Narrowing Your VW Front Beam

Here is a picture taken of my narrowed beam while it was out of the car, to give you an idea of exactly how much material was removed (about 3" from each side in my case). You can narrow your beam by as much as 6" (total) but 2-4" should be fine in most instances. I apologize for the quality of the picture but this shot was taken near the beginning of the roll and I'm not about to take out my beam to get you a better picture.

The first step, of course, is to try and judge exactly how much material should be removed. If you remove more than an inch from each side you won't be able to use your old sway-bar (replacing your old torsion leaves with new heavy duty ones my help to regain some of the stiffness you used to have with the sway-bar, however). In my case, I was planning on running dropped spindles and disc brakes, as well as 15×6" Weld Pro-Star wheels with a 3½" rear spacing. Most dropped spindles push the wheels out nearly ½" due to their design, and the Pro-Stars have a noticeable "dished" look for such a narrow rim. I decided on a whopping 3" on each side, which is about as much as you can remove without re-engineering the entire front suspension. The actual amount that had to be removed turned out to be only 2-2½", and I may buy a new beam and try again in the future. As it stands, my turning radius is reduced somewhat and the wheels sit inside the fender lips about one inch (geez, this picture is worse than the last one!). But enough about my problems.

Obviously, the next thing you will have to do is remove the beam from the car. Tie rod ends will have to be broken loose, and the steering box should be removed at this time as well (note its position on the beam with a scribe because you will need to know its original position later). I won't get into the specifics of removing the front beam, since if you are trying to narrow your own beam, you probably already have the skill, know-how, and confidence that you need to remove it. Remember to use good quality jackstands... cinder blocks are fine due to the relatively light weight front end, but stacked 2×4"s are just asking for trouble.

Now would be a good time to remove the trailing arms and torsion leaves... get ready to get dirty. Store the leaves somewhere clean, like on fresh newspaper, and get your little brother to work cleaning them up. These (as well as your tie rods) will have to be shortened, too. Remove the outer trailing arm bushings and grease seals from the front beam (the OEM micarta bushings may catch fire and melt under the heat of welding). If your new urethane bushings are the long kind sold by Bugpack (designed to replace both the inner & outer bushings or bearings) you will also want to remove the inner bushings as well.

Note the locations of the steering box mounting location, as well as the steering damper bracket, and remove them from the beam. Once the beam has been narrowed, you will need to relocate them outwards by an amount equal to the amount of material removed. The steering damper bracket should be relatively easy to re-attach afterwards, since its location isn't all that critical (as long as the damper is allowed to move through the entire steering radius, lock-to-lock). The steering box, however, will need to be remounted to the beam afterwards in order to align and replace the two steering stops that regulate the sweep angle of the pitman arm. Most beams also have a small "button"" that is used to align the casting of the steering box. This will have to be ground flat and a new one fabricated in the correct place.

"Measure twice, cut once". If you plan on narrowing your beam more than 1" on each side, be prepared to do a bit of bodywork to the inner fender wells near the shock towers. If you plan on narrowing your beam more than 2" on each side, be prepared to do some major bodywork. Prior to cutting, you might want to measure the overall length of the upper and lower tubes, using either their outer ends or the flanges on the shock towers as a reference. Then, simply subtract the total material removed and recheck before welding. Make your cuts close to the mounts which affix the beam to the pan. In this way, you run less chance of melting the inner micarta bushings (they are situated about 7" inside and are prevented from slipping further inside by dimples punched into the outer tube surface). Make sure that your measurements are precise... proper alignment of the beam is crucial to good alignment and handling afterwards. You might want to make a jig to keep the beam true when realigning the components of the beam. Ideally, the cuts should be made with a radial arm saw, to assure they are perfect 90 degree cuts.

Cut & weld one side first before moving on to the other side. Tack the components first and let the assembly cool a bit before making a complete weld (MIG welding definitely works best here; if using gas, make sure to keep the area near the inner bushings cool so that the micarta material doesn't catch fire and melt). Take your time and check your measurements... this is the most exacting part of the procedure and you wouldn't want to have to go out and buy another beam. When laid flat on the ground - with the "front" of the beam face down - the flanges of both shock towers should both contact the ground flat (ie: the beam shouldn't rest on only two points).

When you're finished welding, mount the beam in your handy-dandy Craftsman Workmate^TM (or a large vice) so that you can hold it steady while you temporarily remount the steering box. Note the radius of the sweep of the pitman arm and position the two steering stops in their new positions. The stops should be placed so that the adjusting screws are what limit the sweep angle and not the steering damper or the interior workings of the steering box, itself. At the same time, temporarily clamp the steering damper bracket in place and test its function while operating the steering box from lock-to-lock. The steering damper should allow complete movement while not bottoming out or over extending. If it does, you might want to try a new steering damper with a longer stroke or limit the sweep with the steering stop adjusting screws (this may require mounting the steering stops closer to the steering box).

Next, shorten the torsion leaves by removing from each end an amount equal to the amount removed from each end of the beam. Reinstall the torsion leaves and the new urethane trailing arm bushings. Secure the torsion leaves in the tubes by using the center set screws. Trial-fit all four trailing arms and position them tightly up against the outer shoulders of the new bushings. Using a narrow centerpunch through the threaded holes used to secure the trailing arms to the leaves, mark the location of the new dimples. Do this for all four trailing arms, making sure that the assembly doesn't shift on you while you are working. Accuracy is important here because a mistake may mean going out and acquiring a new set of torsion leaves. Then disassemble everything, drill the new dimples, and reassemble & recheck.

Finally, each tie rod must be shortened by an amount equal to what was removed from each end of the beam (that is, the total amount of material removed from the two tie rods should equal the total amount of material removed from the beam). When shortening each tie rod, be sure to cut the end with the right-hand threads only. Next, acquire a 14×1.5mm metric tap and begin retapping the insides of each cut tie rod end (you may have to shop around for this size tap... I got mine from my Snap-on Tools^® dealer). You will probably have to extend the splits in the sides of each tie rod with a hacksaw so that more material can clamp down around the threaded portion of the tie rod ends. That brass-coloured object in the picture between the pitman arm and the inner tie rod ends is a quick-steering adapter designed to increase the sweep of the pitman arm (allowing full lock-to-lock movement with fewer turns of the steering wheel).