- Douglas wrote:
- Hi does anybody know where I can source a new front beam for are 2006 air cooled right hand drive.The bottom adjustment bolt has snapped off and we can’t get it out so think the only alternative is to replace the front beam any help would be much appreciated
There's no such beam, all late Brazilian buses came with LHD beams. Then Danbury did whatever it was they did to convert to RHD, so you'd just need to replicate anything they altered on the new beam. I don't know what, if anything they did change on the beam as mine is original LHD, but the only difference anyway is the servo mount bracket,
Heritage have a new Brazilian beam on sale at the moment if you decide to buy one. But...
Once the old one is taken out and on the bench, it should be possible to deal with the issue without resorting to a new beam. Worse case, cutting out the existing adjuster set on the bottom tube should give you better access to extract the broken bolt. Then weld in a new adjuster set. If you intend to keep the bus lowered, you'll need to cut and weld adjusters into the new beam anyway and that's even more work than changing out the lower set on the existing beam!
The new beam also won't come with any torsion leaves, so you'll need to swap them from the old beam (or buy a new set) and they can't be removed until you've got the adjuster bolts out anyway! You'll also need to ream out for and refit the centre pin for the steering linkage. Changing out the beam is a major pain.
I don't envy you, it's a pain in the a*** to deal with, especially so if you're having to pay a third party to do it.
PS. If you do go with a new beam, please give me a shout before scrapping the old one as I might be interested in buying your old one for its bump stop horns (if it still has them)
