front beam

I am getting ready to replace my front beam & am looking for recommendations for complete assembies. In a previous post, someone said to avoid the "Puma" beams. The complete assembies that I can find all seem to be remanufactured. Are these OK?

Also, has anyone found any parts suppliers on the east coast that are competitive w/ CB, CIP1, etc?

Happy Holidays,
Chuck

I don't see why the Puma beams are problematic. They are an OEM VW supplier in Brazil and that's what CB Performance carries. As you know, CB Performance is known for good quality. You can always get one from a salvage yard and refurbish it but you need to verify that the thing hasn't been hit and is straight; if not your car will be impossible to align. If that's the case you can try contacting Chris Howard at http://www.howardvw.com/index.html; he's located in N.Y.; he's a great guy and has always treated me right.

chuck:

I have metion this before, but there is a guy in charleston that has a vw graveyard. some cars are complete, some cars are completely gutted, but I believe the majority of them still have the front beams. He is very resonable and takes trades too. Let me know if you want me to search for one for you.
kevin

Per my experience, for the money never use a used axle beam it just isn't worth the time and effort to pull a used one and then replace it with something that is also old and used.

Your best option is to buy a new spindle to spindle axle beam.
They come with torsion bars, new bearings, ball joints etc. When you place your order, be sure to get new inner and outer wheel bearings, tie rod ends and a steering damper while "your there".

You'll have less than $500 invested in a complete new front end.

I can help, if you're in the mid-Atlantic. Happy to do it.

We changed the beam with a new 2" narrowed. adjustable from CIP. Bought new beam, new upper and lower (pair) leaves, new upper torsion arms and new torsion bar with urethane bushings. Should have bought new torsion arms since the old ones were now too long and had to cut 1" off the end and inside arm (needed to remove steering to do that). If I would have bought new arms it would have been a ton easier. Of course if you are not narrowing (sp) then you don't need to but they are cheap.

The quality of all parts and shipping were excellent. Installation REQUIRES an alignment. Total parts about $500.00

Thanks for the input guys. I tend to agree w/Alan and will probably go w/ a new spindle to spindle front end, since I am not sure exactly what was previously done to the beam.

Mike, I am curious why did you go w/ a 2" narrowed front end?

Chuck

Chuck, I did that, too.
I went three inches on each side; simple reason is I wanted more than pizza-cutter tires. You have to shorten them on a non-flared car to get wider tires to have a turning radius. Add to that the spacers that come with most disc brake setups, and you're making good use of newly-available space.

My adjustable front beam looks like Cory's "before" picture (see post above);with single adjustment bolts in the middle of each tube .
The body sits to low in the front, only 4" off the ground, and I want to raise it. The adjustment bolt in the middle of each tube is at the far bottom/rear of the slots. I've loosened both bolts, freed up the saw toothed retainers under the bolt heads, jacked up the entire front of the car from the forward portion of the frame, but the adjustment doesn't change. Is it necessary to loosen ball joints and tie rods in order to raise the body/lower the wheels? Or is there something else I need consider?

Brian,
Make sure the pinch bolt itself is loose. After you jacked the car up to let everything hang, make sure the shocks aren't limiting the droop. Ususally with everything loose as you've described, the adjusters will swivel.
You should even be able to feel them move up or down.
Put an allen wrench or socket in the pinch bolt that sticks out of the adjuster. Push up or down on this. it should move.

Greg B

Thanks Greg, I appreciate the advise.

The reason you want to avoid Puma beams is that they are much harder to adjust than the welded in ones with the set screws. For what it

Brian, I had a similar issue with my adjustable beam when I had one.

The external of the adjustable part bolts into an internal sleeve. This sleeve is where the torsion leaves pass thorugh and are tightened up with a set screw. What I did to get more adjustment was to remove the bolt from the internal sleeve (not the set screw for the torsion leaves). I then very carefully revolved the sleeve so that I could drill and tap another hole for the bolt. I then had two positions for the external workings of the adjustment to bolt into. This gave me a lot more adjustment possibilities.

Was simple to do and swapping the bolt from one hole to the other was no big deal either.

Brian

I don't know if it's too little too late or not, but for what it's worth ...
The three inches we cut from my car's front axle beams was the most we could take out. If you look at the pictures, the cuts were made from the inside segments of the tubes, because that's the only piece with no essential journals or ribs on the inside.
We used the existing axles themselves, looked for the wear-marks on their outside surfaces, and assumed those would be the points to measure around so as to not wreck their functionality. We also wanted to leave the grease fittings.
DXing those pieces also meant getting rid of the stock steering assembly.
We took the springs out as a unit, zip-ties at the ready, and shortened them by a total of six inches. Three off of each end, zip-zip-zip with the pneumatic cutting disc, and then we set them aside.
After the tubes were cut, springs shortened and the beam eyeballed, we added the ends back on with tack welds for final adjustments and alignment.
Once the finish welding was done, we put the spring sets back in and seated the arms back on. Using a dye-grinder, Jim went up inside each of the grub screw holes and notched the ends of the springs so they would stay put under tension -- much like they had been notched before, but now with a whole lot more rigidity.
After that, it was only a matter of tightening the whole works down again.
The front setup that came with the car was in fantastic shape underneath all the road grime. It took a very short while and not much effort at all to clean the affected pieces with a shop-rag and elbow grease, but it looked brand new.

(It was all done in less than six hours, and saved me a whole lot of money. Down side, if there is one, is that I had to re-invent my steering assembly next -- which I had planned on doing, I just didn't know how I was going to do it right then. Even that worked out well for me.)

I am putting the long weekend to good use by removing the old beam and installing a new spindle to spindle beam. I had to get creative to get it installed by myself... would have been much easier with the body off the pan. The old beam had been cut and rewelded, but only the top tube had been cut. I have added caster shims and a new steering box. Dropped spindles are on their way. Hopefully, the handling will be much improved.

Happy New Year!
Chuck

Chuck, it looks like a neat and clean job from where I sit. I think you'll be pleased with your results.
I'd be curious to see when you put the wheels back on whether or not you have offset problems with steering.
Let us know, would you?

I haven't seen this posted in some time but there are two notches on the steering box clamp that fit over the nub on the axle beam this allows for correct steering box position.
One of the notches is for Type 1 Beetle and the other (clamp flipped over)is for the Ghia.

Alan,

Do we want the Ghia setting?

Looks very nice...did you guys follow the beam replacement article on the Ghia in the latest Hot VW's mag?

Depends on a new build, where you want the column set...on an replacemnt application, someone else may have set it at either the Beetle or Ghia position.

I pulled the steering box clamp off after reading Alan's post. The notches in the clamp are offset slightly to one end. My clamp has a small (<) stamped on it that points toward one end. I have it installed w/the (<) pointing towards the front of the car. I don't know if this is the Ghia or Type 1 setting, but it seems to line up pretty well w/ the column. I did notice that the OEM coupling is not perfectly flat when everything is bolted down tight. Is it normal for the coupling to flex slightly?

Ricardo, I saw the article on the beam replacement. Good timing!

Chuck

Chuck, as long as it lines up you're ok. The clamps never seem to be even on each side unless you "put air to it" which I don't recommend.

Are the caster shims required when you utilize dropped spindles? I was under the impression they were not.

I didn't use any.

You need a Camber/Caster guage to check it. I think it should be about 3 degrees. That's where I set mine. Before I added the shims and set the caster, the car used to wander on straights and had very little feed back in turns. (Like driving on top of a large beach ball)
I ended up using the std. Caster shims that everyone sells plus another .090 shim behind that to get the Caster where I wanted it.
Now it doesn't wander and corners better.
My front end is Ball Joint, stock size swaybar; One adjuster; stock Oil dampened shocks: 2.5" dropped spindles. Camber set to 0 - 1/2 degree negative.

Greg B

"Like driving on top of a large beach ball" Greg, I like your analogy. That sums it up very well.

Chuck

Caster shims aren't necessary when you use dropped spindles. since the spindles are just manufactured with the tapered shaft in a lower position, don't affect the position of the torsion/drop arm.

HOWEVER, not all dropped spindles are created equal, forged being better and more accurately made than the simple welded variety, and except for a slightly stiffer steering feel in tight parking lot turns, the VW beam really responds well to increased caster. A shim or even two will make the car much more secure and fun at speed and help in long high speed turns on highways, exit/entrance ramps and such.

With the engine and drive in the rear, high speed emergency corrections and sweeping turns can be trouble if you inadvertently lift your foot in the midst of them, the back end wants to come around and you just can't get out of it. The self correcting aspects of increased caster removes one factor to deal with and lets you concentrate on and enjoy controlling the other elements when driving hard.

And that's kinda what these little guys were made to do, even if you all PRETEND to care about emblem placement and Petri steering wheels . . . .