944 auto axle question......

[Panelfantastic]

Someone HAS to know this.....
Which side has the shorter axle on early auto cars? I went and measured my friend's '86 and both are same length, but I know the early cars are different.
Please help.

Jeff.

I looked this up on the parts microfische and it lists only one number for the early and late manual trans axles, meaning they fit left or right.

However, it lists seperate L&R numbers for the automatic (both early and late model) so they are not the same. It doesn't give specs on their lenght so all I can add here is that they are in fact different on either side of the late and early cars. Also, the early and late model part numbers are different so they changed in the series in Feb. '85 (late car).

[Supa Ninja]

The left side has the short axle. I'll double check it as soon as possible. One of my friends is in the middle of parting out a '84 944 automatic. I will also measure the short axle for you guys with the narrowed control arms.

Nick

[Panelfantastic]

WOO HOO !!!

Nick, YOU ROCK!!! That info will help a ton!

[Supa Ninja]

I checked and measured the 944 auto's axles. First off I was wrong it's the right side that has the short axle. A stock vw type 1 axle is a little over 16" long. A early 944 axle is 16" long(about a 1/8" shorter then a type's axle). And the short axle is a little shorter the 15", its between 1 1/8-1 1/4" shorter then the regular axle. I'm also under the impression that the early alloys use the same axle's as the steel control armed 44's run. I hope this clears up some confussion.

Nick
GL4LIFE

[Panelfantastic]

YES,YES,YES
Thanks for the info! Now I have another delima, the axles I just took out of my bus (IRS conversion from a T3 I think) have axles that measure 17" long??? Maybe I'm not measuring from the right spot? Length of the axle itself from the very end of the splines to the other very end of the splines. Is it because this might be T3 stuff instead of bug??

[paul_f]

The reason you have 17" axles is that yours is a bus not a type 3

Measure spring plate to spring plate and you will find a bus is significantly wider than a beetle or a type 3 (which have the same measurement)

You will most likely need to get custom axles

Paul

[Supa Ninja]

I measured from the very end of the axles across. I only used a tape measure with the cv's still installed so it's not exact numbers, but it will definitely answer some questions.

Nick

[Panelfantastic]

Thank you Paul. Now I have a whole new set of things to figure out! So I'm guessing that my control arm mounts are spaced slightly wider (bolt-on kit) to make up for the wider distance too...hummm.... I have an idea

[paul_f]

Your not wrong there either!

To get the IRS suspension to work correctly, the pivot point of the arm should be directly in line with the output flange of the gearbox.

However the framehorns are in the way, and the arms are not long enough.

Look at Creative-engineering.com - this is using early bay kit - but means you don't have to shorten the A-arms.

I assume that as they were 17" the a - arm mounting plate was on the inside of the springplate?


Paul

[Panelfantastic]

Yes they were mounted on the inside ( I had to check an old pic as they are long since removed .

VERY interesting about the mount alignment with output flange.... If you're not familiar with what I'm building, I've ditched the torsion stuff all together including REMOVING the outer end of the tube/plate pivot back to the frame .
I'm using coilovers and narrowed arms with a 935 style link in place of the plates. I would definately like to make sure that the pivot point is where it should be and am at a point where making modifications is not a big deal. No plans to autocross my bus but it darn sure needs to function at speed!