Re: Lowering problems

[WALTEE <WALTEE@prodigy.net>]

William Falkenbach wrote:
> 
> I am facing a similar problem regarding the height of the rear of my 71
> SB. A question. What tool did you use to compress the springplates in
> order to get them back together? Regarding lowering, mine is lowered in
> the rear simply because of age. I would not advise doing it because it
> cambers out the wheels, greatly accelerating tire wear. If you keep on
> top of rotating the tires you may be able to prolong their life somewhat
> but when tires wear funny in the back and then you put them on the front
> the steering is always affected.
There have been several articles in HotVW's magazine about doing this.
One method used an early model VW jack (one that has a one piece jack,
rather than a late model jack, where the jack was on a pivot) with a
bolt welded to the top of the upright piece. The affect this had would
be that the jack lever was fitted under the swing arm, the bolt was
secured to the car (the upper shock mount hole?) and when the jack was
cranked up, the swing arm  was pulled up and unweighted off of the lower
stop. Then all you had to do was to pull the arm outward and then
*slowly* lower the arm until it was completely unweighted. If you scribe
where the arm is mounted on the outer spline, and measure the angle of
the trailing arm dangle when completely unweighted, you could change the
inner and/or outer splines  and you could match them from side to side.
There's another method using a chain and a come along to do the same
thing to the trailing arm, I've tried this on an old bug, and it ain't
easy. When the trailing arm is "weighted", it don't want to move without
some serious pulling (and remember, the car is on only three wheels at
this point). To do it all again, I'd probably skip the hassle and have
it done at a shop. I try to do as much as I can myself, but I don't care
to end up pinned under my car. Some other listers might have the
specifics on other methods, see what they say.
David Walters
'73 Notch