Torsion Bar

That question covers a fairly large area. There are several different approaches to torsional suspension. Some are adjustable and some are not.

Lonnie

If it is a frienship I there is a pinch block that you can adjust ride height with. The torsion bars are actually a series of flat springs. Some have replaced these with springs out of the front of a VW beetle. Other than that thes bushings can have play in them etc. I think dauntless sells a bushing for this . There is also a conversion setup availble to run a coil over shock from themn I think.
Some have also turned them into a rigid suspension. Ask Kevin Hahn about that at the SKUNK site.

Thanks for the advise. Who could I talk to about what they did when replacing with springs out of the front of a VW Beetle?

I know that Jay (Dauntless)watches this list - please contact me about any conversion setup for coil over shock.

I've sent an email to Kevin asking for any suggestions.

>>Thanks for the advise. Who could I talk to about what they did when replacing with springs out of the front of a VW Beetle?<<

The discussion was at SCT. I think it was Ken Hansen. Go to 'messages' and do a search maybe that will work.

Dauntless toll free 1-866-638-1793

email: info@dauntlessmotors.com

Picture of shock conversion:
http://www.dauntlessmotors.com/fabrication.htm

Hey Wayne.

I never got any such message.
Anyway the Cal 1 I had was converted to a solid suspension. Worked quite well actually if you kept the PSI kinda low.
Wayne has what I think is a Cal 1 frame. If I remember right he also has a 6'3", 250 lb passenger quite frequently. I can see why he might want to beef up that suspension a little.
Not sure the beetle springs will actually beef up your suspension or not. I think the main reason people were using them was to replace the broken ones with ones that were easy to find.

If you remeber Gust's yellow rig, he has the Dauntless suspension upgrade on it.

Torsion bar suspension are pretty good and very little can go wrong with them. Bad thing is that there really isn't much to be done as far as adjusting them. I wish my Motorvation FII had a stiffer suspension also,

Kevin

Kevin wrote:
>>Not sure the beetle springs will actually beef up your suspension or not. I think the main reason people were using them was to replace the broken ones with ones that were easy to find.<<

Agreed..I guess I didn't read into Wayne's original post enough or it was not clear in this area.
Note..some have added a coil over shock to the Formula II suspension. Some have added an additional torsion bar underneath and linked it to the swingarm and some have added a swaybar. All work well.

A sway bar is something I'd like to add to the FII. Maybe some day when I get a round tuit.

Kevin

You are right about the size of my mentally disabled son who just loves riding in the sidecar.

I'll have to check out Gust's suspension and have a long talk with Kevin the next time I see them.

wayne wrote:
>I'll have to check out Gust's suspension and have a long talk with Kevin the next time I see them.<

You will find that even though Gust's Formula II and your Friendship are both equipted with torsion bar type suspension they are worlds apart in design.

I think he actually wants to look at Gust's Cal 1 winter beater-ice racing-blinding yellow sidecar with the Dauntless suspension upgrade, not the FII.

Kevin

Originally written by claude #3563 on 10/4/2005 11:21 PM
You will find that even though Gust's Formula II and your Friendship are both equipted with torsion bar type suspension they are worlds apart in design.

Here's another option, http://tinyurl.com/9at5p My daughter Jennifer owns Kevin's old CX500/Cal 1 rig with the formerly welded solid axle. She replaced the entire axle assembly with one of these. Unfortunately she had to buy a pair, so she has an extra one. It just points the wrong way. 🙂

Would it be any better than the Torsion Bar Suspension that is already on the CAL I? Or is the Coil Over Spring a better setup for the 260 lbs of the son?

My guess is the coil over would be better, it just wasn't in Jena's budget.