Shocks and Coil Overs
Shocks and Coil Overs
Ok I have a question. I see lots of buggy pictures on here with shocks only and no springs. In my buggy I am running coil overs which ride hard hard hard!!! I was wondering what is better for off road? The coil overs are ok for the street but they hit hard no matter how I set them. Do the shocks give a better ride?
Shocks will give you a much better ride. You could also go with a set of kyb "heavy duty" shocks that will give you a better ride and also funtion well of road. You also have to take into consideration the weight of the buggy compaired to a bug. There just inst that much weight up front to flex the torsion bars. You could run it with out any shocks up front and it would still sem a little stiff. Hope this helps.
Unless you are doing high speed off road driving you want to use the softest shocks you can find. On the front I am running shocks I bought from JC Whitneys for $6.95 each. I drilled the shocks and drained the oil from them and refilled them with 0 wt. shock oil. The buggy rides great on the road and does real well in the dunes. I also have the preload on the top torsion bars in the front beam reduced with an Avis adjuster to further soften the ride. The rear shocks are the $6.95 each shocks right out of the box. If you plan on doing high speed off road driving you need a quality offroad shock that is properly valved. The coilovers you have are only good if you want to increase the load capacity of the vehicle. They are basically a stock shock with a spring stuck on it. Remember, shocks and their mountings are designed to dampen the suspension oscillation they are not designed to support the vehicle. The buggy will be much more pleasurable to drive with conventional shocks on it, on or offroad.
The spring plates support the rear of the buggy via torsion bars. The following link may help you understand how the rear suspension works. http://www.meyersmanx.com/garage/garage_suspend.htm
Mvovr, You are getting lots of great advice here. Lots of buggies are set up way too stiff, and their owners have no idea just how well a FG buggy can ride if the suspension is allowed to work. Jerry's idea of using the zero weight shock oil in the front shocks works like a charm. Stay away from coil overs unless you are going to a REAL coil over setup (dual pivot rear trailing arms, A-arm front suspension). Pete, insert photos here. I have found that if you get your suspension to work well on the street, it will work well for moderate off roading too. If you want to go faster in the dirt, you will have to live with a stiffer ride on the street. Unless you go to a mid-travel setup. Forget long travel on the street - those things are wider than a tractor trailer rig.
A properly set up buggy has a soft suspension. Take off the coil overs and the sway bars. If your front end is stiff and is jammed on the rubber stops, you need to adjust the stiffness of the front torsion bars with an adjuster or two or to remove some of the torsion bar leaves and to adjust the rear torsion bars for a level but soft ride. The shock absorbers do not support the car. The torsion bars and coil overs do that. Your buggy should bounce easily and settle down after 1 1/2 bounces like any car. For every day use and light off road use, good condition stock VW shock absorbers will do very well indeed. Underinflate the tyres. About 10 to 12 pounds in the front tyres and 15 to 20 in the rear tyres is ideal. Radial ply tyres must have a small bulge at the bottom for them to work properly, so let them down until you get that bulge and then experiment until you get the ideal combination for your tyres and buggy. Remember SOFT, SOFT, SOFT. Set up that way you will have a ride on the streets as smooth as a limo and you will be able to go straight over the top of roundabouts with gently sloping kerbs and speed humps without slowing down. You will be able to say, "What speed hump? Was that a speed hump?" This runs counter to eveything that we have been told about performance cars needing firm rides. They do. We don't.
Thanks to everyone for their advice. My plan is light duty off roading (sand and flat dirt trails) and mostly street. From what I am reading the stock VW shocks sound like the way to go however I do plan on the 0 weight oil in the fronts. Newmanx59 did you just tap the drilled hole and fill it with a screw? Or did you use a pressure release valve of some sort?
-
mel hubbard
- Posts: 841
- Joined: Sat Jul 23, 2005 8:00 pm
If you can get hold of copies of Manx mania volume 1 No 1, and volume 1 No 2,, Bruce did a write up, and how to do it ,,on VW buggy suspension,, before you drill shocks make sure they are not gas ones. I did it to my buggy years ago,,apart from soaking up the bumps well,, with the weight transfer under breaking i can lock all 4 wheels up on the street at 60+ mph,, standard rear drums and cylinders at rear & discs up front. It may take a few attempts to get the suspension the way you want,, but costs next to nothing to do :rock:
I still have drums all the way around but I do like the weight transfer. At times now it feels like I need two feet to stop. 
I was actually thinking about staying with the coil overs in the rear simply because there is usually 4 in my buggy. Wife and 2 kids. and Unfortunatly I am no featherweight!! Mel do the discs in the front soften the brake pedel?
I was actually thinking about staying with the coil overs in the rear simply because there is usually 4 in my buggy. Wife and 2 kids. and Unfortunatly I am no featherweight!! Mel do the discs in the front soften the brake pedel?Coil over shocks
I use them in the front of my car ,as to not let the tires rub on the fenders. I do not have a lift kit and less clearance. Most of my driving is seroius off-road. Here is a example on any Saturday. 
:2cents: Jimbo
:2cents: Jimbo