What are you thoughts on this kit and has anyone known anyone who used it? Seem like a good design I just don't know anything about it. I would like to convert my beam front end to an A-Arm front end. HELP
A-Arm conversion

serious question... why do you feel you need to convert?

Smoother ride, more travel. For a beam car my car is smooth but I would like to see if I could get a better ride in the woops and on hard pack.

Looks scary. Buy a roller with a-arms transfer all the parts from the old car to the new one. My buddy bought the weld on a-arm conversion looks kinda funny. My .02 cents

That is Pete Grandia's kit. I sold him he body for his manx. This guy is a machinest and an engineer, and the a-arm kit works very well. He spent allot of time designing and testing this kit before he offered them to the public. The are not a super heavy duty kit, but perform very well and are very durable for a bolt on conversion. I have seen other bolt on lits, and none of them look as nice as Pete's kit.

That does look like a nice kit, but why not offer a HD kit also?

I looked at his kits at the SSSS and would not hesitate to convert my beam car to it. Looked really good to me. Especially for the cost.....

You can get more than 15 inches out of a beam, also a lot stronger. IMO
It can be set up to ride just as smooth also.


I would stick with the beam.

I talked to Pete about this kit, he's a really nice guy... I was, kinda of still am thinking about getting this for my buggy, mainly for a smoother ride. My main concerns are

A - if it has been tested out, why doesn't he have any pictures of the buggy's it was tested on?
B - it does appear to be non heavy duty, which would probably be okay on my car but sometimes I like to get some...
C - I'd really like to talk to someone that has put this on their car, I want first hand info, everyone can look at the pictures and say IMO... but it's the guy that has it on his car and has been to the dunes, and hard pack.... that's the one that knows how this will work.

There are two other builders out their (that I've found) that make a weld on kit, and from what I understand they work great but cost more. One costs $3200 and the other is $4000 but you take them your car and they do the work...

I keep going back and forth on this. Or buy a new chassis and transfer over.

But when I get into the idea of buying a new chassis other questions start coming to mind... why stick with a VW and an 002 tranny? It would be nice to have all new seats and belts... Sure would like all new wheels and tires.... then we start talking some major costs... so if I'm thinking about spending that... why not just buy something complete now and sell my car... oh if I only had a wad of cash....

Sorry, this is just a few things that goes on in my sick head... done ranting and raving now...

Click to view attachmentClick to view attachmentDo you have any fab skills? If so, just do it yourself. I did mine and it turned out awesome! Here are some before and after pics

I agaree for the money your can buy a bender, tube and a welder and still have money left over for some mistakes if you do it yourself. Also you will have some cool tools that will last you a lifetime. My .02 cents

tony (tsanchez) did mine for me. night and day difference, i love it!

I'm in the same boat and would love to fab my own. Just how does one learn about front end geometry? Anybody want to tutor a newbie?

IMO unless you are looking for more than 15 inches of travel stick with the beam.3-4k would make a very good beam front end plus the extra strength.

Great work!!! The idea of doing it myself has crossed my mind for a summer prodject. I have a 220 welder and I have seen some very resonable tube benders.
I have seen some of the $4000 kits but by the time I do that I am only a few grand short of a roller. I do like going Ocotillo and my current set up is nice and durable rides pretty smooth through the woops until I see a long travel going through the woops at 60mph..... Hmmmmm I'm not kidding myself that my car is going to ride like a $50k+ car but errrrrrrrrrrrr

I would love to see how this bolt on kit works......... Who has one!!!!!!!!

I like that .... how much and how do I get hold of him?

We sell the front arm kit for or mid travel manx's, but it's not a "bolt on" kit. You have to cut the frame head off in front of the pedals. It cycles 18" of travel, and we have built about 35 kits for the manxs and several for the guys who want to convert there beam cars. The beams do cycle close to 15" of travel, but the ride quality definatly feels different compared to the a-arm. The beams, to me have always felt a little stiff compared to an a-arm design. As far as strength is concerned, we haven't had a bent or broken arm yet.

This has been inspiring!
Now I want to do the same.

Using Mosebilt arms, you can get 18"+ travel from a beam. And have something a lot stronger then the a-arm kits.
I'd personally stick with the beam. Plus, if you do happen to tweak something, arms are easy to find to get you running for the weekend.

I have to agree, I have a friend that spent VERY little money in comparison for his Baja beam front and it cycles over 16" and will take ANYTHING you can throw at it, trust me he has TRIED to break it, 4foot deep whoops WIDE open and still just fine and for two years now it doing great without ONE breakage and its just Tweeds stuff, nothing fancy.

id say stick with the beam and do some topmount arms. as mentioned b4 mosebilt is making some killer arms for u beam guys that will take a beating. ive seen em first hand and there strong. he is also working on some nice lift spindles with double sheer steering for those guys that really wanna hammer the front end thru some whoops. take a look at mosebilts thread "freash outta the jig" theres alot of good stuff there. i know its imo but the spindles look a lil weak. ur beams bullet proof stick with it

Not only that, but his setups pull like 20".

any one have a website for mosebuilt im super interested in his armsfor my beam front end email me at prerunner404@yahoo.com or pm me

www.mosebilt.net but its gonna be easier to contact him on here or call him. i dont think he has updated the beam stuff on the site lately.
his # is 909-624-8888. hes out of montclare right by the montclare police station