Throwing Money at Unsafe Beam Build

I have held my breath Long Enough. I have recently had tubs installed on my bus  and My 5th front end allignment done on my bus @ x$70.00 a pop!!! Every single person that has handled my allignment and a professional welder or two has warned me about my beam and spindles on my bus saying the welds are not burnt in and are dangerous on top of that my balljoints are falling apart on the passenger side and all these parts are new or half ass built. I have spent damn near $1000.00 on the beam and allignments combined trying to get the bus to drive correct but it appears i am gonna have to replace the entire front beam with one from somebody that can actually build a safe beam that drives straight and true. I really want to stress this issue because everyone who knows me has seen i load my bus down and travel long distances with my 2 yr old and my 10 yr old daughters as well as my wife. Moral of this story is if you cant build something safe then you should not be building beams that can pottentialy break at the spindles and jeopardize lives just so you can make a buck. I cant wait to take this piece of shit out and use it for a Boat anchor but then again its not even worthy of being a anchor its shoty junk and i am stuck with all the expense of it and driving a bus that is flat out unsafe for the road according to multiple people that are non vw realted welders and car repairmen, as well as vw related folks that have done some work on it recently. If you know whats best money wise go with Wagens West because at this point with all the money i have spent i could of had a Beam from them with no issue that was safe and trouble free.


P.s. The person that built this beam you know who you are. I thank god we have made it this far without any accidents that may have cost us our lives. Thanks for nothing.

Hello, I am known as Big K. I am a certified WELDER and have more metal fabrication skills than most. This post is not to piss people off, BUT what i have to say needs to be said. The welding done on Kale's spindles is JUNK, no. penetration, too much wire feed, bottom line is NOT a big enough welder. I have to put my foot down and say THIS NEEDS TO STOP, people's (my friends) lives are at risk. If you are going to build something for some one then it needs to be done right and safe. The beam in his bus was built too low for the ball joints to move correctly it puts them in a bind and wears them out. Its ok to build your own like that, but when you are getting paid to do a job you do it right or nothing at all and you tell the customer that. Sorry for any upset .  A welding test is in your near future!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           P.S.   I could type more on this subject.

peacebug wrote:The beam in his bus was built too low for the ball joints to move correctly it puts them in a bind and wears them out.

Just curious about this? Were the adjusters clocked too much or was the problem that the bus was too low with out doing a beam raise? I mean I am not trying to get in the middle of this as I don't know either side of the story but adjusting a beam down til the ball joints bind and wear out doesn't seem to be a builders problem.....Now if the beam wont adjust up enough like the adjuster(s) is/are clocked too far then ok thats a builder problem.

Beam is adjust all the way up as high as it will go.

Funny How Builder wont own up to his work to make it rite,maybe its because he cant make it rite. Everyone knows who did the work so you know who not to use. Hopefully no lives will be lost or nobody will get hurt that has had work done by him. Choose Wisely is my advice,i didnt.

Well I'm not sure who the builder is, but if his parts fail and injure or kill someone I'm pretty sure he can be held liable for this.

wdstang wrote:Well I'm not sure who the builder is, but if his parts fail and injure or kill someone I'm pretty sure he can be held liable for this.

Yep,and my family has all his info. Hind site is 20/20 but i have spoke with several people who have bad things to say about his work,welds and overall craftsmanship. Its just a shame this stuff is on the roads. Hopefully nobody dies or gets injured.

Ok, so I will ask.......who is this person? You can PM me, but I have no idea who you are talking about and I would rather not buy parts from them.

Kale, just throw it out there. I think I know, but if it is a problem make him or her answer for it.

Knumb Knucks wrote:Funny How Builder wont own up to his work to make it rite,maybe its because he cant make it rite. Everyone knows who did the work so you know who not to use. Hopefully no lives will be lost or nobody will get hurt that has had work done by him. Choose Wisely is my advice,i didnt.

I understand your frustration in poor quality because I have had my fair share of it. But what you are failing to realize is that you had this person do your beam because of many reasons, but I feel that I can narrow it down to one and that being that it was cheaper than going and buying a "professional built beam" So in all aspects you get what you pay for. I cannot speak positively or negatively about this builder for his welding because I haven't used him for that task. But he has done other work for me and it has been great. By resorting to a public forum to vent is "A OK," but your tactics of emotional and persuasive writing is doing what you want it to do by making readers feel bad for you and then jumping on the band wagon and causing more drama. I understand that you being a father and transporting your children in this bus made you feel unsafe but by calling someone out on this site and then antagonizing them is down right mean and discouraging for this amazing community.

Sorry Bud,not looking for sympathy from anybody or being mean. Theres no tactics in trutch and facts. I would rather be the guy that saved somebody in this amazing community than be in a funeral proccesion for any of us. I live a drama free life at 38 yrs of age.Facts are Facts. No exscuses. Wonder if i should pay extra for the duct tape wrapped around my bushings to make them fit? No excuse.

Looks to me he has a shop and advertises work. Reply with quote

bring in the new year with a lowered bus

Post by DOODLE BUGG on Tue Dec 27, 2011 6:57 pm
narrowed bay beam 2-5 inches narrower leaf packs an bushings $425
the bushings cost 80.00
i will also install ball joints $100 parts an labor
call for price on install
3.25 horse shoe plates $100
my ball joint beams have brake booster mounts an will go in early or late bays or if you want it in a split it can happen call me or pm Doodle Bugg 404-259-3700

Know your builder and do your homework its your $$$ protect them. Also cheaper doesn't mean better if they don't have a large following and a network of rides and there work rolling around well Beware. Good luck on your beaming project.

Maybe it was someone trying to give a startup business some work. Also, we all try to save a dollar where possible. I bet everyone has a chinese part on their VW. We dont know any of the companies we order parts from, but we all assume that they have our safety in mind when building them. When they dont, we need to call them out. Probably the most common thread on the samba is about Empi. They havent built anything (aside from their wheels) of quality since the 70's. But if it werent for the internet and people calling them out, we wouldnt know it. Everyone has been burned once.

Had A Question. Where can i get bushings that fit for this beam that do not require Duct Tape to fit moving parts? Anybody?.....

Bugpack. Empi never fits.

Airkewled

Wagons west

Bus boys

Any local welding shop

I know how you feel on this deal kale.

You need to check franklins out too

Empi, Bugpack,Wagens West do not carry 2.5" ID.

Are you sure that tube is that? Have you measured the od of the tube somewhere in the middle just to confirm tube size?

I called them all directly and spoke with tech support etc.