Spindle question.....

The bearing spindle is raised up above the normal center line.

http://tinyurl.com/cshe35e

Soooo.......instead if the spindle being right in the midle between the balljoints, if it's a drop spindle it'll be set 2" up from the middle.  I thought I would add this comment because Wolfgang's bunch of photos all show drop versions.

Much obliged..... 

My VS sits too low in the front and I'm always smacking the sway bar.  The front is several inches lower in the front than the rear and it has a very raked look that i dont care for.

I asked my mechanic to raise the front by 1 inch and he said that I had dropped spindles and they were all the way up.

So now what?  What are my options?  How can I raise the front by an inch?

If you have beam adjusters in the "normal" position, you could try raising the adjustment....Otherwise, its time to buy stock spindles....  

 I put dropped spindles on my non-adjustable front end and found the front sat way too low.  The only options were to take the beam out and have adjusters put in, buy a new beam with adjusters, or go back to stock spindles. 

I went back to stock spindles.

If your beam has adjusters raising your front end is easy.  Here's a photo of a beam with adjusters:

Do you have an adjuster on just one beam or both? If both, the solution (as Leon mentioned) if the adjusters are already raised as far as they will go would be to put normal height spindles on it and then use the adjusters to achieve the height you want. The dropped spindles I've seen have 2 1/2" of drop built into them. If only one beam has an adjuster then take  take the brakes, spindles and trailing arms off (leave the torsion leaves in), take the beam out and cut the tube around the stock center adjuster loose, rotate 1/4" and reweld. I believe this will raise it up 1 1/2"-2" by itself. Higher than that, throw stock spindles back on it. How high are the centers of your headlights off the ground? How high do you want to come back up?  

The front of my Speedster is also lower than I would like. I have adjusters that I think are adjusted all the way up and drop spindles.

I have wondered about using air shocks or coil overs to raise it a bit. I'd line to go up about an inch.

If you can't go higher with the adjusters, I'd follow ALB's advice and replace the spindles with standard height ones and then readjust the beam lower to where you want it.

Air shocks or those cheap overload springs will give you extra ride height but are also going to make the ride more harsh.

I've ordered stock spindles but also found out I only have 1 beam adjuster.  I'm currently using 2-1/2 drop spindles and am adjusted as high as I can go.

Will stock spindles with a one adjuster beam get me 1" to 2" higher than where I am now?

Should raise it 2.5 in.   Then lower it with the adjuster as Justin said...

Does anyone know why my VS only has one beam adjuster?  Does this mean I can only get half as much adjustment?

Cole, my VS has two matching adjusters.

Until now I've assumed that's the way Kirk rolled them out the door. This winter...'enShala...I intend to mount dropped spindles (and dialing the tension off the adjusters) to recover the steering characteristics that Wolfsburg intended without losing the squatty front profile.  

My VS came with drop spindles and one adjuster, how odd. 

I'm putting on std spindles because my front end is too low: it bottoms out and looks far too low in the front for my liking.

Yes.

Cole, I have a set of stock (1972) spindles you can have for shipping cost

Hey Ron....  Do you want to sell your dropped spindles?

Mike

If you already have adjusters in I am assuming they are setup for lowering only.  Some are setup for 1.5 up and 1.5 down and that would be the best setup for dropped spindles I would say.  If you have the adjusters grind the tube slits up a bit more so you can give your car more clearance.  I have heard of some guys on the samba using a dremel bit and not having to take the front suspension apart. I am assuming you would prob only need enough for 1/2 inch so it would not be much.

Mike latestrage has spindles for a pretty good price.  

No, I'm going to hang on to them.  Somewhere down the road I may buy a dune buggy to work on, and if I do I'll install the dropped spindles.

Looks like I have standard spindles.....  Soooo, I probably have cut down spring leaves.....

 I'll probably leave it as it is and sell the car at some point in tome.... 

Bill:

I have a 2000 Vintage with VW disk brakes up front (ball joint) and want to go to a 5 wide front and rear wheel set up.  According to So Cal Imports, in order to install its 5 wide front disc brake kit on my car I have to change my spindles from rotor to drum spindles.

So I am looking for a good pair of stock drum spindles.  Are you looking to possibly sell for shipping cost?  I'm in Los Angeles.  Please let me know.  Thanks, Grant

Grant - i have a set of stock balljoint drum spindles you can have for shipping cost.

i'm in canada so shipping will not be small, but it's your call. lemmeknow

Thanks Paul - any rough idea on what the shipping costs would be to 90266 ?

Thanks, Grant

looks like ~$30

Paul - do you know what year they are ?  I am not sure that it matters but there may be differently sized bearings for different drum spindle years.  Thanks, Grant

i think 74, but i ran 67 drums and bearings on them no prob.