My fug has had three small torsion strips removed from both beam tubes, Has anyone removed all the small strips and just run the suspension with the large strips on their own?? Does it make it too soft?

thats a good question, mine has all 6 (12 total) of the smaller leaves removed from both upper and lower torsion tubes, so now just has 4 each of the big leaves in both tubes (8 total), and over the last few years of driving and jumping on the front a few times, I think its actually now too soft......... for this year I will probably replace 3 small leaves (6 total) in each tube in order to stiffen it up a tad.......which I think is exactly what you have......one thing is for sure, bunning all the leaves (20 total) is way too stiff for the front suspension a fug of beach buggy........I think your spec is about right, so I'd leave it as is

I've left all mine in, and instead of lowering all the way on the adjusters I've installed a pair of dropped spindles, but it is an interesting concept B)

I certainly don't feel mine is too harsh, but I have alot of wieght up front so perhaps this has off set it....

Leave it as it is, and try it. Sounds like someone has worked it out. If you don't like the ride you can then change it....

Cheers for that. Do the torsion strips/bars cause the dampers to bottom out even with the weight of the car on them?

I forgot to mention, my front beam is fitted with a pair of sway-away lowering adjusters, which performs the majority of my front lowering, I dare say removing some of the torsion leaves also lowere tha car a tad more.....I have heard of this done on beetles as a cheap method of lowering the front, but its seriously frowned upon and generally not reccomended......if you want to lower your front suspension, do it properly with either dropped spindles or a modified beam......I must say your front end does look a tad too high, but its all down to personal choice.......if you want to do it, I personally would go for the dropped spindles, which are now a very common choice and a damn site less hassle.........I only replaced my front beam as the original was well rotten and I came accross a second hand item with adjusters fitted at a good price.

I do not want to lower it at the moment just make the suspension slightly softer. The near side damper has bottomed out with no weight on it.Its quite hard. Drivers side is ok. I can only assume that the torsion strips are not even. I have replaced dampers, ball joints,re lubricated beam after I found the lack of grease nipples between bearings on the beam, some twit put them too central filling the beam with grease and not the bearings. I am now going over the rear end one of the dampers had been damaged and I need to find other mudguards and mount them on the axle.

Knighty

When you remove the smaller torsion leaves do you have to cut them and tack the centre and end sections back in place to locate them or can you just remove the whole leaf?

Mine has the ball joint suspension.

I can only imagine it is as you describe, the grubscrew would have nothing to locate on otherwise which would be very suss indeed... :o

I don't know how many are in mine, didn't give it a thought. That said, I'm guessing something has been done to it. Other that the height adjustment, it's softer than I'd imagine a beetle with no body on it to be. So as much as I'd say it was just right, I've no idea what it actually is. :huh:

I think (but am unsure) that the central grub screw just locates the main 4 leaves, all leaves are 1 piece, but the smaller upper and lower leaves are kinda captive via the trailing arms......I think......it was about 3-4 years ago that I changed my beam.......I actually need to lubricate my bush bearings, as I honestly cant remember ever doing it!!!.....my problem may actually be a case of too much stiction/friction in the bush system due to a lack of grease

You are correct about the grub screw locating on the main leaves only. I have had mine out. You should be able to remove the smaller ones and use it without any problems.

be very very careful!

If you are lowering it, then you stiffen it too, it promotes the weight forward in a bend and under braking, which with a rear bias is exactly what we want...
If you are not, then leave it standard, the standard set up was way too soft and so lends itself nicely to a lighter front end.

If the 6 smaller leaves have to go, I would cut them and place back as spacers, both on the trailing arms and the centre locking point on the beam. I have seen them snap under the extra twisting, I have also seen them 'try' and twist into that smaller gap. final point, but equally important; also consider the fact that the grub screw 'is' also now trying to force the outer leaves into that smaller gap, forcing the leaves against a 2mm edge with nothing in the middle; they WILL bow away from the grubscrew, they will be under greater stress, stress that they were not designed to take. I know we are talking lighter front ends, but the forces under braking etc are just the same....

...just a warning guys :ph43r:

considered a botch in the old days, you 'could' argue it still is.....

nice one tigger, certainly some food for thought there, I think I will chuck all mine back in very soon, I taxed the fug on thursday night and drove it to work on firday and have now come to the conclusion that my front suspension is seriously not right, its just too flimsy, my days of racing and what not has taught me that for a rear wheel drive, mid engined car, you generally run a hard front and soft rear.......I currently have soft both ends........all I gotta do now is find the time to do it......which is the hardest bit!!!

had a tinker last weekend and before I started to tear the front apart i had a fiddle with the damper settings, turns out I had them on about 75% hard......so I backed it off to about 25% hard and it was transformed, rode the bumps fine, and still handled well, so I think I will leave be......also had a rummage about looking for formula vee front suspension specs......turns out they generally do 1 of 2 things:

1) remove all the smaller leaves (as I have) in order to soften the suspension and get the required travel

2) remove all the leaves from one tube and replace with a 3/4" steel bar which acts as an anti-roll bar.......I thought that was an especially neat idea

Mine is now set up with original front dampers and 3 small torsion strips removed from each tube. Dampers seem to make it stiff when pushed on but under normal breaking they seem just right.

Knighty, Yes I'd read that too, copying the VW Type 3 front set up, so not a new thing but a good idea.

My front dampers are back right off as its pretty stiff anyway...seems ok, even on a journey

Would be really good to meet up with some of you guys, if nothing else I'm sure we could all learn a thing or two if we poked over each others cars :P