1. Lift up the front end of the vehicle and place it on jack stands. Make sure the e-brake is on to lock the vehicle in place.
2. Remove the wheels and place under the vehicle.
3. If you are reusing your factory disc brakes, remove the two caliper bolts on each side and place the calipers to the side, out of the way.
4. Remove the gas tank from the vehicle, by taking the four bolts and clamps that hold the tank to the body. Remove the fill lines and vents as well. While lifting the front part of the tank, use a set of vise grips to pinch thefule line and loosen the hose clamp. Then remove the line and then the tank.
5. Remove the bolts holding the steering shaft to the rubber donut along the the ground wire.
6. On the drivers side dust cap, you will see a small e-clip holding the speedo cable to the dust cap. Remove and save. push the cable inboard and place the cable away from the beam.
7. Remove the tie rods from the vehicle. This can be done by removing the pitman arm and the outer two ends or removing the ends from the spindles and pitman arms. We have used an air hammer with great success.
8. The next step is a two man required job. With on person manning the jack, place it under the beam. The second person will remove the 6 bolts adhering the beam to the chassis and the two bolts to the body. Remove the front clamps while supporting the beam to stay in its current place. Gently rock the beam to free it up while maintaining a firm grip onto the beam. Once loose, lower it down and slide it out of the way.
9. You will need to remove the steering box along with the steering dampener to use it on the new beam. Clean, paint and grease the parts as necessary.
10. One the side of the chassis, there will be a pinch seam that will need to be trimmed 1.5” backwards. Use a cut of wheel to do the job. Sawzall or metal band saw can do the job as well. Be careful with the fuel line and ensure that the sparks will not get near it. Once trimmed, clean and paint to prevent rust.
11. Slight the New beam into place, centering it on the chassis with the center bolts only. Once the supplied bolts are in, slide the upper bolt to the chassis and into the beam, still keeping the four bolts loose. Then install the body mount rubbers with the new hardware. Tighten the 6 bolts evenly to center the beam onto the body and chassis.
12. You will notice that the lower bolts are no longer needed. By utilizing your cut off wheel, remove the lower legs to create ground clearance with your new beam installed. Once removed and clean, touch up the area with some paint to prevent rusting.
13. Install your steering box and clamp it to the beam. Install the steering column on to the steering box with the factory hardware along with the ground wire.
14. Rotate the steering wheel left to right counting the revolutions. Then rotate the wheel exactly half the amount of turns. This is center. Your steering wheel should be adjusted to show this. Refer to a Chilton/Haynes manual to do this.
15. You new beam came with new tie rods, but not ends. If your ends are worn out, this would be the time to replace them. If not, loosen the jam nuts and remove the tie rod ends out of the old tie rods and install them in the new tie rods. Make sure you have even amounts of thread on each side for proper amounts of adjustments. Install the tie rods onto the pitman arm loosely.
16. Your beam came with new torsion bars and they should be installed already. If you did not purchase a complete kit, you will need a set of 66-75 Beetle/Ghia Control arms that include the eccentrics, grub screws and hardened washers. Lube up the arms and slide them in. If they are hard to slide in, check the bearing surfaces to ensure that the worn portions are smoothed out with emory cloth or the such. Smooth until the arms go in smoothly. If your kit came with them, you should not need to do the smoothing. Just lube and install. You will need to reuse your factory grub screws and jam nuts.
17. You are recommended to use drop spindles to get the most drop out of the system. If you have factory disc brakes, you will need 69-75 Dropped Disc Spindles. You will need to lube the shaft holes where the ball joint shaft will slide into. The eccentric will go in the top for adjustment of camber. Utilize the factory hardened washers and lock nuts. If you purchased a kit from us, these parts should be included in the kit and can be assembled to factory 66-75 Beetle/Ghia Specs.
18. Onto the shocks, you will need to drill some holes for the shock shaft to protrude through the body. Some model require larger holes than others. If you are not able to install the shock bushings and lock nuts, you will need to open up the hole to be able to do that front inside the trunk. Install the upper shock mount first, then the lower.
19. Remove the rotors from the old beam if the vehicle was equipped with discs. This usually requires the proper allen wrench and a crescent to remove the spindle nut. Remove the rotor and inspect. This is a great time to replace rotors, bearings and seals if you see fit. Clean, inspect, replace and paint as you see fit.
20. Now install the rotors on to your spindles and tighten them to factory specs. Install the due caps and the speedo cable along wight he saved circlip.
21. Install the calipers onto the rotors and tighten to factory specs.
22. Install the tie rods into the spindles and leave loose. Ensure that your spindles are facing forward, adjust the tie rods to fit. Once installed, tighten the four tie rod ends. Install the steering dampener at this time.
23. Install the front wheels and torque the lugs to the proper specs.
24. Before lowering the vehicle down, adjust the adjusters in the center of the beam to the highest setting. This means that each adjustment bolt facing downwards will be all the way in. You will need to have all jam nuts loos to accomplish this task.
25. Lower the vehicle down onto the tires.
26. Pre load the suspension by pushing down on the vehicle to put the vehicle under a load. If you like the height, it is time to do a poor mans alignment. If it is not, install a jam under the beam in any location and unscrew the adjuster bolts evenly top and bottom. Lower the jack and preload again. Repeat until the desired height is achieved. Once this is done, tighten all the jam nuts and align. Once you have your ride height dialed, measure how much of the threads are showing on the bottom adjustment bolt, from the face of the jam nut to the end of the adjustment bolt. Remove the bolt and cut that amount off the end that does NOT have the allen hole in it. Taper the end smoothly and apply some anti-sieze or grease to the adjustment bolt and screw it back in so that it is flush to the nut. This will give you even more ground clearance. We recommend getting the vehicle professionally aligned to have proper ride and steering quality.
27. Install the fuel line and tank along with the gas tank bolts. Install the fuel fill and vent lines and lower the hood.
28. We recommend going around the block once or twice to ensure everything is correct. Recheck the bolts every 3000 miles to ensure nothing has come loose.
29. Make an appointment with your local alignment shop and then enjoy the ride.
*Poor Mans Alignment - This can be done by measuring in front of the tires on a matching groove on the tires. Then measuring the same groove on the rear of the front tires. Getting them to match will give you basic alignment.
* You will need to cut and drill to install this beam
* Always understand, Airkewld is there for you from start to finish, do not hesitate to call, email or text with questions. If you decide to pick up a hammer, call before you make contact. You will not ever need a hammer for one of our installations.
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