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Ok so i was watching a vid b4 on you tube and i noticed just how little flex is in our rear suspension, soooo do any of you gurus see how it would be possible to disconnect the torsion bar in the rear and have it as a free pivot and then use custom rear shocks/spring(ie strut) that have more travel and will allow more flex?(ie articulation) however not so much to put a ridiculous angle on cv's or am i dreaming?

Like an L series?
Probably can gain a bit more wheel travel. The driveshafts and joints are the limiting factor. A std rear DOJ can theoretically only handle up to 23 degrees from horizontal. The greater the angle the greater the risk of breaking.

yea exactly, similar to an L series, i know the cv's are the limiting factor, its just that i watched a video on you tube of a brumby and thought it didn't have much movement down before it lifted a wheel,
its just something thats bugging me but probably not going to go anywhere, as id probably rather go with solid axles if it needed some serious custom work

It would be possible to disconnect the torsion bar in the rear and have it as a free pivot however your on-road handling becomes shocking - apparently, I know of a mate that did it in his Brumby and his on-road performance/body roll was that back that he put it back in. Not sure if this helps you though.

I'll be putting a modified L series trailing arm in my race Brumby at Christmas time.
More for the adjustability of coils than out and out travel.

Remember that VW rear torsion bar suspension was the basis for all off-road racing for 40 years prior to the popularity of A-arm buggys. It works well and handles well at speed. It's simple and reliable. It does not work well for rockcrawling.

Ian i have just finished putting "L" series struts in the back of my ute and wound the torsion bar off. Swing round my place one day after work and i will show you.

can you post some pics matt?

yer for me too please

tristan

I will post pics late next week when i finally get broadband/internet back. It is pretty easy to do with a weld and angle grinder and something to measuse the angle of the Bracket.

so matt u have just fitted the l series rear struts to the rear of ur brumby did u take the torsion bar out????

also where did u mount the strut

I've got L series struts on the rear of my sedan as well. would be keen to hear exactly what you've done with the torsion bar Matt ?

does any1 have any pics of the L series suspenion in the rear cause i wanna fix mine im sick of seein it so dam low

cheers

I will post pics later tonight. All i have done with the torision bar is wind it off so it basically doesn't work. Seems to be alright with some weight in the back but maybe a little stiff with none, however mine does have king springs in it.

As you can see all you need to make is the top bracket which is enough with a welder, a drill, angle grinder and a few hand skills. The bottom just bolts up. Off my head the angle of the bracket needs to be 110 degrees. Be warned this will make the ride a fair bit harder and will lift the rear, mine went up almost 50mm taking out my rear lift block (2" Lift). Although once you get a load on (my DRZ400) it becomes relatively nice and comfortble. . The camber will also be out, however i believe i have a fix for that thanks to Xtreme RX. I will post pics of what is required regarding the camber.

that looks cool the main issue i ave with mine is camber so if it causes camber issues i dont wanna go makin all this stuff and it not wrkin

Anyone done this to a non lifted MY? I am trying to get my coupe to handle better and with the torsion bar wound down it is very soft in the rear and bump steers. Would a lowered spring on the L strut keep the ride height down?

It gives about 2" lift at the back, If you had a lowered spring ( or a badly sagged one ) it would probably keep the ride height down.

Going low doesn't necessarily make a car handle any better , the manufacturers generally set road cars up to have the best geometry compromise at the std ride height . Delete all notions of going for the low wally ricer look with cut down springs etc because its dangerous and illegal AND doesn't handle better - worse actually .

The sorts of things that help are slightly higher spring rates and maybe increased roll stifness from very slightly larger diametre anti roll bars .
Front geometry wise MY's appear to have diabolical settings ie positive camber and caster and it goes from sad to beyond woeful the more steering lock you use . They REALLY need more positive caster and zero camber to start with and that means fiddling with control arms/compression (caster) rods as well as bars/dampers/springs .

There is a good thread ATM in USMB older vehicles so have a look there .

Cheers A .

I have already played with the front end. I now running about 2 degrees negative camber and about the same castor angle also toe-in by about 3mm. The camber issue on the rear i am about to fix up so wait out on a resolve for that.

I am not after the ricer look, just some firmer suspension in the rear. The front is all Impreza with L series arms and a nice amount of neg camber. Just need to sort out the rear. Will give the L struts a go with the spring plate on the lowest setting as I have some of the earlier adjustable ones here.