Ok, so I need to replace my front beam and I have a bunch of questions and not much knowledge. My intended use will be trail riding, most likely at a pretty good pace, and probably quite frequently over mountainous Michigan whoops. I am not rich by any means, but at this point budget is practically a non-consideration. I just sold my Jeep for a decent pile of cash. I have no loans besides my house, it's a dump with a small payment, and no I have no intention of doing the "smart" thing and putting the money into my house instead, thank you.

It's a link pin. I intend to replace it spindle to spindle + steering linkage/tie rods.

1. Width? I learned in RallyX that having a track width wider in the front than the rear was conducive to creating that glorious over-steer that we all love so much. Having looked around at a number of them it seems like most woods buggies keep a narrow track to fit down the narrow trails? So how the hell does everyone make these things steer right? Is that why turning brakes are so popular? I know mine doesn't steer for crap right now. My intuition is telling me it's mostly because it's way too light in the front. The front tires just aren't grabbing. I'm planning to move the battery up front and contemplating a custom fuel tank of some sort centered in the footwell area between driver and passenger to help weight balance. Call me stupid, but I'm planning to put an ATV winch on the front for solo excursions too. What have you done to make your buggy steer that worked?

2. If I go wider, am I better off to gain width at the beam or the trailing arms?

3. Torsion vs Coil over vs Air? My girlfriend has back issues, so the more plush it is the more she will enjoy it and the more she will go with me. Being new to this I hear a range of opinions of what is the "best", but I don't have the experience to have seen them in action personally, and unfortunately the beam needs to be replaced now not later. Torsion seems to be the most popular, but it's probably the most economical too, so that makes sense. I don't know much about air. I know in Jeeps it was a popular and economical (in comparison to coil over) option, but that's a whole different world from buggies. No offence to the air guys, but my luck with anything air has been poor, so I'm kind of biased against it. I am kind of pre-disposed to the coil over option. Dual rate springs make a lot of sense to me considering my girlfriend's back. I know from experience that a decent set of coil-overs work awesome on a RZR too. Essentially I guess the question boiled down would be how well can a person make torsion perform in comparison to coil overs? Are coil-overs worth the extra expense in your opinion?

4. How much travel do I want? My suspicion is that I will want about 10 inches of travel in the front? I know a buggy is a different thing and the whole discussion is subjective, but for quads, snowmobiles, and rzr's that seems to be about the point where things smooth out for hard driving. Anything less and you get beat to death. Currently I have stock width/length rear trailing arms with a beef kit and a pair of old remote reservoir fox shocks doing the dampening on each side. Not sure what kind of travel I have back there. Also not sure where I'll end up with the rear suspension in the future. I suspect it will work decent enough for me to leave it alone for this year at least. That being said, I might have a bus trans cluttering my shed shortly and an ecotec isn't out of the question in the future. Frankly they'll really be sounding good soon if the carb doesn't stop pissing me off. If it weren't for that awesome sounding exhaust I'd probably already have made the call to Alphafab. Regardless, balancing the front and current rear suspension is a consideration for now.

So, if any of you want to enlighten me with your thoughts and experiences I would highly appreciate it.

Thanks!

Are you going to building your own components? If not your going to be "stuck" with what is commercially available. The front beam is available in a +2, +4, +6" width and the arms are typically 1" wider.

Coil over is the BEST, most expensive and the biggest PITA to set up. Once it's done, nothing is better.
Gas shocks are the second best on the front, IMO.
What are torsion springs?

What steering gear are you going to use, rack&pinion or VW box?

Travel can be up to 14" depending on frame width up front, distance in between the two frame rails, how far the arms are apart and the length of the arms which can be either 2 1/2" or 4" longer than stock.
The further into the suspension your ride height is the better the ride. Part of the reason they make a 3" drop spindle.

How far do you want to go?

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it all depends on what you want to spend$$$ and what your going after. a hill shooter? a trail rider?

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Maybe you should chug on over to mamby pamby land....

If I remember your buggy pic the tires are a big reason it doesn't turn good.
One of the reason I built this particular buggy was not to spend 17k on a wildcat that breaks to easy.
I went with 6" wide beam, 4x1 arms and a set of "take off" Walker Evans coil over shocks off a wildcat because there bad ass. When I was building it I was leery about going that wide but I am very happy with the handling and ride



"Don't believe everything you read on the Internet."--Abraham Lincoln

Off the shelf components. My fab skills are limited. I can make a bracket or brace, but creating a beam would be better left to a professional than me.

I've got a VW Steeringbox that seems to be in good working order at the moment. I'm not opposed to upgrading right now though, since this would be about the right time to make that decision.

Trail rider, I see Dan's performance has full coil over kits for about $2500 and that's not out of the question.

Buy once and cry once. Buy good quality stuff and it will pay off in the long run. Madmike can hook you up with some of the best built stuff out there. And as far as your wife's bad back goes, GOOD SUSPENSION SEATS!!!. A good set of seats is one of the most important things to have IMO. I say buy the best seats and belts and build the buggy around them,lol. Chad

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NOW GAS IT!!!!!

http://woodsbuggy.com/forum/parts--part ... arts/15970


"Don't believe everything you read on the Internet."--Abraham Lincoln

Actually I am on about the same page as you concerning seats. Corbeau suspension seats were almost the first thing I bought for it.

Thanks everyone for the replies. Appreciate it.

Good deal then. I have a bad back also and it was by far the best thing I did to help with really long rides. Chad

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NOW GAS IT!!!!!

With an engine hung out the back, in the tight stuff it's always best to have fiddle brakes available to help with the steering, I probably have more weight up front here than most because we need the handling in the fast trails more than the traction for hillclimbs from a standstill, so we've a similar design - the front is wider than the rear, and the battery, power steering pump and fuel tank are all up front.
If you're running v-treads up front you'll need a prayer to make it turn in the fast stuff though, what tyres are on it?

As for ride, can't beat a set of properly tuned coilovers, but they're more work than most solutions to get there. Above all else, make sure you don't do what a lot do and wind the car right up against the droop stops to get it higher in the mistaken belief it'll make the bumps softer - it'll ride like a bag of shit if you don't have plenty of droop.

Good info, thank you.

I bought it with "Sand Blaster Jr's" on the front. Those sucked. I have a neighbor who is heavy into buggies and he recommended a car tire with road tread with the explanation that the Blasters don't have any side flex. I couldn't get on board with a road tread, so I went with what I know worked on my RallyX car- winter tires.



Turning did improve, but only slightly. I haven't driven it much, but my impression is that there's so little weight on the front that it's just not getting any bite. Yes, a more aggressive tread would help on soft surfaces I agree. Hopefully a steel beam, instead of aluminum, and moving things up front will help too.

I thought a bit on the buggy this weekend and came to the conclusion that it might be best to switch to a larger frame (different buggy). I think this buggy is a 95 inch frame so the wheelbase is about as short as it gets, which isn't helping for weight balance. As short as I am and with the seats mounted as low as I can go without dropping down through the floor I am still staring at the windshield bar if I'm looking straight forward. There's some storage space available on the buggy, but not a lot. My ultimate goal is a mid-travel ecotec and I don't think this frame is the best platform for that goal. So, I think I'm just going to make some minor improvements and drive it for a while. Meanwhile I'll start on another one with a bigger frame. When that one is finished I'll sell this one.

I'm running Fedima EvoExtreme's up front - I don't think they're common over there but they're like a Yokohama Geolander but with a stronger sidewall and softer compound.
What's your front toe set to?

95" is the most common wheel base for a buggy. Longer is going to be harder to turn around in a tight space. Are you trying to go fast or what are you after? It almost looks like your beam is angled foreward as much as it should be angled back. that might be why it wont turn...

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Maybe you should chug on over to mamby pamby land....

If those tires are radials they are probably only 2 ply side walls. Good luck with that. Call Drews and get you some 700 15's . Taller tire smoother ride IMO.