Installing Drop Spring Plates! The Better Way To Lower Your Swing Axle Classic VW Beetle or Ghia

In this video I install a set of Limebug adjustable 2" drop spring plates on a swing axle 1966 VW Beetle.
Thanks to Greg at Tuned Perfection for hooking us up with these spring plates!
You can get a hold of Greg on IG: @tunedperfectionvw
I hope you found this video useful, if you did please hit subscribe!
Thanks for watching!
wolfhausmotorwerks.com

[@stephenlepore4476]

radical. thank you sir.

[@WolfHausMotorwerks]

Thanks!!👍👍

[@jeffbannon1345]

Great video! Given this is one of the few good videos on installing drop plates, perhaps you should include that in the title so people can find it more easily.

[@WolfHausMotorwerks]

Done! Thanks Jeff I appreciate the input!

[@jeffbannon1345]

Awesome

[@C10Trace]

Great explanation, I have another question on the adjuster screw allen bolt. As you installed it all the way down on the plate.
When you screw it up the vehicle raises up, correct?

[@WolfHausMotorwerks]

Thanks!
Ok, so when it comes to the spring plate, one thing to keep in mind is the preload of the torsion bar. The preload can be compared to a bow and arrow, if you pull back the bow a little then your arrow wont go far since there is little energy behind it from the bow, if you pull the bow back a lot, the arrow will go far due to the increased energy. So more preload, more energy, the car sits higher, less preload, the car sits lower. That is basically what you do when you are "clocking" the plate on the torsion bar moving it by a few teeth. If you use the factory plate, you can clock the arm a few teeth and still have a little preload on the spring plate, where when the car is lifted up, the plate will still rest on the perch with a bit of tension. The preload will affect the ride quality and also the handling of the car, keep that in mind. For this reason I prefer to use "drop Plates" when possible. If you use a 2" drop plate, that means that if it is installed at the original position it will drop the car 2". This assumption has to take into account the condition of your torsion bars and your shocks, as those can also affect the height slightly. That said, this also takes into account that the adjuster is in the middle of its range, and this would allow you to either raise the car or lower the car a bit to adjust any side to side differences you may have. The adjuster is a mild adjuster in my opinion, more to fine tune the height a little. now if don't care about preload and all that, then yes the adjuster can lower or raise the car no matter where your spring plate may be set relative to the original position. The ride may suffer though. I back off the adjuster so that when I install it back on the car I am giving myself an easier time by removing a little preload, once the plate is on, I adjust the plate to the "neutral position". This "neutral position" should be the desired ride height, and from that point I can go up or down. Another thing to keep in mind is on a swing axel, once your axel tubes are passing parallel to the ground (as you lower the car more and more), the oil will not flow towards the outer bearings, and also where the axel meets the transmission will take a beting due to the angle. Just things to keep in mind.

[@FixinBugsNStuff]

Ooo I was biting my nails when you removed the trailing arm away the bump ledge. I have seen those go bad under tension.

[@WolfHausMotorwerks]

Thanks for the comment! I have done many of them and people seem to make a bigger deal than it is. The main thing is to not have anything under the arm, no lingering parts, no lingering fingers etc. otherwise its not really that bad. I'm glad to see your project coming along, it's looking great by the way!

[@mikedraper138]

At what degree did you install the new drop plates (measured before plate levered onto perch), 21 same as stock?

[@WolfHausMotorwerks]

Yes I put the drop plates back to where the OEM ones were, therefore giving me the 2" drop engineered into the profile of the new plate. There is a slight adjustment up or down with the adjuster bolt. If you wanted to go lower you would then install it one tooth higher etc., but you loose some preload. I try and keep the axels closer to parallel to the ground on swing axel cars, beyond that you can run into issues at the gearbox as well as the oil not getting to the bearing in the end of the axel etc.

[@C10Trace]

Can you recall the degree you install the spring plate at?

[@WolfHausMotorwerks]

If I recall, it was back to original, I based it off the mark I make on the frame when I remove the old one.

[@Flytym]

Needed to see just how much of the torsion bar sticks out and I wanted to see the plate slip on the torsion bar. Waste of time on this video.

[@WolfHausMotorwerks]

Hey Flytym! Sorry to hear that you didn’t get value from the video, however those points in my opinion are not really key points to what the video is intended to show. Not sure why you would need to see how much the torsion var sticks out, and as for the plate slipping on, it’s just that, it slips on. The video is to show the concept and give an idea of the steps involved. Also the torsion bar layout changes in some years.
Years where you have an extended tube on the spring plate you cannot see the torsion bar end etc.
Hope you find the info you need, good luck with the project! 👍👍

[@frankschwartz7405]

>>Better Way To Lower Your Swing Axel

[@WolfHausMotorwerks]

Awesome comment! Thanks!! I'm glad you got something out of the video👍👍