Product description

The Beetle 1200-1300-1500, Karmann Ghia, Type 3. Kübel and the Bus through 1979 are equipped with a torsion-sprung front axle, while the Beetle 1302-1303 and the Bus T25 are equipped with MacPherson struts. McPherson struts are easily and quickly lowered by replacing a shorter spring or an adjustable strut, with a torsion-sprung front axle it is a bit more drastic. In this case, the torsion springs fixed in the center of the axle body must be made adjustable. There are two ways to do this: with adjusters welded between the two front axle tubes that make the existing center bushing infinitely adjustable, or with the Puma system where the existing center bushing is made adjustable without cutting through the front axle. Both systems have their pros and cons, check out the differences and make the right choice.

Lowering adjusters
The middle part (where the torsion spring is fixed in the inner ring) is sawed out of the front axle tube and replaced by an adjustable part. You need to be proficient with a welder with this system and compared to the Puma system, your front axle is infinitely adjustable and your maximum increase or decrease is completely in your control. Because this is the quickest way of lowering or raising it is most commonly used, but don't forget that you are cutting the front axle in half, which weakens the whole thing. Always make both torsion springs adjustable, you will overload the adjustable torsion spring if you were to apply this to only one torsion tube. Never cut both torsion tubes at the same time, but mount the adjusters one by one (unfortunately this still happens regularly). The adjusters are delivered per pair and are available for Beetle, Karmann Ghia and Kübel, for Bus only the Puma lowering system is available.

#1340 : Beetle until July 1965 Karmann Ghia T14 until July 1965
#1341 : Beetle 1200-1300-1500 from August 1965 and later Karmann Ghia T14 from August 1965 and later Kübel

Puma style lowering system
The Puma lowering system gets its name from the adjustable Puma front axles equipped with this system as standard (see more lowering options). With the Puma system, the front axle is not cut in half. The center bushing (which secures the torsion bars) is removed and made adjustable through the grid plates. Remove the torsion springs from the front axle, drill through the existing bushing securing the torsion springs in the center of the axle, mark where the slotted hole should be (use the grid plates as a template), knock back the loosened inner ring, mill the slotted hole, knock back the ring, and weld the grid plates to the front axle. As with the adjusters you decide how far the adjustment area is going to be, if you keep the starting point at the original place you have a maximum lowering of about 10 cm. It takes some manual labor, but then you also have a perfectly adjustable front axle. A disadvantage can be that your front axle is not infinitely adjustable, but with small steps of a few millimeters, on the other hand, your front axle is not weakened and there is no chance of warping during welding. The professionals mainly use the Puma system, it just depends on your preference. The system comes complete for both torsion tubes and for Bus this is the only adjustment method.

#3397 : Beetle Karmann Ghia T14 Kübel
#23396 : Bus until July 1979

Replacement bolts Puma style lowering system
With extremely lowered vehicles, it frequently happens that the locking bolt hits the ground when the road surface is bad or when the suspension is lowered too deeply and is damaged as a result. You do not need to purchase a complete system in such a case, the bolts are also available as replacement parts. Please note: these bolts are only suitable for the Puma lowering system, if you own adjusters there is no other option than to buy a complete new set of adjusters. See tab "replacement parts".

More lowering possibilities for the front
Making your existing front axle adjustable yourself is only interesting if your front axle is in good condition, if this is not the case and you want to lower it by up to 8 cm it is advisable to order a complete new adjustable front axle that is factory fitted with the Puma lowering system. Besides this lowering method, you can also opt for lowered spindles: these lower 6 or 7 cm while maintaining suspension comfort, which becomes a lot less when lowering your front axle. For the MacPherson suspension system on the Beetle 1302 and 1303, there is the possibility of replacing the struts with adjustable ones that allow you to lower 5 to 10 cm in 5 steps. For fixed lowering, you can also choose lowered springs, which are available not only for the Beetle 1302 and 1303 but also for the Bus T25. See tab "Alternatives" for more information.