Slammed/narrowed 1968 devon tin-top (frank)

[ant]

I'm having some serious ride quality issues.

Yes the van was slammed so you would expect frt ride to be harsh, it was very!

So with a trip down devon looming, i decieded to raise the front ride height to regain some suspension.

Now here is the first prob.

- The weedeater beam because of the location of the top adjuster can only be adjusted to just over half of the adjusters travel. The reason for this is that the gear linkage is in the way. Hmmmm so i've paid £450 for a adjustable beam but buy the design of the beam(ie location of top adjuster is not fully adjustable).

Second proberlm

- Anyway that aside i can raise the frt to about 2" lower than stock. I did this yesterday and to my horror i stil had pretty much no suspension!!!!. i'm just about to take the front shocks off again to see if there is actually any suspension movement at all. At the height it is currently set at in my experience there should be ample suspension movement/ride quality.

Will report back later after i've taken the shocks off :?

 

[Grazy]

Oh poo dude , Is this where dropped spindles would be an advantage or am i off mark ?
Hope you get it sorted before your trip mate :?

 

[Shaggy]

Thats interesting to know as i was going to get myself one of those.

 

[ant]

Dropped spindles will unfortunately not help Grazy.

This afternoon i've taken off frt shockers and took it for a spin, like expected its still bad.

So i decided to raise the bus as much as possible, You can't reach stock height because of the issue with gear linkage and top adjuster.

i raised the bus as much as i could and took it for a spin and but alas its so so harsh, i'd pretty much no suspension

At the moment the ride height is higher than it was on the old cut and turned beam and ride quality is actually worse.


The only thing i can think of is use the cash i've set aside for dropped spindles and buy a Red9 kit.

Its not a normal surf trip on Wednesday either its my own stag long weekend, gutted



This picture shows how the adjuster on the top tube can't be adjusted to stock height because of the gear linkage.

You buy a weedeater to lower your bus and at the moment i'm about 2"'s higher than before i started and the ride is still crap.

 

[Shaggy]

Is this a normal issue, as a few people on here have this beam, I was think Red9 or Weedeater.

I am really interested to see how this turns out, it seems silly the the adjuster gets in the way.

 

[TinTopaway]

Thanks Ant....

I'm sure i will have lots of questions to ask!!!

How much do you charge for the advice?.....................beer at the next meet?!?

Got nearly £1600 worth of treats turning up this week and my 1970 westy tin top gets into the UK from Cali on Friday...

Weekend is going to be all out getting her slammed,narrowed,tricked and done!

Will do a lil thread...

Cheers

Ian

 

[TinTopaway]

p.s keep us to date on ride as it looks like i will have the same problems!!

Have you spoken to CE?

Ian

 

[ant]

Going to phone CE tomorrow, i know they will just tell me its my springs and there is nothing wrong with their product..... doesn't change the fact that i waited 7 weeks,the powdercoat is ropey/flaky and the beam isn't fully adjustable.

Spoke to red9 and they can't help me till fri, so no bus for the my stag do. Also i've got to re-insure my audi a8 (not cheap) to get me down to devon. And i've got a horrible feeling that because the beam is narrowed there's a chance i may have some clearance issues with the red9 kit :shock: :| :shock:

 

[Guest]

what shocks are you running up front? i think CE provide shocks to match their beam that would help ride quality?

 

[67 BAY]

Did you grease urethane bushes and arms before fitting? It sounds like a problem which some people get when fitting the long urethane bushes(bush replaces inner bush and outer bearing) in beetle axles.Bit of ******* when its all back together,but strip axle of brake assemblies,take oneside arm out, slacken centre pinch bolt and pull torsion bars through till you can get arm back in without locating on torsion bars and check what the arms like in bush(tight in bush or moves easy),Hope it helps.

Steve

 

[ant]

The creative instructions said they didn't need greasing

Have these people encounted the same the probs?... i had real trouble fitting the torsion arms, i really really don't like the idea of taking them off.

The shockers are fine johnny they are lowered/short type and dont max/bottom out. There is know suspension movement without them fitted.

i will phone them later today and report back later.

 

[Guest]

im really interested to find out whats wrong , i was setting the monies aside for one of these :?

 

[ant]

I had a long phone conversation with dave palmer today(nice bloke to be fair). He thinks there is a chance that splitty bushes might have been installed instead of bay ones, splitty ones have a smaller inner diameter.

I'm not pointing the finger at this stage as he has been more than helpful and we will not know if i have the right bushes until its stripped down.

The real sh~tter is that i had to re-insure my A8 which is group 20 and cost £480

Going to start stripping the front end down again now.

Oh well at least its not raining!

 

[TinTopaway]

Ant...

What a bummer!

Keep us up to date as im to put of fitting mine this weekend untill i find out its all OK!

Ian

 

[ant]

right managed to get them off..... bloody hard work tho, i'm like a one man formula one team with the frt suspension now.

I HAVE got he right the bushes so theres no problem there.

Like i mentioned before i did have to beat the torsion arms on so given that the bushes are correct it must have been a problem with the stacking of the springs. But they did go on so i don't see how that could be the problem with the lack of suspension.

So im leaning towards the fact that the springs might of "had it".

Before the springs were stacked and welded i didn't grease them individually but they were grease after the welding and before they were fitted. i'm sure that wouldn't make a difference tho.

Will phone CE tomorrow with my findings



This how i got them off

No damage to the splines

Nearly there

and there off!

 

[easy]

Thats really weird dood, i have absolutley no problems with my beam atall :?: went in a dream and no probs with slamming or raising and nothing gets in the way??? I have the CE weedeater and CE adjustable shocks and I can only say that the ride is perfect, my gear linkage doesnt get in the way, so is the difference between a 68 and later buses?? mines a 70.

I have tons of mates with the weedeater on and theres is all fine and have had no problems?? but none of them have a 68 bay only 70 onwards or splits??

Will ask a few questions and see if I can help with the probs you are having.

To be honest I personally think that the stacking of the leaves maybe at fault as if you stack them incorrectly you can either get super solid suspension or super soft, the reason they are stacked as they are is to get the happy medium. 8)

All is not lost doood! 8)

 

[gninnam]

Soz to here about your problems Ant
Have a good Stag weekend though

 

[ant]

I've been on the phone again to the helpful dave Palmer.

We've come to the conclusion it must be the springs, to be fair it wasn't helping matters that i installed everything at the same time
ie i never split the balljoints or broke the front brake lines

Tonight i've split all the ball joint so tomorrow i'm taking the four torsion arms with me to get the springs re-stacked and re-welded.When i re-assemble it all sometime next week(after the stag do/surf trip) i will be using as much grease as poss. Dave said its not needed but my thinking is it can't hurt but "might" help!

If this fails i'll be looking for some more frt springs.

Will keep you all posted.

but i'm 99.9% sure there is nothing wrong with the creative beam.

 

[leon]

I've a complete front beam with springs if you need them. You'd have to strip it yourself, but i hear you're a pro at taking front beams apart. :lol:

Jokes aside, pisser!

 

[tintintin]

Here hoping the only lip you rip is in the surf Ant :wink: Beware of cellophane ! :twisted:

Have good Stag do - It's my mates this weekend as well - gorge scrambling !