@RacerX wrote- "Ok! The arms are on. Whew, that was a lot of work..."
How wide are the rims and tires on it now? What do you plan on changing to? Did you shorten the threaded end (end that the castle nut threads onto) of the stub axle at all? What spring plates are you running- stock (1 plate or 2) or adjustable?
@ALB let me tell you, my stock arms were configured differently (3 bolts - 1 spring plate) than the ones supplied by Kevin @coolryde (4 bolts - 2 spring plates). His arms are the ones in primer. After a couple of conversations with Kevin, it was decided that I could modify his arms by cutting-off the fourth bolt extension and notching out the mid bolt hole on my spring plate. This close grouping is the same as seen on aftermarket spring plates and allows for alignment. The benefit gained was that there will not be any bolt interfering with tire clearance on the spring plate. It all aligned within specs. I will include a pic of the mod when I get back in there in the next day or two, then it may make more sense. The wheels on there now are 15x4.5 I believe. I bought a 16x6 Maxilite Fuchs wheel for mock-up, just need to get a 195/55/16 tire on it and see how it goes. The stub axle is stock because the bearing housing is still the stock unit.
Brian
I just got through installing a set of our 1.5 inch narrowed arms on a customers speedster Friday. Big difference. BTW: these are not the chop the arm into 2 parts and weld back together, those are way too dangerous. We actually cut the bearing housing out and replace it with a new one after removing the outer part of the arm at the bearing housing and plating it up. Most likely stronger then they were new... All of this is done in a fixture that allows for proper camber angle at a lowered ride height.
Hey Kevin, not that I am any type of certified welder, but I think that it really depends on who is doing the welding if a cut and welded swing arm is safe or not.
While I prefer the look of moving the bearing housing over chopping the arm in half and simply repositioning the end, I'm only looking at the aesthetics, as (Danny speculated) either way will be more than adequately strong in the hands of a good welder/fabricator. I believe it was my friend Bruce who first popularized narrowing irs trailing arms- the article in Hot VW's (June(?) '94) first showed how it was done and featured Bruce's bug with 8x15" Fuchs alloys and 225's in the rear.
@coolryde- do you replace the bearing housings with new because you're finding them worn, or is there another reason? Are you machining them up yourself?
I did a couple of pairs of arms after reading Bruce’s article back in the late 90’s. I bet he uses new bearing housings because it is quicker than cleaning up all the metal from the old housing to reuse. I also found that the housings were very rusty, at least here in the northeast. They had a lot of pitting and took a lot of blasting to clean up. A new housing is cheap compared to the labor.
LI-Rick posted:I did a couple of pairs of arms after reading Bruce’s article back in the late 90’s. I bet he uses new bearing housings because it is quicker than cleaning up all the metal from the old housing to reuse. I also found that the housings were very rusty, at least here in the northeast. They had a lot of pitting and took a lot of blasting to clean up. A new housing is cheap compared to the labor.
I'm not doubting what you're saying, Rick, but I'm under the impression he's re-used the bearing housings. We salt the roads (on and off) for 4-5 months of the year here so I don't know what to tell you. I'll probably be seeing him tomorrow night (bug club meeting) so I'll try to remember to ask him. Where are you getting new housings?
coolryde posted:I just got through installing a set of our 1.5 inch narrowed arms on a customers speedster Friday. Big difference. BTW: these are not the chop the arm into 2 parts and weld back together, those are way too dangerous. We actually cut the bearing housing out and replace it with a new one after removing the outer part of the arm at the bearing housing and plating it up. Most likely stronger then they were new... All of this is done in a fixture that allows for proper camber angle at a lowered ride height.
Very nice does that move any attachment points? Do you need shortened axles ? I have an IM
ALB posted:
LI-Rick posted:I did a couple of pairs of arms after reading Bruce’s article back in the late 90’s. I bet he uses new bearing housings because it is quicker than cleaning up all the metal from the old housing to reuse. I also found that the housings were very rusty, at least here in the northeast. They had a lot of pitting and took a lot of blasting to clean up. A new housing is cheap compared to the labor.
I'm not doubting what you're saying, Rick, but I'm under the impression he's re-used the bearing housings. We salt the roads (on and off) for 4-5 months of the year here so I don't know what to tell you. I'll probably be seeing him tomorrow night (bug club meeting) so I'll try to remember to ask him. Where are you getting new housings?
I reused the housings, as I did them for myself, and time wasn't an issue. You can buy them from any VW parts supplier, about $60 each.
That's how you get a 205/65 tire under a lowlight Ghia fender.
Al, I have a couple of those bearing housings in my future. I plan to change my swing Spyder to IRS, using an extra set of fabricated tube trailing arms I already have.
Those housings are available as bolt-in or weld-in from mostly off-road buggy and sand rail suppliers.
Remember, my Spyder has no torsion tube, it has coilovers from QA1 in the rear. I have to fabricate some lateral links and pickup points on the frame and the trailing arm. Shocks remain in the same place, and stock length Bug CVs will be used.
DannyP posted:Al, I have a couple of those bearing housings in my future. I plan to change my swing Spyder to IRS, using an extra set of fabricated tube trailing arms I already have.
Those housings are available as bolt-in or weld-in from mostly off-road buggy and sand rail suppliers.
Remember, my Spyder has no torsion tube, it has coilovers from QA1 in the rear. I have to fabricate some lateral links and pickup points on the frame and the trailing arm. Shocks remain in the same place, and stock length Bug CVs will be used.
I think you're talking about the pivot points that mount on the corners where the frame horns and torsion tube join together? We're talking about the piece that holds the bearings for the stub axles.
ALB posted:DannyP posted:Al, I have a couple of those bearing housings in my future. I plan to change my swing Spyder to IRS, using an extra set of fabricated tube trailing arms I already have.
Those housings are available as bolt-in or weld-in from mostly off-road buggy and sand rail suppliers.
Remember, my Spyder has no torsion tube, it has coilovers from QA1 in the rear. I have to fabricate some lateral links and pickup points on the frame and the trailing arm. Shocks remain in the same place, and stock length Bug CVs will be used.
I think you're talking about the pivot points that mount on the corners where the frame horns and torsion tube join together? We're talking about the piece that holds the bearings for the stub axles.
Danny is talking about the bearing housings. There will be no diagonal arm in a spyder, no room, as that is where the engine sits. He will need some type of H bar setup, or 4 individual links on heim joints to locate the lateral movement of the suspension.
Rick is right, and sorry for the slight thread drift. I'll be using those bearing housings and fabricating 4 lateral links to make the rear wheel move up and down with little camber change, but will engineer it to give a little more negative camber on compression, to allow the outside wheel to remain as straight upright as possible under roll.
Same rear suspension as a 4th gen. Corvette, excepting the coil spring instead of a leaf. They have a long single pivot trailing arm, and 2 parallel transverse links per side. Independent, of course.
Rick, that is FINE work!
As far as cutting a trailing arm into 2 parts then but welding it back together, I strongly feel it is much weaker then removing the bearing housing, and plating the outside. The problem with but welding and having that butt weld between the pressure pushing up (bearing housing) and the pressure pushing down (the spring plate), not to mention it is in a shear condition is a concern and much weaker then having the bearing housing the way we are doing them. As for replacing the bearing housing, the original is a crudely cast item the has been machined in the center only. So replacement is a much better way to insure net fitment to the plating that we install.
