What's your opinion

Buggy Buddies to the Rescue! Breakdowns, repairs, construction, all things technical.
Post Reply
L0084MC
Posts: 91
Joined: Mon Jun 20, 2005 8:00 pm

What's your opinion

Post by L0084MC »

Here is the before and after. Did I go to far? Do I need to come back down one notch?
CairoManx
Posts: 858
Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2011 5:00 am

Post by CairoManx »

You have too much positive camber. The outside strip of your tire will quickly wear off and worse, you might have a rear tire "tuck under" in a hard turn and cause a rollover. You want just a little positive camber. The inner end of the torsion bars has 40 splines. The outer end has 44. You can fine tune the torsion preload in @1 degree adjustments by turning the bar back 2 splines and the trailing arm ahead 2 splines.
manxdavid
Posts: 998
Joined: Fri Mar 26, 2010 5:00 am
Location: Bull Bay, Anglesey, North Wales, UK. Manxclub #678

Post by manxdavid »

I thought it was just right the way it was... :2cents:
"Wise men talk because they have something to say, fools because they have to say something." (Plato)
mel hubbard
Posts: 841
Joined: Sat Jul 23, 2005 8:00 pm

Post by mel hubbard »

[QUOTE="L0084MC"]Here is the before and after. Did I go to far? Do I need to come back down one notch?[/QUOTE] Behave yourself Dave :D Did Clarence fit the rear lamps?? :crazy: :D
User avatar
5150bossman
Posts: 606
Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2010 5:00 am
Location: So Cal

Post by 5150bossman »

If you are looking to run mostly off-road, it is fine. If it will be for mostly street, you could lower it a bit. I ran with our axles that way for over three years. Didn't do anything to the tires, however it did brake a fulcrum plate which chewed up the end of the axle shaft on the left side. If you keep it that way, just remember to corner cautiously on the street. Off-road it was not a problem.
L0084MC
Posts: 91
Joined: Mon Jun 20, 2005 8:00 pm

Post by L0084MC »

Thanks for your opinion fellows. I thought it needed to come back down. Thanks CairoManx, with that bit of info I was able to fine tune it back down to the point where it is sitting nice and level now.
fubar
Posts: 425
Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2005 8:00 pm

Post by fubar »

I would rather bottom out the pan than roll the car over, my sand car sits real low (IRS) and gets stuck sometimes but I have never felt like it was going to go over even in spite of my best efforts. I did see a couple different baja bugs roll due to pilot error and maxed out torsions. Fortunately the round roof helps them end up wheels down...
Lee
Posts: 246
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2005 9:00 pm

Post by Lee »

L0084MC, Welcome to the Torsion Club! I think I have reset my torsions about six times, looking for the setting that is 'just right'. If you were able to get it in three times or less, you are the MAN!
tgodber
Posts: 95
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2005 9:00 pm

Post by tgodber »

That is about how my buggy looks right now. I also want to raise the rear. How much did you move it to go from low to higher in your pictures? How many notches on the outside was the first try at raising it? What did you do to lower it a bit? How about a picture of the final results. Thanks!
L0084MC
Posts: 91
Joined: Mon Jun 20, 2005 8:00 pm

Post by L0084MC »

I hate to spoil my "I'M the man" status with Lee, and may not have if you had not ask me this question, but I must confess that I I tried to adjust the torsion on more than---Well lets just say more than 4 occasions. It was the tip from CairoManx that help me fine tune the torsion in. refer to his post here and it goes fairly well. Just remember tgodber. Once you have the tension off of the plate, mark your bar and plate for a starting point and a place to come back to in case you mess up. After the reference mark, I also scribed a mark at the bottom of the plate so when I had it adjusted up I could tell how much by the scribe mark. Here it the finished result on my buggy.
Lee
Posts: 246
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2005 9:00 pm

Post by Lee »

"I tried to adjust the torsion on more than---Well lets just say more than 4 occasions." No shame in that! It's a lot of trial and error to get it just right. The good news is your buggy looks great, and you shouldn't have to mess with it again! Tim, Here's a trick for figuring out how much to raise the rear end: Drive the buggy around the block to get the suspension all settled down. Park on a level spot. Put a magnetic protractor on the spring plates and record the angle. Here's an example of the type of protractor I use. They are readily available from hardware stores: http://www.acehardwaresuperstore.com/ac ... tml?ref=42 Now put a floor jack under the buggy. I prefer to put a board on the jack and lift by the two trans horns. You want to lift it evenly. Raise the jack until the back end is up where you want it. Now measure the spring plate angles again. Subtract the first value from this value and you will have the number of degrees you need to add into the torsion bars. Write that number down. Once you get everything apart, make sure the car is level. Do this by putting the protractor on the tunnel and use a floor jack to adjust the buggy until the protractor reads 0 degrees. Now measure the spring plates (tension off, still attached to the torsion bars in the housing). That's how much preload you already have. Mark it in the manner described by L0084MC, then use the tip from CairoManx to add in the number of degrees you got when you did the little exercise above. When you get it all back together and drive it for a couple miles, the back end should sit exactly where it was when you raised it with the floor jack.
Post Reply