Skip to main content

Closed13 replies

dismanted the wider beam

FM Former Member
I have switched back to the stock beam on my D. and then cut the rack up and turned it into a center steer rack like a 89 cavaleir uses it was a simple converson. a lot easyer than i thought it would be 2 freazze plugs a 10 inch scrap peace of steering colum pipe and wield on the double eyes to the very center of the rack is the only tricky part (you only have 1 inch of open space from lock to lock in the rack )
Very tricky to wield in and reinforce but very do-able. I even re used the boots . and then picked up a good set of superbeetle tie rods .
Its looking very clean so far. But Im not going to buy a $3500 dollar a frame frontend when I have seen to many dune buggys with center steer setups and heard nothing but praise on how they work.
Just before I put it back on the car I will post you guys some pics and let ya know how it works . Im not gonna brag on it or anything until I see for myself how it does . When Im happy, and satified it works right .
I will post the patterns an proceedures so you can make your own IF you wish..
BUT I let a pro wield on the double eyes cut from a vw steering box arm. The one improvement I should have done was make the rack shaft 2 inches longer to not only give it more room to wield on the eyes. But it would also have help the colum shaft clear a stock fuel tank.. and let ya use a stock super steering link.

DON"T brag on me yeat Im still not sure myself. But time isn't anything to a poor man. and its my nickel..
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

FM Former Member
I have switched back to the stock beam on my D. and then cut the rack up and turned it into a center steer rack like a 89 cavaleir uses it was a simple converson. a lot easyer than i thought it would be 2 freazze plugs a 10 inch scrap peace of steering colum pipe and wield on the double eyes to the very center of the rack is the only tricky part (you only have 1 inch of open space from lock to lock in the rack )
Very tricky to wield in and reinforce but very do-able. I even re used the boots . and then picked up a good set of superbeetle tie rods .
Its looking very clean so far. But Im not going to buy a $3500 dollar a frame frontend when I have seen to many dune buggys with center steer setups and heard nothing but praise on how they work.
Just before I put it back on the car I will post you guys some pics and let ya know how it works . Im not gonna brag on it or anything until I see for myself how it does . When Im happy, and satified it works right .
I will post the patterns an proceedures so you can make your own IF you wish..
BUT I let a pro wield on the double eyes cut from a vw steering box arm. The one improvement I should have done was make the rack shaft 2 inches longer to not only give it more room to wield on the eyes. But it would also have help the colum shaft clear a stock fuel tank.. and let ya use a stock super steering link.

DON"T brag on me yeat Im still not sure myself. But time isn't anything to a poor man. and its my nickel..
FM Former Member
One more note I could only heat and bend the spindles about 5/8 of a inch. That is not enought to use the wider beam it needed 1 inch on each. I couldn't get it safely unless I had a forge to super heat the things and a oil bath to slow cool them to retemper the steel.

It can be done .

But It was way to easy to drop back to the stock beam. and just live with it.
But the spindles are now correct for the 85.5 wheel base. Its got to be better.
FM Former Member
Barry, Why did you go back to a stock beam? My curiosity is peaked because I recently completed my conversion to a five inch wider beam assembly, with four adjusters total.

I am very happy with my conversion. Just like adding power steering! In case you forgot, In my case, I removed a 2.25 inch wheel spacer from each side of my "stock" beam. Much better road feel now, and steering is much sharper. I haven't posted any pictures yet because I am out of town for the summer and only have access to local Library computers to keep up with you guys. I guess I am a candidate for a pair of those lower beam supports that were discussed on another thread. That's this fall.

So, to repeat, what was unsatisfactory with your wide beam?
FM Former Member
Paul,
Why did I widen my front beam?

Because I have a flared body. As built it had a 2.25 inch wheel spacer at each front wheel. If you think about that, you will realize that that in itself makes for a strange steering sensation when the ball joints are over two inches inboard from their original design pivot point. "Scrub radius" is the distance from the ball joint pivots to the centerline of the front tire, as it sits on the road. Shouldn't be more than maybe an inch or so. Mine was three inches plus.

Where did I put the rack and pinion?

I left it on my wish list for future upgrades. Still using the original VW steering box with extended steering arms. I understand moving the pivot point on the steering system either forward, backward, upward or downward from it's original design position will screw up both the bump steer and the ackerman, so for now, steering remains as stock.

Point of interest: Driving home from the installers shop, the car really did drive a bit uncomfortably. It had gotten an "eyeball alignment" job. Next day, I took it to my chassis guru and had a front end alignment done to my specs. HUGE IMPROVEMENT. That really
made ALL the difference!

Though I have not had a chance to drive it as much as I would like to yet, my initial impression it is a really big improvement over the original wheel spacers. And "back spacing" the wheels would not have solved my problem - dimensions where excessive.

FM Former Member
before i started his last fall the had 1inch spacers and a slight laxness to understeer. when i went to thwe wider bean i ws using the rabbit rack in stock form

I went back to the standard beam But the has been mondied into a center steer type rack Im told that that type is very forgiving if its off a little both tie rod hook on in the middle and im now useing superbeetle tie rods. I will find out for sure this weekend Its down to the final assembly
FM Former Member
Get this When I order the first set of spindle for this car they sent me 67 ghia disc brake spindles You know the ones that use the smaller rear bearings and seals .

SO this time I order specified the same spindles 67 ghia again ..

I got a disc brake spindle ALLRIGHT 74 stanard beetle or newer

YOU KNOW the common rear wheel bearing which is used from 68 to 79 on all of them..

THATS what I realy wanted the first time around so I could say the intire car is 70 model year componits

But I still had to go back up to my freinds shop today have him open up on saterday afternoon just to get the right bearings and seals.
FM Former Member
Barry, I hope this isn't too late to help you.
It's a Baja box, and the tie-rods go almost perfectly straight out to the spindles. The only guidance in the whole works really was the placement of the steel plate and the angle it needed to be at for the knuckles to not bind up. If you have a stock fuel tank, it might have to be a bit lower -- knowing you're not afraid of a little welding, you should be able to do this in short order.
I have really great steering at all speeds. The Heim joints on the steering box itself are pretty self-explanatory. E-mail if you want any clarification?

Attachments

Hide
Images (3)
  • steering rack parts 051206
  • steering bracket welding 051206
  • sector shaft aerial 051506
FM Former Member
If the weather holds I may get to test drive oldyeler tommow. see what this rack is like we checked the lock to lock geometry and the wheels match from rigt to left in any position This should be it I sure hope so Im takin a few days this month and I'd sure like to drive her..
Post Content
Remove This Ad

Membership Required

We're sorry. You must be signed in to continue. Sign In or Register
×
Are you sure you want to remove from your Block List?
×
Loading...
×
When you block a person, they can no longer invite you to a private message or post to your profile wall. Replies and comments they make will be collapsed/hidden by default. Finally, you'll never receive email notifications about content they create or likes they designate for your content.
Note: if you proceed, you will no longer be following .
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×

Access to this requires a premium membership.

Supporting Member

Please help keep us running!

Supporting members have donated about $4.00 a month ($49.00 US per year) paid annually.

  • Priority support
  • Removal of inter-page (between thread) advertisements.
  • Access to Build Manuals
  • Access to Knowledge Base
  • Access to Supporting Members events.
  • Access to Leveraged Group Buying from site Merchants.

AUTO RENEW: You membership will auto-renew after 12 months. If you prefer not to auto-renew, you can cancel your premium membership at any time and it will remain in effect until the end of the 12 months. To cancel, sign in at SpeedsterOwners.com and navigate to: (Your User Name)  > Premium Membership.

PLEASE NOTE: Your credit card will receive a charge from CROWDSTACK PAY, the payment processor, not SpeedsterOwners.com.

$49.00 per 12 Months (plus tax if applicable)
×