Baja Bug A Arm Rear Suspension Walkthrough

Even though I have videos capturing the individual components on the build of this rear suspension now that it is complete I wanted to have a video that goes over it all in one. If you want more detail you will need to watch the more specific videos.

[@joelholmes5490]

Yes this video is definitely one of the best narrated I've ever came across.. Great job on both. That is an awesome design both the A arm and the H arm and nice very nice bug.

[@DougBugBuilder]

Thanks! Appreciate the kind words.

[@joelholmes5490]

I hope to do this to mine soon. I lost my left eye to an airbag that exploded in my face and now I don't have depth perception but I'm gonna make a stab at it. I'm gonna watch your videos over and over and burn this into my last brain cell before I attempt it. Thanks Doug

[@DougBugBuilder]

@@joelholmes5490 Yikes! Sorry that happened to you. But I love seeing how it won't stop you from doing what you want to do. 👍

[@adamUDavies]

This is one of the best detailed videos I have seen out there , starting to build a baja bug myself , but not anywhere near as depth you have gone , awesome looking baja really like the way you fabricated the brake and clutch pedals , still watching the rest of your videos , great job and you have loads of talent.

[@DougBugBuilder]

Tom Meyer, When I started building this bug I couldn't get much detailed info about some of the stuff I wanted to do. So when I did It I filmed it to try and help other people out there like you. Thanks for the kind words and good luck with your build.

[@JusLange]

Your fabrication skills are truely impecable

[@DougBugBuilder]

JLanger, Thanks for the kind words and for watching!

[@-PoOkEy-]

Dude.... Thank you!!!!! I been looking ALL OVER for videos that are in full detail. Im plan on getting a bug and want to do a baja conversion. Please make more helpful videos!

[@DougBugBuilder]

Yes sir! I try to make my videos show why I did it and how I did it for the garage builders like you and me to get thes projects done. Thanks for the comment and hope you get that build started soon.

[@sergiochaconmorales8145]

Quiero levantar mi vw así tiene en venta esa suspensión?

[@thorwalker1004]

Awesome video, I have a 65 fastback that I bought for 100$ that's fairly rusty and the previous owner chopped the whole roof off of so I've been thinking about turning it into kind of a little trophy truck and this is exactly the info I was looking for. Thank you for sharing the knowledge and hope that bug is still ripping around, thing is sick.

[@DougBugBuilder]

Glad you liked it, thanks for the comment. And yes, he's still kicking around.

[@HiddenInstinct]

watched almost all your Baja videos. Very well done. I’m in the last few steps of a Tacoma solid axle swap and did the build on our channel. Not near as good a job as you’ve done. Plan on building a Baja for my daughters first car (she’s 13 now). Learned a lot from your videos, thanks for taking the time to do it, I know the work that goes into it.

[@DougBugBuilder]

I watched the video on the Tacoma. That's cool, I never did it but for a while I was thinking about doing a solid axle on a late 90's Chevy. Good luck with the build, should be cool. Hope you can keep your whole toe, looks like you smashed it pretty good.

[@HiddenInstinct]

Doug Bug ya it’s doing good now. I’ll be watching all the rest of your videos when I finally get a bug purchased and start working on it. Gotta finish the Tacoma first though ha ha.

[@glauconpires6711]

Very good Dugs. I like you jobs. Thanks for another video.

[@DougBugBuilder]

Sure thing buddy! Thanks for watching.

[@sheridanrambo2483]

I really like the H Arm setup.... and the craftsmanship is excellent... I am looking to do something similar with my manx... it's a garage monster but works well for a mid travel car..... I am running a GM small block and a TH425 tranaxle though.... so the back half is a bit wider that what a 091 or 002 would require.... but yeah I'd like to pick your brain a bit on this project ... yours came out really nice 😃

[@DougBugBuilder]

A small block with a TH425! Wow that's quite a setup. I love the H arm setup. I think for the rear it's the way to go. If you'd like to chat more about the setup email me at [e-mail]. Thanks for the comment.

[@walterayala9765]

Great job, impressive.

[@DougBugBuilder]

Thanks!

[@builtontherockedu]

I just stumbled across your videos and they are really nice. I have not been happy, generally with what I see for typical trailing arm setups, and have built on Baja Bug with 3x3 arms. I have been intrigued with doing an a-arm rear suspension (or H arm like yours). It's very simple, and makes it easy to set toe and chamber. The question I have, is are you happy with the strength of the lower control arm, in terms of how its worked actually taking the car out and driving it? And also, what do you think about fabricating the lower control arm using tubing instead of the boxed approach?

[@DougBugBuilder]

Hello Andrig, I am very happy with the H arms setup. I personally will never go back to trailing arm. I was a little worried about strength on the lower arm. However it has not been an issue. I've had the GoPro down there quite a bit on trail rides. Under hard braking or hard acceleration I don't see any flex. As for the tubular arms I would go for it. I built mine out of flat stock but really not sure why. For my new chassis I think I will remake the arms and this time out of 1.75 or 2" DOM or Chromoly tubing. Just add some good bracing where the shocks connect. My current arms are 1 1/2" thick and they hold up fine. But on the next go around I think I'll go a little thicker for insurance. I won't have heims either on the next set. I now know that I'm good with 0-1deg toe in. So I can build that into the arms and just go with bushings. My weakness are my spindles, I made those to thin. The current ones are made out of 1/8" metal. The next ones will be 3/16" or maybe 1/4". So when you make those add some meat to them. On mine power sliding or hitting hard jumps will cause you to have to depress the brake pedal a little more than usual once. This means the spindle flexed and pushed the pads out a little. So pay attention to that. Good luck with your build!

[@builtontherockedu]

Good to know. Thanks for the reply.

[@builtontherockedu]

I'll definitely go for tubular setup. I have now updated my build plans based on what you did. The spindle definitely look a little too thin to me, so good to know there. I found a set of micro stub spindle and caliper brackets that are made for designing your own semi-trailing arms, but I will just use them to add the connection points to the H-Arm.

[@DougBugBuilder]

Sounds like a good plan! Hope the build goes well.

[@joelholmes5490]

I was wondering the same thing . Thanks for asking that question.

[@joelholmes5490]

Man that is some awesome work. I love it. How much ground clearance do you have? I live in south Carolina and we have more hills and mud bogs than anything. I want to build one with alot of ground clearance to accommodate like 37" boggers or tsl's . So my question is on ground clearance.

[@DougBugBuilder]

Most of the chassis is about 16" off the ground. But the transaxle hangs down a little. It's about 14" under the transaxle. That's the lowest part.

[@cameronholliday1601]

Awesome work, very inspiring , I liked your trailing arm design what was the major benefit of going to this a arm style rear ?

[@DougBugBuilder]

Cameron Holiday, The trailing arm suspension is a great suspension. I think for me I was hung up on trying to get U Joint axles to work because of the 40+ degrees I can get out of them. I was really challenging myself to get maximum travel without widening the bug to much. Trailing arms don't handle extreme droop to well as it causes the axles to plunge a lot. That stresses the transaxle side cases and bearings. A Arms designed right will have minimal or no plunge. Plus they offer great adjustability. So no real major benefits over trailing arm, matter fact A Arms are more complicated and have more things to go wrong than trailing arms do. So really I think I did it to challenge myself. I am real happy with them though.....Thanks for the comment.

[@MontyElav]

I just bought some coilovers for the rear but came without springs, so now i have figure what range or weight i want. I need help figuring that out, what do i do?

[@DougBugBuilder]

My advice there is to call KarTek Offroad (or your preferred supplier) and get their take. They would have a better idea of what you would need for the kind of suspension you have.

[@JamesKoorey]

How much travel are you getting? How wide is your setup?

[@DougBugBuilder]

The rear has 18" of travel and the outside to outside of the rear tires is 76". The front has a little over 15" and is a couple inches skinnier than the front.

[@carloharvey4969]

Hey Doug, I am really loving your videos. I have a 72 Super Beetle that is destined to become an offroader. (Mainly because it is complete, rust free, titled and we picked it up for $300) I am very interested with your suspension and chassis builds and would like to do the same. Any help I can get would be greatly appreciated.

[@DougBugBuilder]

Carlo Harvey, I'm glad the videos are helping you! I don't know your fabrication level, but if I was to do it again I would build the body chassis and front suspension at the same time so they could integrate better. If you go swingarm in the rear make it a straight beam with coil overs rather than the factory tube with torsions. There are lots of videos showing the rear suspension, however I wasn't really doing the KZbin when I made most of the front suspension. Good luck with the build! Feel free to reach out to me at any time with questions.

[@carloharvey4969]

Thanks for responding, I saw your email address in another video comment. Would you mind if I reach out that way?

[@DougBugBuilder]

Yeah reach to me through that email ([e-mail]) and I'll help you with what I can.

[@syedjunaid9975]

Kindly guide my I want to built a Baja bug with long distance suspension am from Pakistan there is big problem of modification

[@DougBugBuilder]

I have a shared folder here that has a lot of info in it. Take a look and see if it helps at all. drive.google.com/drive/folders/1i0qTcN-1BB5_Lu6umgi9OrvRJKr-0vz3

[@floydhenderson2248]

Very nice build. What can a person do if they have zero fab skills?

[@DougBugBuilder]

Floyd Henderson, in that case I think you have 3 options. 1. Pay someone to do the fab for you (very expensive). 2. Stay with swingarm as there are many off the shelf options for that. 3. Watch all my videos and my channel forever and learn so much that you can learn to do some of the fabrication yourself. ;-)

[@floydhenderson2248]

#2 it is.

[@cr88]

Driveshaft - it deserves a CV joints instead of U-joints to match the level of the fabrication

[@DougBugBuilder]

Carlos Ribeiro, You could be right. Maybe at some point she'll get some 930's. Thanks for the comment.

[@sergiochaconmorales8145]

Alguien a comprado eses tipo de suspensión? Y que precio tienen?

[@DougBugBuilder]

No, es mi propio diseño. No los vendo, es todo para mi!! jajaja

[@sergiochaconmorales8145]

@@DougBugBuilder alguien que venda o que usted sepa que las hace para vender