Poische 944 steel trailing arm on beetle

[Passatman]

Good day All,

I am in the process of slowly building out my germanlook beetle. I currently have my steel 1985 944 trailing arms and was wondering if the shock absorbers for the 944 can be used on my IRS chassis.

[H2OSB]

They can.

[Passatman]

Thank you for this information.

[Bruce.m]

The steel arms can be used on the bug but I would have expected the 944 rear dampers would be too long? Never tried though so that’s just a guess
.

[Passatman]

Hmmm! i want to use koni 3 way adjust shocks on all four corners can the koni shock for the bug be used with the trailing arms then?

[Bruce.m]

You should be able to google search for the damper lengths (both bug & 944) and compare. Main risk is that the 944 shock could bottom out before the bug bump stop which would shorten the travel. Damper would survive if it has a built in bump-stop.

[Bruce.m]

And yes, the 944 steel arms are nearly identical to the beetle items. They actually look identical but have a different part number and the theory is that inside the 944 part has additional bracing. But the bug shocks fit. The upper shock mount is different on the 944 (position)

[Passatman]

OK Bruce. I am looking forward to running 993 big red calipers if they can fit the steel arm. I have heard about the close comparison between the IRS trailing arms of the beetle and the 994 steel arms.

[Bruce2]

I've done it! I have 944 shocks on my Beetle.
I didn't set out to install them, the shocks came to me. On a trip to my local junk yard, as I approached Porsche row, I saw some bright yellow shocks on a 944. Closer inspection revealed them to be Koni sport shocks. For $40 they were mine!
The top collar for the bolt is longer, so your stock VW bolt is a bit short. I just left out the washers. Even though the damping is more with the yellow Sport shocks, the ride is still excellent. I figure it's because we have so much weight at the rear. About the same as the rear of a 944.

[Bruce2]

And yes, the 944 steel arms are nearly identical to the beetle items. They actually look identical but have a different part number and the theory is that inside the 944 part has additional bracing.

I think the different part number is due to the extra hole needed in the tab that attaches to the spring plate for the camber adjuster cam.
The internal bracing of a 944 is different, but I wouldn't conclude them to be stronger. That's because there's a brace piece inside a VW TA that a 944 TA doesn't have. This VW brace can only be seen if you cut apart a TA. On top of that, there are some 944 TAs that don't have the "944" bracing, but do have the VW bracing.

[Piledriver]

The T1 and 944 steel arms are essentially interchangeable, to mount the Brembos either requires the same adapters.
The aluminum arms had Brembos mounted directly on them, but make wheel selection a lot harder as they are 1" or 2" wider per side.

Steel arms need adapters of some sort, but at least the 944 steel arms will have 5x130 hubs and likely rotors, and caliper mounts of some sort, as well as the parking brake bits. The Brembo monoblocks you want are radial mounts so require custom adapters regardless.

Note: The various Touareg calipers are usually much easier to get and are essentially the same Brembo calipers except for paint color.

Note: I ended up running the ~same size calipers front and rear on my squareback, as under max braking the weight distribution shifts to ~50/50.
The 944 was 50/50 to start with, so the factory sized rears will probably be undersized on a reasonably set up for handling T1.(~30/70 f>r)
Picked up some "965" rear rotors which didnt require too much massaging of the arms, but were right width/offset, and on sale at the time.
...I'm running early 944T alloy arms though, with factory front 944T brembos on rear, Wilwood superlites up front, which still have more initial bite probably due to the PFC #14 pads vs the Stoptech Sport pads on the rears.(will eventually make both same pad material)