Dune buggy with Thing suspension

[LintonBuggy]

Morning all,
I have several questions and any help would be appreciated.

I have an opportunity to buy locally a Thing front end (drum to drum) and a Thing rear end (drum to drum including transaxle if I want it) but I don't know what a fair price is.

The seller said the front end is in very good condition and the brakes even work, I still need to get more information about the condition of the rear.

The guy selling it is a good guy and the fact that I can go look at this stuff in person and pick it up without paying shipping makes me think I should jump at this opportunity while I have a chance.

Any thoughts on what a front drum to drum is worth?
Any thoughts on what a rear drum to drum is worth?

I'm planning to put this stuff in a off road dune buggy.
Should I just buy the entire pan? The pan is not in great shape and I already have a good beetle pan.
Do I need the Thing trailing arms or are the Beetle trailing arms I already have the same as Thing arms (I've heard only the shock mounts are slightly different which may not matter on a dune buggy)?

The Thing transaxle has lower gearing I'm told, but a dune buggy is much lighter than a Thing so perhaps I can just use my Beetle transaxle or even a Transporter 091 transaxle I have. On the other hand the lower gearing in the Thing transaxle may make it possible to use taller tires.

As you can tell I am fairly new at this so any help would be appreciated

Thanks

[LintonBuggy]

I see that THE THING SHOP values a rebuildable front core at $1,500 so perhaps that is a starting price point?

https://www.thethingshop.com/FRONT-BEAM ... 181401000/

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Whoof!

For what it is worth:

I saw that the spindles themselves (several years ago) were on their way to about $1000 for a pair then as they are very rare to find. I didn't know that they had gone up in price that much.

DSC04096.JPG

Stock VW front spindle.

DSC04096.JPG

Thing spindle. The change is the lower BJ is still pressed in from the top of the lower arm but the Thing spindle connects under the arm so the Thing BJ has to be used. The BJ still presses in from the top of the stock VW Bug arm but the spindle connection is now on the underside of the arm. The is because the stock bug BJ spindle can be pulled out on a hard hit.

Lee

[LintonBuggy]

Thanks for the reply Lee.
I am aware of the difference between the Thing and Beetle front suspension and I like the idea of using original VW parts to make my buggy more off-road capable (at least off-road capable looking...)
I'm just trying to get an idea on what is a reasonable price so I can decide if I like it THAT much.
After more investigating I think another option is to get the entire Thing chassis and switch the rusted Thing pan halves for Beetle pan halves so my dune buggy body would fit.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Thanks for the reply Lee.
I am aware of the difference between the Thing and Beetle front suspension and I like the idea of using original VW parts to make my buggy more off-road capable (at least off-road capable looking...)
I'm just trying to get an idea on what is a reasonable price so I can decide if I like it THAT much.
After more investigating I think another option is to get the entire Thing chassis and switch the rusted Thing pan halves for Beetle pan halves so my dune buggy body would fit.

Are you working with a VW pan or just what? Are you using a glass body or just what? Answers change depending on loading of the pan, or structure updating.

setting up for hook and pin stops 007.JPG

Another support front beam idea. Not sure of using the "Baja beam support" as the glass buggy as the glass buggy's firewall isn't strong enough to use the upper tube. The lower one (I think it is bought separately) is a good idea to use.

Making your own body lift should be almost necessary assuming you are going to use the buggy off-road of any kind.

Lee

[Ol'fogasaurus]

On my blue buggy I looked into use the commercial units, but they were not only too light weight as they were designed more for Baja (modified VW bodies) bodies not glass bodies. The metal was too thin, the metal was "C"-shaped, and you would still have to shorten it and would need to be boxed for glass toy bodies with shortened pan and to be used off-road.

I was given a body lift, but it was so rusted out only the front Napoleons part was usable, and I had to fix it also.

I know it is overkill to keep talking about this but I had to learn it the long, hard way.

Lee

[LintonBuggy]

Lee

Thanks for the info

I was able to buy the entire Thing chassis for a good price, including drum to drum front suspension and drum to drum rear (including transaxle) so I will just put on Beetle pans to fit my fiberglass dune buggy body and go from there.

[Steve Arndt]

I paid 350 bucks for my thing arms and spindles. Rear end isn't anything special. Usually just a plain 4.12 irs box.
The front end stuff is getting rare.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I paid 350 bucks for my thing arms and spindles. Rear end isn't anything special. Usually just a plain 4.12 irs box.
The front end stuff is getting rare.

As I said, the cost of the spindles has gone up a lot since I bought mine.

One thing about the upper Thing BJs (assuming I remember them correctly, the alignment adjuster is very hard to find and very expensive when you do. I got lucky myself but that was many years ago also.

I'm running a 6-rib box myself on both of my buggies. On my blue buggy, the 1776 has a high lift, short duration cam shaft ground (more torque but the RPMs are limited) plus I had the engine block "Full Flowed". Add to that I run a 4-pick setup and reworked flywheel (this means no slipping of the clutch).

Copy of DSC02268.jpg

(My favorite picture!)

I like to "CRUSE THE DUNES" rather than try to climb everything as fast as I can. Fun to sit on the beach and watch the ocean.

Lee