Hi there have just completed a front end rebuild as i had a cut and turned beam and was stupidly low , anyhow have sourced a stock beam complete with arms . i changed all the ball joints as they had seen better days ive also changed all the track rods,ends and drag link for new ones (as the old rods were bowing a bit ) the rear was lowered on horse shoe plates which i have removed so basically the entire bus is now totally stock include wheels and tyres . Now i havent properly taken the bus out on the rd ( just backwards and forwards a few times on my drive ) as i want to set the tracking somewhere near before i do ( will get done properly ) and also havent got the front shocks fitted yet as i need to do this before a rd test ) i have noticed that the passenger side is lower than the drivers side both front and back by a good 3cms ( just over an inch ) and looks lopsided from the front . although my drive is perfectly flat i would say it was perfectly level slopes fractionally on the passenger side of the bus . i measured the gap between the trailing arms and the bump stop on the passenger side and it was just under 7cms and on the drivers side it was 3.5cms . hence makeing it lopsided , Now would this be likely to be a case of needs to settle properly after all the work under taken or do you recon it could be something more sinister like broken torsion leaves on the passenger side or weak torsion bar on the rear ( as it was orignally lowered by 2 splines before i fitted the the horse shoes and returning the spring plate to stock ) will have more of a chance to fettle with it next weekend but though i would ask to see if theres anything i may of missed or could check again . Thanks if anyone could measure the gap from the bumpstop plate ( not the rubber ) and the bottom of the upper trailing arm just so i can compare to see if mines anywhere near that would be great . or even measure say from the ground to the lip of the arch
have you tryed bumping it up and down to see if it will settle If not my money wound be in the rear right is set wrong
gave it a bit of a bump up and down and it did make a tiny bit of difference but not loads . i meant to measure the rear spring plate distances in relation to each other but havent had a chance yet
when you say the rear right is set wrong are you on about the spring plates ??? as in the passenger side rear . when i jacked the front up in the center of the beam the drivers side was lifting clear of the axel stand before the pass side
That would point to the rear then as that's where the weight was. You're miles out, so could be a whole spline wrong at the back. I assume you didn't do the horsehoe plates so you won't know if that was last in a string of different suspension mods. People often start with splines (it's free), then revert to a different method later...
hmmm , may have to take a look then . dont suppose you know roughly ( i know they differ ) but what the height is of a stock bus is from say the ground to a fixed point ,, just so ive got an idea if the passenger side is too low or the drivers side is too high ? if that makes sense also when it was lowered as it was a cut and turned beam ( by previous owner ) the front suspension wasnt far off from sitting on the shocks so thats why it would of looked straight before then i suppose
there is stuff in the bus but i would say its fairly even . but its something i can do and empty it before i start messing
it is usually the driver side that is lower ,weight of the units and the driver... jack the gearbox/back axle and measure the front..
when you put the front suspension arms on are the grub screws located correctly in the dimples in the spring leaves . as if either one is not located then one side would on have the spring force from one spring ?
this might help setting up the rear http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=399837&highlight=rear+spring+plate
thanks a few things for me too look at the weekend . gonna try jacking the front up dead center and measuring the rear and then the the other way round and measure the front , so that will hopefully give me an idea as to which is at fault
right after a bit of measuring i have got a measurement from a totally stock bus and the front arch to the lip of a steel wheel is 22.5cms now i have measured mine and the side i thought was too low is exactly 22.5cms ! and the drivers side is 27cms . now this may be a stupid question but would it suggest that the drivers side is to high ? and this is the side i should concentrate on ? the measurements on the rear differ by only 2cms ( high on the drivers side same as the front ) . wont be looking at it untill saturday so once ive jacked it up dead center front, and back to decide which is at fault ( front or rear ) would you say it is the drivers side that needs adjusting ??? if you made sense of that drivel you've done well ;D
as in passenger rear ? ( RHD) dont suppose you know what the stock "angles" on the spring plate are once the tension is released ?
I put a link up a bit further up that may help I doubt if its the front as my understanding is that as long as the arms are full home it cant be different as the spring leaves are the full length. Where as the rear is separate
yeah the arms are fully engaged and locked in . and its more the front thats noticeable as thats out by a good 4cms higher on the drivers side . the rear is out about 2cms on the same side . these are measurements while on the ground . the bus was originally lowered 2 outer splines on the rear , and then at a later date had it supposedly set back to stock and horse shoes fitted . the front was a cut and turn with a good 6 inch drop so there was next to naff all travel on the front and always looked level . all ive done is fit a new stock beam and removed the horse shoes and hey presto it on the wonk ! . just trying to decide if its gonna be a case of just an out spline that needs moveing or if ive got to mess about with inners aswell . have done outers before on bugs ect but never messed with the inners !
