Now don't go throwing roocks at me ! I'm just looking at some options. I have been a VW guy as well as a rodder forever and I have lots of VW parts still laying around. I am currently building a 29 A Sedan and had an idea for using a steering box out of a 65 bug. Has anyone tried this? (If you don't want to admit it on the board you can PM me.) It looks like it could be an easy swap. Ok, let me have it!
For anyone following this thread, this is important. Steering componants require the very best in hardware. METRIC bolt gradeing is not the same as our SAE or American thread grading. A 8.8 stamped METRIC bolt is NOT like our grade 8, but only equivilent to only a grade 5 bolt and not adequate for steering or suspension use!!. You need to use Metric grade 10.9, this is the markings on the head of the bolt.
I guess that the bus box would make more sense since it has the flat mount rather than the tube mount. Nice job on the mount fab CFC! Traditions, thanks for pointing that out. In my life as a bug builder, I have seen some really messed up unsafe builds using substandard bolts. Most people use whatever will thread in the hole. They don't stop to think about hardness.
Your very welcome medic. Also a little known or not so well known fact is that it doesn't stop with bolts. Yes, guys and gals, grading comes in the form of nuts and washers as well. Yes I mean grade 8 washers and nuts. The old saying, it is only as strong as it's weakest link applies here with hardware too. A grade 8 bolt for steering, suspension, or brakes is great, but then only as strong as the nut and washer as well. The weak link will fail that you are quaranteed.
These guys use a bug box. Interesting how they had to mount it...but in their other videos ("El Gallo" for instance) it seems to work great! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2XvlcR1BzY&list=UUFzp9fxATpjirHZPtGdJoTg&index=9&feature=plcp
I used a VW bus box on a model A touring and it worked great the streering box bracket is a good fit for the A frame.................
The bug box is quite light duty. On severe use, big tires, offset wheels on a bug, the 4 top cover bolts tend to loosen up. Bugs were so lightweight on the front, that factory tire pressure was 17 on bias. I would not use a bug box with front engine. Early aircooled bus is very stout, but has a short pitman arm. Those arms are beefy enough to cut and add to.
8.8 is the generic like grade 5 and has all the same quality and sourcing problems as noname Chinese or whatever grade 5. 10.9 is IIRC a bit short of grade 8 and 12.8 is the top commonly available grade.
Heheheh...Yup! But its a bug box...and its just answering his question...kinda! Wouldn't be my first choice.
Super beetle has a much more common mounting flange. But It's hard to find a good used one, because many Supers shimmied a lot, and that wears the "dead straight" position on the worm and sector gears....then you can't eliminate the free play.
Can someone post pictures on how the brackets look with the VW bus steering box. I would like to install one and is there someone that makes these brackets as a kit for sale. Thanks Frenchy
I don't have a bus box around but here is a picture of one I found on the net. It looks like it would bolt up to an A frame without alot of engineering. The only thing I would question is how it would clock from turn to turn. It may not have enough for the A front suspension. I am encouraged by your replies. I will do some more research and post my results. I know the bus boxes are not cheap to buy. I will have to get on the phone and see if anybody has one stashed away. Thanks for everyones input.
It did answer my question. I will give you that. That design is not even close to what I was thinking. I figured a beetle box mounted to a pipe just behind the crossmember. Maybe designed into the motor mount somehow, I'm not sure????
Mine's a VW Kombi (I think that's what you call a bus in the US). Works brilliantly, clocking it is a doddle, and the pitman arm is long enough. All it needs is a very slight ream to take the early Ford tie-rod end.
Sorry, but your splitting minute hairs here. My personal Mechanical Engineering books ALL list the Grade 8 and the Metric 10.9 as BOTH being Alloyed Steel, Quenched and tempered. Proof Load PSI = 120,000 for BOTH Minimum Yield Strength = 130,000 for BOTH Minimum Tensile Strength = 150,000 for BOTH The 12.9 hardware is NOT readily and easily available and NOT really necessary for these applications, YES I am a Mechanical Engineer, thank you.
Don, I have to admit, I have no idea! My current RPU was built in the 70's in the bay area. When I bought it in '95, I bought it for the nicely done boxed frame and perfect original Ford body. The steering box is mounted with the pitman arm up, like a Mustang box. The housing is attached to the bottom of the frame rail with a molded in clamp arrangement that allows the colum shaft to be adjusted to what ever angle is needed in the cab. Like I said, the frame was one of the best parts of the original build with all the crossmembers, boxing, and bracketry cleanly molded and finished, so, since the steering worked well, with a nice feel, I didn't change it. Fabien Valdez looked at the box, and thinks it's early bus.
That's what I thought as I read the part about the adjustable angle. That's a feature of the VW aircooled bus box, whereas the bug needs to be mounted to a round pipe, like it was on the bug axle beam tube.
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