Hello,

Does the bolt pattern mounting points on the front beam of a lowlight vary? Between 1968 and 1971

Thank you.

Yes they do.
cheers shane.

Any idea the year changes?

I know a 71 has a larger beam and booster as compared to a 69 model which has a much smaller beam and no booster at all.

I dont know what happened in 1970. A 68 beam is aparently the same bolt pattern as a late splitty and hence why there are so few 68's around today. Hnece, a 69 has a different pattern to a 68 and a 71 is propoabably a different pattern as the beam is so much bigger. 72 changed again but they are not really a low-light anyway.

68-69 early 70 beams are all balljoint as are 72 on .the beam sizes are the same.the difference is the earlier beams had smaller bolt pattern to the chassis.the 2 top holes are the same but the bottom holes on later 71 onwards where further apart.71 models on also had boosters fitted.

So i'd be safe to say my '70' beam will be the same bolt pattern as a '69' ?

as a final check the 2 bottom holes on a 69 beam are 163mm roughly apart centre to centre.the hole centres on 71 on beams are about 205mm. do a quick measure on yours and check.this should give you an idea, otherwise take a photo of one side of the beam,put it on here and i will soon tell you what you have. hope this helps.

Yeah it does! thanks heaps mate.

Hi urban_myth,

As the car isn't close to home i can't get a pic as yet but i had this laying around and thought you might be able to tell from here?

Low light beams changed half way through 1969 not 1970 or 71.
before that they were the same mountings as a split.
They are still wide five but they are differant between 68 and late 69 and won't just bolt on because of the differance between the mounting holes as mentioned above.
So a late 69 will fit all later bays, it will just have wide 5 drums.
An early 69 will not fit later bays.
That is why split owners used to grab 68 beams .But left the later 69 and 70 ones.

that beam appears to be a later beam.a straight on shot would be better.the bump stops seem to have been removed.

Is running no bump stops a bad thing???

Yes no bumps stops. I bought the bus with a lowered beam (bump stops removed) and i'm in the process of removing it to narrow it. I just need to know what side plates to fabricate. I will triple check when I'm working on the car next - unfortunately It's 3 hours from where i live so i thought i'd do my research fin the meantime.

This is the build up so far: http://s1189.photobucket.com/albums/z426/rossnaumov/ 

Thank you for your help guys!

when pulling out the trailing arms on the beam check for wear marks at end of the arms. if they are grooved it means the bushes are stuffed.they are not available new so will need to get some machined or find a good replacement beam.

I'm actually going to fabricate the beam from scratch using custom made bushes and side plates from Wagen West in the US.

This may make it clearer



1966 Kombi - Split window




1968 Kombi - Bay window (low light)

Wow! that is great -- thank you!