I have a VW dune buggy with a bad trans. and I need to know how to tell which one I have.
That is an easy one. The swing axle only has the tortion bar arm and the swing axle for the whole rear syspension (per side). The swing axle is a rigid tube that rotates off the side of the transaxle gear box. In contrast, the independent rear suspension they started in 69, has a trailing arm attached to the pan, and it is this trailing arm that attaches to the tortion bar arm, to complete the suspension. So then the drive axle does not have to support anything. In fact it can't, because it has 2 CV joint swivels in it. All it can do is supply torque. So look at the side of the transaxle, and see either a thick (4) straight tube, CV joints and a skinny (1) solid steel shaft. If you don't want to look that close, just see if the wheels are slightly together at the bottom (classic swing arm camber), or if they are parallel.
