Just wondered if anyone has tried using coil over shocks as assistance to the torsion bar suspension. The reason I'm asking is after lowering the front of my van I have about three and three quarters of an inch clearance from the top of the tyre to the underside of the wheel tub,unladen . I'm concerned this isn't enough ! Can any one tell me if adding a coil over type shocker would be OK or would it be too stiff .??
You can't have your cake and eat it. Would they be stiff enough is a better question because you'll have to put up with whatever ride avoiding scrubbing the arches results in?
It has to be stiffer to work. Same force needed to lift the front but less travel available. I only run coilovers. The two bits of my antiroll bar are lying by the garage. No more mashing speed bumps and grinding off steep camber and the grass in the middle of the country lanes.. Only occasional rubs... every few weeks. But one bad back going over bumps too fast ...
Mine is lowered 3inches and i am not happy with it ...I bought it at that height , All ways thumping on holes and undulations in the road . You spend half your driving time when your in the country looking for lumps and bumps in the road ...bloody annoying . I can't up the suspension back to stock height as it has been cut turned and welded . So it's a change over beam, new or second hand and i will be doing it in the future , but they say it's handling and cornering is better lowered . But i think i would sooner watch my speed rather than the pot holes .
I have exactly the same set up as @Faust , I put coil overs on but the ride was just awful so I've gone back to shocks, the ride is better but not brilliant, I also had to put smaller tyres on the front so I didn't destroy the arches, I'm also thinking of changing the beam
What about the red 9 system then it on has coil overs on the shock and now torsion bars ,they must be strong coil springs if its taking all of the weight I was hoping to add as an assist or Spring?
Three quarters of an inch I bet you have even less when there's two of you sat in it and loaded up with camping gear. Sounds like you need to make some more room with some smaller tyres before you do anything else - prob need stiffer dampers too, but I doubt you can make it ride properly irrespective of the coilivers/dampers if you have so little suspension travel.
The shock towers were never designed for coil overs or to take the whole weight of the bus .....lower it ......feck it rubs ...stiffen suspension......feck it's horrible to drive .....smaller tyres .....feck it raise it back up .....
The worst thing you can do is fit coil overs you'll have no suspension travel and the ride is Marmite
Its no worse than some modern cars. I prefer it to the soggy banging and rubbing where I had to slow down for bumps and swerve round stuff. Now at least the bus will go over speed bumps at 20mph without rubbing. As mine is welded cut n twist and the towers on the front have survived 30-40k miles with coilovers, the front suspension is no longer an Area of Concern.
I lowered mine by waiting 40 years for it to sag. rear nearside is still somewhat resilient to the process though!
People don't like adding coilovers largely because the shock tower wasn't designed to take the load of the vehicle, and they're right- although in my mind, to be honest that's something I'd risk on a good condition beam. They're pretty solid... I know we haven't worked out the maths, but I'd happily say those strut towers, in good nick, are plenty strong enough for your average coilover. But there's also the fact that your suspension is relying on two different springs with differing spring rates to control your ride and handling.... Once you get away from one spring, things can get weird. You've got two different spring rates going on at once- say one 500lb/in, one 300lb/in. One of them will be pulling the other closed. It's just... It's not amazing, and it's not how you'd design a production car. Personally I'm an advocate of keeping stock height. But if you're going to drop, 2.5" dropped spoindles (sic) are the way to go on the front, with an adjuster for fine-tuning- unless you want to get fancy, which comes at a price.
does this mean I can assist my sagging front end by using coilovers to compensate for the losses in the front leaves (im not going to really!)
IMO one spline at the back then making it level by turning the beam is as low as you can go without opening a can of worms.
I've had type 2 detective's coil overs on the front for ages ,, the ride is slightly harder , but only like a modern car , nor as nice as a stock bus I'll grant you , but I can go over pot holes without the orible bang and round islands not holding onto the door handle , lol ,,, I've put adjustable spring plates on the back with gas a just stiff shocks ,,
