What parts fit on what VW? Steering box VS rack & Pinion?

[Noiro A. Buggyman]

I agree with you 100%. That skid plate is not nearly what I would like it to be (its currently aluminum). I would need a stronger skid plat material if I was going to reinforce it with frame mounts. Im confident that if I turned the rail upside down and hit the skid plate real hard with a sledge hammer, that it would crumple and punch a hold in the motor in one good hit. Its mainly there to provide "some" protection, rather than none at all. I built it from scratch and slapped it on there real quick like. I plan on being VERY careful on what rocks / logs that I go over. There is zero valve cover protection, and only the back half of the transmission is protected. I plan on sticking mainly to logging roads, and light trails until the protection is upgraded.

If the Mrs and I decide that we like the VW platform, we may upgrade to something better. Or perhaps make some improvements on this one. I want to at least drive this thing before putting tons of time and money into it.

[Noiro A. Buggyman]

Anyone know where I can get a decent skid plate or engine cage?

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Sigh, I run one of the commercial ones on my blue dune buggy designed for Baja's but it really isn't that great. You have a short back rail so some additional down bars will need to be added to support the cage at the rear as I will on my black buggy (in process).

DSC02269.jpg

It does need the down bars to connect the engine cage to the rear hoop of the cage. Usually the engine cage is the same material as the cage itself bent into a horizontal hoop and connected to the rear hoop even with the side bars. There are two "L-shaped" under bars that connect from the new hoop, go under the engine then to either the cage bottom tube or to the torsion tube. The engine protection then connects to (usually) the under side of it.

Some images that might help... or maybe not.

thILUC0UO8.jpg

The commercial cage I was talking about. Not the best idea but it might give you an idea.

thWV7ASW0E.jpg

Another style I have seen. Not sure just how good or bad.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=sa ... &FORM=IGRE

A lot of stuff here but you'd need to weed through a lot of ideas. Most of the pix I have of people I know and their rails are mostly long back. The one short back I thought I had pictures of I can't find.

Lee

[Noiro A. Buggyman]

I looked up the bare metal cage that you posted a pic of. Looks like I can get one locally for around $130, but its a two hour drive just to look at it. Plus I would have to haul the buggy there to test fit it. Not sure if its worth the trouble for something that is pretty basic, and that wont directly bolt on.

[Noiro A. Buggyman]

Walker Valley ORV pics.

[Noiro A. Buggyman]

Has anyone ever taken their buggy to Walker Valley ORV? Washington State, near Seattle.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

It something like 50 to 70 miles north of me up, by Mt. Vernon (I looked it up). Never been there as I rode over on the Olympic peninsula when I was much younger and before I got into riding on the sand.

You look like you are going to be playing in the rougher stuff so I certainly would get a good cage and ground protection. I think you are also going to want to make some ground clearance things such as reset your preload, upgrade shocks and some other time consuming (and wallet emptying) things.

I did a thing on setting the preload but a lot of it is gone now because of photobucket. PM sent.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=sa ... &FORM=IGRE

Also you are going to want to add side bars to protect your rear suspension. These are a bunch of rails and buggies but you should get an idea of what I am talking about. I've already wiped out one right rear suspension clipping a tree out on the dunes going up a trail. I need to take another look at your cage too.

Lee

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Broken on the dunes.jpg

This is my blue buggy and this was taken quite a few years ago. No side bars but the cage bars between the A and B hoops are one example of where the structure of the cage should be.

Dune Buggy rebuild 10-25-06 001.jpg

This is one option: to clarify the bent joining pieces were done by the guy who built the cage for two reasons (he also built sand rails).

1) Normally there would be a straight bar between the front and rear hoops at the start of the bend to protect the people inside if the buggy tipped into a tree.

2) Mine was bent out to make the contact sooner and to make easier entry into the glass buggy body.

From the pix you posted taken on an old logging road you need to add something to the outside of your cage. You also need to add an "X" to either the rear hoop or the down bars to keep the cage from collapsing on a roll over.

The center bar is for additional protection, giving something to grab onto when getting out and also mounting a GoPro of some sort.

Lee

[Noiro A. Buggyman]

The pics posted above are not of my vehicle. Those are just pictures of Walker Valley ORV. Based on the buggy pics in page 1 of this thread, do you think that the cage needs modifications?

[Ol'fogasaurus]

The pics posted above are not of my vehicle. Those are just pictures of Walker Valley ORV. Based on the buggy pics in page 1 of this thread, do you think that the cage needs modifications?

II realized that so I looked at the pix I downloaded and edited to see just what you have. In my opinion (and it is an opinion) yes, some changes would be a good idea.

Even on the Southern Oregon Dunes where I ride I would make some changes. The carrier on top looks to be removable so that would be off when riding logging style roads, especially with limbs and other tree goodies hanging down, like you have shown. It would be especially so if it were loaded making the buggy possibly top heavy.

Remember, in WA the last time I checked, rails are still not street legal anymore for any of several reasons. While SUVs/SXSs are now street legal: but only in certain areas and the speed limit is under 35 MPH. You need to protect the rear suspension (side bars) and probably the front but that is going to be difficult.

The cage, as far as I can see needs some updates to make it safer in case of certain things that could happen.

If you want to talk via-PMs assuming no one cares, that can be done but it has a problem because you can't post pictures with it. I sent you a PM yesterday.

Lee

[cbeck]

Looks like a irs trans with the cv joints. Curious what kind of axles are hiding under the covers. Look square?

[Noiro A. Buggyman]

Hi. The CV axle shafts are round, and I assume that they are stock. The pads are just to help protect them a little, and improve the aesthetics.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Hi. The CV axle shafts are round, and I assume that they are stock. The pads are just to help protect them a little, and improve the aesthetics.

I seem to remember hearing a long time ago that certain off-road people did put a protective coverings on open axles (half-shafts in our case) to protect them from dam(n)age; e.g., scratching or bruising of the axle's surfaces that weaken the metal. Kind of like the coating on the torsion bars that you don't want to scratch or bruise (such as when you drop it or ... which could cause dam(n)age to the torsion bar causing it to fail.

If possible I would look at the half-shafts to see what their condition(s) is. Like I said, those old logging roads can degrade to rough with the hidden rocks which do eventually migrate from underground to the surfaces.

On one of the old pro rallies, that were on logging roads, (allowed by the companies then but eventually they were stopped from what I heard) and some mighty scary things happened on them... at speed. These were times runs. One of the guys I knew had his car get thrown off the road and it slid, on it top, a considerable amount of distance before it stopped. He was injured but was able to make his way up the hill on his own until help came which was the next guy in line. I don't think he had his navigator in the car at the time.

Lee