How to raise a 66

Carfan62 · Post by **Carfan62** » Fri Oct 09, 2015 6:43 pm

Hello to all,

I am new to the site and VW's, but posted an intro in that area of the forum. Anyway I am looking for some advice (please)...

When my wife and I purchased her 66, it has been lowered and the thing will literally beat you to death when you drive it.

I want to raise it back up to it's normal height but as mentioned in my into, I don't know a lot about VW's, but I am mechanically inclined and have messed with old cars and trucks for many years.

I am hoping to get some advice on how to go about raising the suspension back to where it is supposed to be.

Thank you in advance,

Kevin

Blue Baron · Post by **Blue Baron** » Sun Oct 11, 2015 3:43 pm

Congratulations for wanting to raise you VW to stock height. The rear end was probably lowered by adjusting the springplate down one or more notches at the outside of the torsion bars. This is not hard to reverse.

The front end may take more work, because normally the front ends are heavily modified to get them that low. It could require a whole front end swap, which is also not terriibly difficult.

Carfan62 · Post by **Carfan62** » Sun Oct 11, 2015 4:16 pm

Blue Baron wrote:Congratulations for wanting to raise you VW to stock height. The rear end was probably lowered by adjusting the springplate down one or more notches at the outside of the torsion bars. This is not hard to reverse.

The front end may take more work, because normally the front ends are heavily modified to get them that low. It could require a whole front end swap, which is also not terriibly difficult.

Thank you Blue Baron for your reply.

Kevin

darzoom · Post by **darzoom** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 6:17 am

You can tell if the back was lowered as the tires will not be vertical. As Barron said, the torsion could have been set a couple of splines off and the bottom of the tire will be sitting further out that the top making the car look like it is squatting in the back. For the front, they could have put an adjuster in the middle that allows the center point of the torsion spring to move and drop the front end. Just look under the front behind the spare tire. If there is an adjuster you should see it. The could also have cut the center and rotated it. There will be a section about 2.5 inches with welds on either side if that was done. The final thing they could have done was installed drop spindles. To tell the difference on stock spindles the shaft is about midway between the upper and lower ball joint. On drop spindles the shaft is closer to the upper ball joint. Also, if it has disc brakes on the front that is usually a tell tale sign it has drop spindles. Barron is right that you will need to change the whorl front end to get back to stock. You can buy a complete beam assemble and sell yours to a slammer to make some of the money back. To lower the front is usually an expensive undertaking. Good Luck!

Carfan62 · Post by **Carfan62** » Mon Oct 19, 2015 7:06 pm

darzoom wrote:You can tell if the back was lowered as the tires will not be vertical. As Barron said, the torsion could have been set a couple of splines off and the bottom of the tire will be sitting further out that the top making the car look like it is squatting in the back. For the front, they could have put an adjuster in the middle that allows the center point of the torsion spring to move and drop the front end. Just look under the front behind the spare tire. If there is an adjuster you should see it. The could also have cut the center and rotated it. There will be a section about 2.5 inches with welds on either side if that was done. The final thing they could have done was installed drop spindles. To tell the difference on stock spindles the shaft is about midway between the upper and lower ball joint. On drop spindles the shaft is closer to the upper ball joint. Also, if it has disc brakes on the front that is usually a tell tale sign it has drop spindles. Barron is right that you will need to change the whorl front end to get back to stock. You can buy a complete beam assemble and sell yours to a slammer to make some of the money back. To lower the front is usually an expensive undertaking. Good Luck!

Thank you darzoom!

I have spent time getting to understand the car better and here's what the PO did.

They installed the adjuster in the center of the upper and lower tube on the front beam so I am hoping to loosen them and adjust them to the top and hope that it will be enough. Then readjust the tie-rods until I can get it to someone who knows how to align a VW.

There are no drop spindles. They are original.

On the rear, yeah it will be a torsion adjustment possibly 1 spline. Thanks again. I am going to attempt this soon!!

Kevin

darzoom · Post by **darzoom** » Tue Oct 20, 2015 6:18 am

You will just need to set the front on jack stands and take the load off the torsion/leafs in the front. Then put the Allen wrench in the post sticking out of the adjuster and loosen the large nut. The center should rotate back to stock position.

Do a search on VW Beetle front adjuster images and you will see what you are dealing with. It is simple to rotate as needed then tighten in stock position.

As far as front end adjustment, you can do it yourself as well. There are videos on YouTube and plenty of how to articles on the internet to help. It may be hard to find someone in your area that even knows how.

Good luck and have fun.

Blue Baron · Post by **Blue Baron** » Wed Dec 16, 2015 6:03 pm

You can do the front end adjustment easily yourself, but I've found in my experience that even fully raised the front still sits low.