EMPI Complete Adjustable Off Road Front Beam w/ Thing Spindles - 1966-77 Beetle - Ghia - Thing

EMPI VW Off Road Ball Joint Adjustable Beam in a Box with VW Thing Spindles & Arms

• Improved ground clearance for Baja Bugs, Dune Buggies and Class 11 cars.
• Brand new Thing forged spindles
• Bolt on 3" lift for Beetles and Ghias
• Brand new Thing forged spindles
• Beam adjustablilty - 0 (stock) to 4" of total lift.
• Relocated and reinforced upper shock mounts.
• OEM Style Outer Needle Bearings with long-lasting Micarta Inner Bushings.
• Brand new Thing forged arms

This all new, adjustable off road beam is ready to bolt on and is a direct replacement for your stock ball joint beam. The beams are modified in house by EMPI at their Anaheim facility with weld in adjusters that can set the ride height from stock, to roughly 4" of lift. The lifted beam is perfect for off road, increasing ground clearance for VWs using a Type 1 ball joint front end such as Baja Bugs, Class 11 builds and Manx style buggies. To make the beam even more fit for lifted and off road use, the shock towers are reinforced with welded plates to strengthen them for more abuse and the shock mounting position is relocated for more shock clearance. The beams are fit with OEM style outer needle bearings and durable Micarta inner bushings. Finally, the beams are painted black to prevent rust.

Attached to EMPI's Off Road Beam is an all new set of their forged VW Thing Spindles & Arms, complete with eccentric adjusters and Thing ball joints so at the lowest point this beam will sit 3" higher than with stock Beetle or Ghia spindles. Combined with the adjustable beam, your VW Beetle or Ghia will have plenty of clearance for larger front tires. The spindles and beam are both designed for increased strength over the stock Beetle or Karmann Ghia components so whether you're out in the dunes, desert or dirt your front suspension should be the least of your worries.

Product Fitment

• Bolt on 3" lift for 1966-1977 Standard Beetles
• Bolt on 3" lift for 1966-1974 Karmann Ghias
• 1973-1974 VW Thing (does not have mounts for outer chassis reinforcement bars)

The Thing spindles accept original, ball joint, drum brake backing plates, so you can unbolt the entire backing plate from your current spindles, and bolt them up to the replacements. Things use 1968.5 and later bearings and tie rod ends, so if you are installing them on your 1966 through early 1968.5 Beetle or Karmann Ghia, you will need to swap out to the later model inner bearings, wheel seals, along with the left and right outer tie rod ends. Both stock 5x205 ball joint drum brakes, or 4x130 drum brakes can be bolted to the Thing spindles. Thing spindles will accept the bolt on 5x205 front disc brake kit for those want to upgrade to disc brakes.

These spindles and arms are modeled directly from original Thing spindles and arms which our own Sam Mebane used to lift the front of his son Nate's Baja Bug in our JBugs Father and Son Build series on YouTube. You can check out the video here.

For more information about the beam directly from EMPI, check out this video.