I have a Thing and it weighs about 300 lbs more than a stock Beetle and I usually have 4+ people in it. I constantly mash up the front suspension off-road and want to build something a little tougher. It would be nice to be able to set up some compression limiters because I break off the lower shock mount on a regular basis. Power steering would be nice too.
Don't EVEN tell me to slow down.
Point me in the right direction.
TIA
JohnF
Link pin.
Jan
Problem with link pin is I'd have to weld in a different frame head. The car is in good shape and I don't want to change it from a restoreable config. Link pin can give me longer travel but it's not as tough as a ball joint beam especially a Thing beam. They already have strengthened shock towers and extra supports to the pan. My main problem is bottoming out with the heavy car, I'd like to be able to put some of the cushion stops like they use in serious off road trucks, but without cutting the body I can see no way. I may try the clackers but I don't really like those, it's a solid "bang" when you hit the limit of travel...then something else has to give.
JohnF
I take it you have tried several different type shocks? How about coilovers? In addition to the original torsion bars that is? Maybe get some progressivity in the suspension that way.
Dual shocks? Dual, progressive shocks? :)
Shocks with a large expansion canister?
I dunno. What are the competition sandrail people using?
Jan
JohnF wrote:
Can't you adapt the linkpin trailing arms to the balljoint beam? Haven't tried it, but don't see why you couldn't do it... I have the tubes turned on Annie, in addition to the adjuster welded in (that turns one tube). I just cut off the bumpstop 'cause it was "topped out" *solidly* against it! It's so jacked up (& stiff!) that I have no problem even jumping it. Well except for the time I glanced off a tree mid-air... LOL!~ Paul aka "Tha Driver"
Easy on the Giggle Cream!
Spacing between the tubes on the link pin and ball joint are quite a bit different, almost 1.5 inches if I remember correctly. That would make for some horrendous caster changes through the travel. The problem with coil-overs or air shocks is that I break off the lower shock mount now. I can't imagen putting more stress on it than it already has. I've really thought alot about this problem over the last couple years, even about putting torsion bars in like the T-3's have but just chasing the problem to a different location. Another more do-able solution I was thinking about would be to make the beam wider and using the torsion pack from a widened link pin beam. That would help the over torquing of the leaf pack (I've trashed 2 leaf packs so far) by making the distance greater between the anchor point and the trailing arm but I would need much stiffer leafs for the weight and I still would have the potential of popping a ball joint. A wider beam would give me more room under the fenders to work with though. Another option is using link pin arms and making a custom spindle..........but there's still the weight thing.................on it goes.
JohnF
On Sat, 02 Apr 2005 02:33:52 -0500, "ThaDriver" wrote:
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