approved. but then that would extended the wheel base, which then would cast doubt upon the geometry of the vechicle, so that would have to be proven to be safe aswell. That said because of the design of the vw suspension the wheelbase is forever changing.
A 1inch longer arm would help, plus you would be able to use your stock axle with a kombi box, but this a is alot of work (depends on what you're into) i've done it
If done right there is no one that will pick the modification and we are coming to a point in time where there are less and less people that know what a stock baja actually looks like (even less a beach buggy)
If you still want to go though the legal side of it? I would probably PM brad, i would think the amount of times he has had his engineers look at him blankly he will be able to give you a more definitive answer.

Long story short. If you like to fab and you are confident in that you can do it safely, modify your arms and don't tell anybody. If you want to do it quick and easy, shorter torsion bars and cut down spring plates to suit

good luck

I think i'm just gonna stick with my 31's, I am on an extremely tight buget and another set of tyres will just blow my buget way out. The only reason i asked is that i found an old set of 33x12.5'' mudders on the side of the road with a fair bit of tread still on them! until the next day i realised one had a nail in it... Oh well. My tyres still have so much life left in them, it would be a shame to see them go.

Thanks for the advice.
Mick

yeah good on ya, 33 are too big for a baja anyway. (unless you have reduction boxes or monster HP anyway)