What do i need to norrow my 71 bay front beam ???

[deluxedude]

Hi guys !! does anyone know what i need to narrow my front beam on my 1971 LHD deluxe bay? do i need long reach ball joints ? shock towers ? etc ??? cheers guys :mrgreen:

 

[VeeDubMan2]

Take a look at http://www.kustomcoachwerks.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1974. Pretty much explains it all.

 

[deluxedude]

cheers mate that does help but not sure how i'll make the new shock towers !!

 

[VeeDubMan2]

cheers mate that does help but not sure how i'll make the new shock towers !!

There use to be a whole bunch of places that sold the end plates. I got mine from http://www.thebusstation.co.uk (I think).

It's a horrible, messy job and you need to be pretty accomplished at welding. If I was to do it again...I'd buy a beam already done.

Good luck!

 

[deluxedude]

thanks mate. yeah all i will be doing is taking it off and being a general dogs body!! thanks to having a team of engineering minded mates ha ha !! i've spoken to a mate and he said if i can get all the dimensions he can laser cut it out of 1/4" steel and powder coat it all after too but not to sure about that, might try to buy the towers first. thanks for your help. Adam

 

[Loxy]

Meant to post this up yesterday:
http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=6852

Looking to get some myself.

 

[VeeDubMan]

(posting a post here so I can track what topics I posted to with my other usernames - VDM2 and VDM3)

 

[Guest]

(posting a post here so I can track what topics I posted to with my other usernames - VDM2 and VDM3)

sorry it took so long to get the email sorted

i was going to try this myself, there was someone on here selling endplates for £30 but i might try to get my own cut from that template. I have someone who can let me borropw their plasma cutter too so should make cutting the old towers off a breeze. I like the way franz reuses the ens to fit the original needle bearings.

 

[VeeDubMan]

(posting a post here so I can track what topics I posted to with my other usernames - VDM2 and VDM3)

sorry it took so long to get the email sorted

i was going to try this myself, there was someone on here selling endplates for £30 but i might try to get my own cut from that template. I have someone who can let me borropw their plasma cutter too so should make cutting the old towers off a breeze. I like the way franz reuses the ens to fit the original needle bearings.

Hey, no probs.

If you're narrowing a beam, all the length comes out the middle anyway, so there's no need to touch the needle-bearing end. You will need to knock/pull the needle bearings out anyway (bitch of a job I found!) and fit new ones as they get fried when you're welding on the new towers.

Pics of my effort at http://steve-brown.co.uk/gurtie/photo125.html

 

[Guest]

im not mad about urethane bushes as ive heard complaints about them, and fitting the trailing arms can be really hard. I might just be a lazy bugger and buy a weedeater.

 

[VeeDubMan]

im not mad about urethane bushes as ive heard complaints about them, and fitting the trailing arms can be really hard. I might just be a lazy bugger and buy a weedeater.

re: urethane bushes - yeah, I've heard that too; bad fit mainly. They just don't feel as snug as the needle bearings. I had them on my '67 bug too - they worked alright, but there was a small gap between the urethane and the shoulder of the swing arm which just didn't seem right.

It's a lot of hassle doing a narrowed beam. I would definitely buy one already done in future. Is it a narrowed one you're after? Bear in mind though that the Weedeater uses urethane bushes too. If you just want a replacement beam, the Red9 Design ones look pretty good.

 

[Guest]

red nine do a narrowed replacement beam? :shock: have you got a link?

i must check this out, i have a red 9 kit, they will shorten the bars for £30 which is reasonable.

 

[VeeDubMan]

No, I haven't seen one yet. It's just a new replacement beam that they do, but I'm sure a narrowed version can't be too far around the corner can it?