Lowering the rear of your ride

Well, I had the day off and lowered my 69 one notch. I will go two notches when I get the rims and tires I really want.
If This is something you been wanting to do, let me know and I can give you a hand or explain it.




One spline or notch is approx 2" of drop.

I had quite the gap between the rear tire and fender, now it is only a small gap. When the new shoes go on, I want a slight tuck of the tire under the fender

Looks good, I did this on mine as well, it was a lot easier than i thought it was, didn't take long either.

Thanks.. I need to take new pics.. I just lowered it another notch today. So the tires tuck a little under the fender. I like it. And yeah, took me a couple of hours.. not a big deal.

If you have before pictures those are good to see as well, i wish i had better pictures before and after, ill have too see what i have.

Here is a pic of it with two notches.. now I need to lower the front another inch to level it out.

I like that, yeah front needs to be level. Ill post my pictures after my motor goes back in, i only have before pictures but its about as low as yours

Holy hell batman....
There is a lot more to that dual splines than I thought.. but got it figured out.
Started playing with it.. up one spline inside, down one spline outside.. if you keep doing that, you can lower or raise your rear about 1/4 to 1/2 inch at a time. It's pretty cool. I have always done just outside splines. So it got raised up a bit. Now the top of the tire is equal with the fender. I like it.. makes it very drivable and still has a good stance. One day when I am rich I will do air bags.

Now I need to get some drop spindles for the front. There are on sale at CIP1 for 99.95 a pair right now. I should have a nice smooth ride when I get those on.

Right now I have a 1" rake.. 25" from floor to fender in rear and 24" from floor to fender in front.

Will post pics later tonight.

For reference this is before:




This is after 1 outer spline (I believe that makes two splines drop):

Some of us do not want to lower but raise the rear. How do I do it? I never did one before. Do I need any special tools?

You dont need any special tools, just a jack and some basic tools. to raise you would just move the trailing arm in the opposite of lowering. To lower you will move the arm up, to raise you will move it down. I'll look for a DIY so i dont have to write one.

Nick if you ever want to update your ride I have a soft spot for Fuchs

I love my fuchs too..... just wish they were real

A crime against humanity

nick_701 wrote:

I love my fuchs too..... just wish they were real

Real or not...it looks great.

Lowered the rear today one notch, raised the front. Not by choice. I took my time the first side looking for short cuts. None

If you want I can do a step by step with photos. My passenger side is a half inch higher. I will measure the torsion tube to the ground next time and double check. It is hard to believe but it is sooooooo much easier with the weight of the car to do this. We did a bare pan once. PITA

Once I make up my mind on the motor I will decide if I want to go lower. If I run type 4 lower, type 1 has a bigger sump so I have to check. Someone lost one of those (sump)on a lowered car. Brad was it you

When adjusting rear torsion, I've had way better results by measuring from the upper shock mounting hole to the rear hole on the spring plate. Take a measurement before you change anything, that way you can always get back to where you started. Use the same measurement for both sides. Unless you have 4 calibrated jackstands (front and rear of car off the ground) and a perfectly level floor, measuring from the floor is at best "sketchy"

Hey Speedie,

Do you take the measurement with the car jacked up and the rear wheels hanging or with it on the ground?

I am picturing this in my head and I think I am confusing myself...

Iam getting ready to raise my rear end a little and this would be helpful.

After you have the spring covers off and the spring plates popped off the "notch" the plate plates will be hanging "unsprung" supported by the splines of the torsion bars. Take your measurements in this unsprung position. Keep in mind that because of preload, etc, changing this dimension 3/8" can change ride height 3/4" to 1"

Here is the spline chart that I was telling you guys I found on The Samba

Hey Jeff, what did you do to lower your car?

You move the torsion bars. Mark the plates and try not to remove the bars unless you are doing half clicks. I am sure it will be a harder job to you new ride do to the age. Mine was easy but we built less than a year ago. You may want to put new bushings in while you have it apart.

David

Thanks bro but I was kinda looking for more specifics. Narrowed beam? Dropped spindles? How many splines in the rear? Tire size? Rim size? I just really like how his car sits so I was wondering how he did it.

Greg, for your Herbie, and the potential resale of your '67, you should probably just leave them as is.
Herbie shouldn't be lowered and the wide wheels will give you grief on the front fenders if you do, and will rub worse (yes, they do tend to rub if you turn the wheel all the way) with a narrow beam, and people pay more for unmolested projects that they either don't have to return to stock, or can modify themselves. being a '67, the value is in how solid it is and original. it's one of the years you don't want to monkey with too much.

Dump your money into your '63 restoration, and just get the '67 up to par so you can toodle along in the meantime.

I agree. If you are planning to lower it anyway though I would get the drop spindles and adjust the torsion bars in the back. At least when you go to sell it you can return it to stock if necessary.

GOOD GRIEF.........nevermind..........

Why don't you two go find a room?