How drop front Thing?

[Newwest76]

Hi Everybody, l'm a new owner of Thing1974, l want to drop the front and use also disk brake in the front, is it possible with kit front disk brake and drop spindles....where you suggest me to buy it? Thank you.
Norman

[IanEpperson]

Stock Things have the equivalent of "raised spindles" on the stock front end. If you just put bug spindles and trailing arms on a Thing it'll drop 2 or 3 inches. Those Thing spindles are getting hard to find and can be pricey - the Baja crowd used to grab them up to raise a bug or rail. You'll probably make money in selling them and buying bug spindles instead of chopping then up.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

What Ian says is true but there is one big disadvantage and that is the front end does drop close to 3" but it also weakens the fronted at the same time because the lower BJs would then be mounted differently.

[sideshow]

Leave your front axle complete/untouched.
Remove it.
Buy a late beetle/ghia disc-to-disc and install that.
Figure out what wheel bolt pattern to run, because the rear will still be wide 5 and the front most likely 4 lug.

[Bruce2]

... it also weakens the fronted ...

....to be the same strength as a Beetle.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

... it also weakens the fronted ...

....to be the same strength as a Beetle.

Yes but consider this: if you are going to abuse your "thing", when using the stock bug beam, the frontend would be not as strong as it would be with the stock Thing unit. The reason for this is because how the bug's lower ballpoints are installed when compared to the Thing unit making them vulnerable to failure on hard compression hits.

If you are just "posing" then things (pun intended) wouldn't be as bad. Still keep the Thing beam. Your Type 181/Thing is worth more with the stock beam than with the bug beam.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Bug spindle.JPG

I don't know why this photo wants to post double but every time I try to post pictures this way, this seems to happen.

This is a bug suspension. Notice the direction of the lower BJ faces and connects to the spindle. VW front BJ suspensions do not have bump stops, they use the shocks as a bump stop which can cause damage to the BJ on hard suspension hits.

Bug spindle.JPG

This is a Thing suspension. Notice the direction of the lower BJ faces and connects to the spindle. This is only one change made to the Thing BJ front beam.

Lee

[IanEpperson]

The Thing's trailing arms are also stronger. If you pull them from the front beam, you'll notice that the metal is significantly thicker.

So, yes, it'll be as strong as a bug. If someone is lowering their Thing, I doubt they're going to go offroading with it and probably don't care that it can take a jump radically better than a bug can.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

The Thing's trailing arms are also stronger. If you pull them from the front beam, you'll notice that the metal is significantly thicker.

So, yes, it'll be as strong as a bug. If someone is lowering their Thing, I doubt they're going to go offroading with it and probably don't care that it can take a jump radically better than a bug can.

Probably but things (not with a capital "T") also sell and the replaced parts may disappear ($$$) and to the unknowing (if you've ever been one) the different front end can be a problem. Been in that "at risk" position more than a couple of times myself.

And yes, I have see stuff being used in situations where they don't belong.

[WickedWagens]

I helped with the front suspension on this one. Bug beam, trailing arms, and dropped spindles with air ride on the front.