How to lower a VW Bus “the best ways”
What a big question “How to lower a VW Bus”. After doing this for almost 20 years, “designing and building Volkswagen Bus suspension”, I can positively say that there is not just one right answer to this question. To find the right answer you need to ask yourself a few other questions,
- What kind of driving am I going to do?
- How low do I want to go?
- What wheels am I going to use?
- How much do I want to invest in this job “time & money”?
- Do I want to customize the chassis?
These are probably the most important of many questions, one thing that is not in question is safety; this is an imperative and should be considered at all times. Doing the maximum to make sure the running gear is built and installed properly is a MUST!
After this we need to consider the year of the bus. I could write pages and pages on the differences but let’s save that for the book. The type of suspension parts chosen to lower your Volkswagen Bus will vary to large and small degrees by the year it was built.
While you go through this article think about these questions, I hope by the time you finish reading you will have a better idea of what to do. Feel free to jump ahead to the year of your bus using the links below.
This is a list of the big year changes & suggestions for lowering.
- 1949-55
- 1955-62
- 1963-64*
- 1964-67
- 1968-70
- 1971-72
- 1973-79
Parts commonly used when lower a Volkswagen bus; follow the links for descriptions,
- Dropped Spindles
- Narrowed Beam
- Beam Adjusters
- Narrowed Air Ride Beam
- Type one transmission swing axle
- Type one transmission IRS
- Modified torsion spring plates
- IRS kits
- 1968-79 Rear Drop Plates
- Rear Air Ride Kits
- Shocks
- Disk Brakes
- Custom Size Tires
1949 to early 1955 the “Barndoor Bus” from the factory uses a mix of modified Beetle & Bus suspension parts. The transaxle is a type one split case crash box “no gear shift syncros” with a set of reduction gear boxes, these boxes are at the end of the rear axles behind the brakes. The reduction gears are what give the 1949-67 Bus its low gear, for climbing hills with a 36HP motor, it also lifts the bus up 3.5” inches higher than the standard Beetle transmission would.
One great thing for lowering the Barndoor Bus rear end is that the torsion housing happens to be the same width as a Beetle one and this makes it really easy to install a beetle transaxle, for an immediate 3.5” inch drop. Along with the torsion housing being the same width as a beetle, the torsion housing end castings are at the same angle, so when modifying the spring plates for the Beetle transaxle you will not need to notch them as much. The reason the pre 1955 Bus torsion housing castings are at the same angle as a Beetle and not pointed down like the later 55-67 buses is this, 1949-55 Barndoor spring plate’s attach to the output shaft axle and not down lower behind the reduction gear axle stub like 1955-67 Buses. Side notehaving reduction gears boosts the high end gear ratio so “faster on the highway”.
The 1949-55 Barndoor front-end is so deferent then the later Bus’s, that almost nothing is compatible. The tie rods and swing lever are offset to the driver side much like a Beetle and the steering arms on the spindles are up much higher, also like the Beetle. From my experience, I totally understand why Volkswagen moved away from the Barndoor suspension when they did in mid 1955.
1955-62 Buses
1963-64 Buses
1964-67 Buses
1968-70 Buses
1971-72 Buses
1973-79 Buses
Dropped Spindles
These are the first part to consider using when lowering a bus. A dropped spindle has a relocated spindle stub that raises the wheel higher into the wheel well, lowering the bus a set amount without sacrificing the ride quality.
Narrowed Beams
Often a narrowed beam is used to bring the wheels inboard; the stock bus frontend was wide and used negative offset wheels. Most all of the aftermarket wheels, brakes and drop spindles increase your wheel base or push your wheel out and the narrowed beam helps to compensate for the track increase.
There are a few other benefits of having a narrowed beam, things like torsion adjusters, custom tube rake for added wheel caster and modified shock positions.
Also a heads up, contrary to another websites claims, narrowing a buses beam spring packs 4”inches only makes the ride 10.41% stiffer than a stock beam, this is just the math. So if you have a narrowed beam that rides poorly it is most likely not the actual narrowed spring packs.