Rear tire rubbing on torsion housing - what to do???

When I had the bus RGB transaxle in, I had dropped the rear by rotating the springplate up one outer spline. I wanted close to the same ride height, so when I put the bug transaxle in, I re-adjusted my new offset springplates back down one spline since I was losing the RGBs. When everything was back together, I was little higher than before. I didn't want to do a full outer spline (7.5 degrees) so I did a combination of inners and outers to get about 5.45 degrees of drop.

Now, the inside of my drivers side tire is rubbing just barely on the corner of the torsion housing. I grabbed a pic from the samba gallery and circled the area in red that I'm referring to.



My current set-up is:
1966 Bus
67 bug transaxle with 68 long/long axles.
Womack offset plates
4 lug late model beetle backing plates/drums/brakes
4 to 5 lug adapters
Tires are 195/75/14

I'm just barely rubbing this corner. What should I do??? Do they make different thickness 4 to 5 lug adapters? Could I grind a mm or 2 of the corner of that casting? Skinnier tires?

Is this a common issue? I tried searching on the samba but couldn't find any other mention of rubbing this part.

I'm at a reasonable height, the bottom of the fender well is dead even with the top of the rim. I still have just a hint of positive camber.

What if you put a washer between the drum and the spacer? I would think you could clearance the corner of the housing to get the room tho.

get rid of those monster truck tires

Make sure you have the toe set right on the rear. You may have it toed in too much and causing this problem.

I had thought about a washer, probably would just need one on each lug, but I just wasn't sure about whether that was safe to do or not.

I just spend a ton on these new tires, so for now, I'm trying to work with the monster truck tires. Already thinking about getting a lower profile tire up front, just can't afford 4 new ones.

The three bolts for the axle/springplate are all the way back in the springplate slots as far as they will go. I haven't measured the toe yet, but if anything, I'd imagine it's toed out like crap.

I'm probably just gonna break out the power tools and hit that corner. It's really just barely hitting it. Though I guess I need to get a little extra clearance in there to account for hitting bumps in the road and what not.

Here's a pic from the backside. If you look at the tire between the springplate and torsion housing you can see where it's rubbing. This is the thin darker rub mark. The wide rub mark is from where it was rubbing on the spring plate before I lowered it.

Not sure if this link will help any. I have some rubbing issues also but haven't had the time to address them yet. My tires are rubbing on the spring plate. Right now it does have some pretty big thread tires that came on the bus, but I purchased some BRM's and a set of 165/45's for front and 195/55's for the rear. I'm going to see how much clearance this setup provides me before i look at other possible issues.

http://www.bus-boys.com/fact2.htm

Thanks for the link!
Yeah, these tires are pretty big, but I like the 14" stock rims. And while I won't be driving it every day, I do plan to do a good bit of long distance interstate driving with it, so I'd like to keep a taller tire to keep RPMs reasonable. Unfortunately, there just aren't many options for tall 14" tires. May keep my eyes open for some 185/75 tires.

Or you could just narrow the torsion housing. I can run a 225 tire and still get my hand between the spring plate and the tire and between the fender lip and the tire.....

That would probably be the easiest route! But I'm not to worried about the clearance between the fender lip and tire as I plan on cutting some sweet arches in the fenders this weekend.

It looks like it is barely rubbing. I would say a 6" grinder and a sledge would give you all the clearance you need.

I tried taking about 10 pictures from the angle where you could actually see the contact being made, but it was tough shot to get other things kept getting in the frame and knocking the focus out of whack so you could never see what I was actually trying to take the picture off. It really is just barely rubbing, and it's a surface area maybe the size of an eraser tip that is rubbing. I really don't think I'll have to remove much. Hope to get this taken care of tonight or Friday. Still got to drop the passenger side as well, but for whatever reason, it already had more clearance than the drivers side, so I don't think I'll have to do any mods on that side.

fluxcap wrote:That would probably be the easiest route! But I'm not to worried about the clearance between the fender lip and tire as I plan on cutting some sweet arches in the fenders this weekend.

Don't forget to leave a little extra metal so you can flare out the top of the arches like a fender!!! Jersey looker!!!

They make 1/4 inch spacers for four lug brakes.

http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C26%2D603%2D105%2D2

Yeah, they've got quite a selection of adapters and spacers, but running an adapter and a spacer just seems sketchy (I don't really even like the single adapter). I wish somebody made a 3/4 inch 4 to 5 adapter.

Have you tried http://adaptitusa.com/ ?

I haven't used them, but have heard good things from some that have.

No, haven't tried them. They look really nice, but money is super tight, and those look like they'd be out of my budget.

fluxcap wrote:Yeah, they've got quite a selection of adapters and spacers, but running an adapter and a spacer just seems sketchy (I don't really even like the single adapter). I wish somebody made a 3/4 inch 4 to 5 adapter.

That's what's on the front of warbird. Working all right so far. To be honest, the adapters concern me more than the spacers.

Which one is on the front of warbird, adapters and spacers, or 3/4 inch adapters? I don't really like the adapters either, lot of extra bolts you have to make sure are nice and tight. One day down the road I'll probably bite the bullet and get wide five type3 drums. Just don't have the cash for them right now.

I went ahead and took a little metal off the corner of that torsion housing. Got a few mm of clearance now. May take a little more off if I see any more signs of rubbing.

Adapters AND spacers. It's got four lug discs up front and the spacers are there to clear the calipers. Spacers are no big deal to me as they're flat against the disc/drum. Just gotta make sure you have enough thread on the lugs. If you're concerned about the (four lug) lugs backing out, just put a little locktite on 'em.

Well that's good to hear that you've had no issues with that setup. I may give that a try rather than taking any more metal off. Looks like I can get a set of 1/4" spacers for under $40, so that's not too bad.

No issues but a bug is a lot lighter than a bus, especially up front. Still bugs me too. Eventually I'll go to a real five lug disc setup or mount some 4 lug sprintstars.

Wait I thought the Stockornaut brakes were real wide 5 brake system. For the money they wanted they better have been!!!

Stockornaut is NOT what's on the bug but they do run custom adapters just like all the others.

Sorry was thinking the Bus, I keep forgetting you have a Bug.

StockorNOT