just thought I would post some stuff I have been doing to my bus recently

I was running a Straight axle back end which compromised of...
long beetle tubes and axles,
one on one adaptor plates,
early bay CE adjustable spring plates
late beetle brakes with early wide 5 drums and butty's spacers

-4" narrowed front beam with compromised of…
home made narrowed beam with wagon west urethane bushes & adjusters
VWgillybilly drop spindles
air dampers

Wheels - standard bus 15" steels
155/80/15 tyres on the rear (pretty narrow to clear the adjustable spring plate adjuster - without running spacers)
155/60/15 tyres up front

I have been talking about going back to stock for a LONG time….enough talk

how it was


First thing I decided, was although I do prefer the look of 15's, i would move back to the correct 14's
175/60/14's up front
175/80/14's on the rear (these required spacers to stop the tyres rubbing on the adjustable spring plates)




so i built up a stock late beam…I was going to weld in some adjusters…but decided against it…basically the front end is now stock, with the exception of the drop spindles which i am still running
I also changed the front tyres
175/70/14C

new standard width front end ….doesnt actually look that much different, obviously, the wheels stick out 2" more each side, but ~i was getting bored of seeing every splitty with tucked in front wheels TBH
1st impression was…WOW…those 4" of torsion leaves you chop off really make a BIG difference to the ride quality…drive lovely..very comfortable




I was going to leave SA back end till next winter, cos to be honest, it drove really nice and the gearing was really good
but….I thought the back end now looked too narrow compared to the front
so…



…..engine out, rear running gear off
(while it was all out, I also spent a week scraping back the crud over the gearbox, cradles, rear wheel arches etc..fresh coat of paint, stone chip and grey paint)
RB stock back end ready to go back in

my nose cone was pretty knackered after years on bodges…the end where the bush sits was actually broken clean off…god knows how long its been like that LOL





I was going to run adjustable spring plates…and ordered some transporterhaus ones from cool air
but after waiting for 3 weeks (having been told they would be a couple of days) I cancelled the order and stuck stock spring plates on
I'm glad really, the adjustable ones would only have caused tyre clearance issues TBH

all back together, the rear is obviously down a few splines to match the front for now, but as I don't have adjustable spring plates I can now run
185/14C rear tyres with issues





The black steels (I think) give an optical illusion of the bus looking lower…and another main reason for going back to stock would be to allow running more stockfish' tyres

so…something from the back of the garage

185/70/14 up front
195/75/14 on the rear (bit small..so just received some new whitebanded 185/14C - bargain £54 each delivered off Ebay)








Love the look of the whitebands…..VERY happy with that

but, hows it drive ?

well, its definitely comfy, so much better for journeys
i'm going through the gears a lot quicker….1st -3rd are very quick LOL
round B roads i find I can sit in 4th all day long, where as before ~i was changing between 3rd & 4th a lot more

seems to be very happy sitting at 55mph on the duel carriageway..up and down inclines, no sweat
its got more in it..read 65 on my speedo with plenty more (but running 175/70/14 at the time, so speedo is out by at least 5-10 mph)


overall….IM LOVING IT

oh….thought LONG and hard for about a year , about dying my duracour covers…took the plunge and did them, and again, VERY pleased, turned out just how i wanted them

Before



After

New ride hight is nice and looks great with the white bands on pal



marco

Andy

Those tyres look spot on! Will it be going higher?

Good move. You've made your bus better

Goodbye! and goodnight! to the low ride, Looks a lot better

Looks great, I'm actually tempted to put dropped spindles and go down a couple of splines myself after looking at this!

Seat covers look good too.

had a few clunks coming from the back end over rough ground when I took it out the other day

tightened up my finger loose spring plate bolts and back out….oh my, absolute joy to drive




strange thing I have noticed, with the SA gearbox, I had what i thought was a flat spot about 1500rpm….with the stock RB box…NO flat spot
bonus
honestly…can't tell you how good it feels to have a bus thats driving so nice now all the homebrew running gear is gone

So what gearbox are you running with the RGB's now - is it ultimately higher or lower geared?
Have you surreptitiously made a great freeway flyer setup? - hahahaha

stock H code splitty gearbox


dunno what all the fuss about reduction boxes struggling to do 50mph as well…I got unto 65mph very comfortably and reasonably quickly…was starting to get a bit more noise at that speed…but had more in it and perfectly good for overtaking the trucks , then back down to a comfortable 60mph

…and thats on 14's

don't see why 70mph would be an issue on 15's with full wall tyres

Ahhh ok, had'nt realised you'd put a stock box back in.
I have a '67 rgb H box in mine and it will do 70 easily (although noisily as you say!)
Thats on 14's too, with 185/80's. have been toying with 15's for the back though.
My whole rear tranny & axle assy is at Bears currently for a overhaul, it was a bit noisy in 4th at speed (howls), which was bit wearing on long journeys - pinion bearings according to Bears, common if the box runs low on oil, so hoping it will be quiet as a mouse at 70 soon.... Hahaha (some hope!)

Looks ok.
Out of interest have you had any problems with oil leaking from the drive shaft boot as it's fitted with the join at the top and should be at the side ie at 3 o clock or 9 o clock not 13 o clock.

Need some more pictures of it all set up with your different awnings as I always enjoy it when you do some of your photo-shoots

Cheers, Lee.