THE KOMBI KONNECTION

Moneypenny · Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 12:54 pm Post subject: How to lower a Type 3

FRONT
Step 1) Raise the front and place the car on jack stands, removing the front tires at this time.

Step 2) Remove the front shocks and mark the lower trailing arm with a reference line on both the trailing arm and the end of the torsion bar.

Step 3) Remove the nut on the end of the upper ball joint, and seperate the ball joint from the trailing arm, repeat for the lower ball joint. Leave the ball joints attached to the spindle. These nuts will be very tight, as the torque spec is 80 ftlbs, so you might need a cheater pipe.

Step 4) Loosen the nut on the grub screw, and with an 8mm allen wrench remove the grub screw from the lower trailing arm, and then remove the bolt and keeper just above the trailing arm.

Step 5) Pull the lower trailing arm off (some have reported using a puller for arms that were rusted together, others have said using a hammer will help work it off), and using the reference mark as a guide, set the desired spline drop. Raise the arm to drop, lower the arm to raise it. Note each outer spline equals 9 degrees or about 2.5" of drop. Most drops are 2 splines, any more than that, then shorter shocks are required.

Reassembly is the reverse of the above disassembly proceedures. Be sure when completed to have a front end alignment done as soon as possible, as the car will have at least 1" of toe out and this will eat the front tires quickly.

REAR

To lower the rear is simple, however, not easy as the front.
The Torsion bar is located towards the fron end of the car.

Look inside the wheel well of the rear wheel, driver side.
To your left you will see the torsion bar pocking through. It looks like a solid round tube , held in place with a odd (rectangle?) shaped plate and has four bolts.

To access the torsion, you will need to take care of a couple of things. First, remove the small plate in the rear fender just in front of the torsion. This will allow you to slide the torsion straight out. There is one small (9mm I think) bolt holding it in place. You will need to remove the rocker trim also.

Next, remove the four bolts that hold the plate in place, ans slide the cover off. The rubber boot slides off next.

Now, remove the shocks, and loosen the rear axle from the lower are that connects to the torsion.

Once you have all parts pulled away, MARK THE LOCATION !of the stock position, this is important to ensure a level lowering, then slide it out.

You will need to pry it. but it should come without any serious force.

Once you feel it come free from the inner teeth, move it upwards to the desired height. I went 3 clicks fron and rear on my 67. Any more would be too much to deal with.

Once you have it where you want, slide it securely back in and replace the covers. This sounds easy , but be prepared to fight it. The torsion plate cover will be a bit difficult because the rubber boot will tend to keep the plate from moving in close enough to get the bolts started. Don't give up. It will go.

Next it's time to replace the axle connections to the lower arm and the like. Again, a pain in the rear, but not impossible. Be patient and sober while working on this project. You may get frustrated enough to break something. Have a floor jack handy to help move the parts into place. (you will understand when you get to this point)

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1971 Fastback
1975 Kombi Camper
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