Hi Guys! I'm looking to lower my van over the winter (Lower it a bit, so that it's still pratical!) and I'm being steered in the direction of dropped spindles. Has anyone done this to their van recently? Difficult/easy job? And lastly, can someone suggest a decent supplier?? Cheers!!
i fitted them to a friends van (transporter house ones) they were easy to fit a couple of hours a side, bit i have to say th van was too low, the wheels rubbed on the front tubs and there is no real way to bring it up comfortably, i added coil over but they didnt raise it enough, perhaps a different make would have done the trick, the van is running empi 5s and it lowered 2 splines at the rear
Cheers for that, do you know (Roughly!) How far the drop was with them?? Aside from the rubbing, was the ride still ok??
3.5inch drop you need to run lower profile tyres upfront too Alex @ Transporterhaus reccomends 175x55 on 15inch rims
There is a great long thread on EB about this with recommendations on types of coil overs, I packed my torsion arm to bring my bump-stops back in play and it's tons better now.
Cool, I already have the adjustable gas shocks on the van, so I understand that will help! Sorry Pie, what is EB?? Am I being thick?! (No comment!)
If you let me know what EB is I will let you have a couple of rusty headlight surounds I found in my garage?!
I am thinking of going down the drop spindle route (using standard dampers). Looking at the Transporterhaus website it doesnt say what type of damper to use, although they look like gas adjust ones. Bigrich does the drop spindle come with the trailing arms with new ball joints? It says you need to swap the fixed track rod with an adjustable one and buy two new camber nuts..what cost would this be from Coolair?
I got normal dropped spindles from the samba. No need for faffing about with new arms etc. I did have to mod a bit though trim the brake disc shield and the ball joint thread.
yeah sounds good - I do need to change all of the ball joints though as the westy ones' have worn, so its a complete refurb over winter
The flipped spindles come with trailing arms and special ball joints fitted as they're now upside down. The spindles are also machined for the tie-rods to fit upside down so they don't hit the chassis. I'd say 3 1/2" drop is an underestimate. Personally, I wouldn't fit them to a heavy Westy. Even with smaller tyres you will scuff the arches without doing the bump stop trick. You'll also end up bouncing between the seat and the roof when you hit the stops. Yep - after a year I've gone back to stock and the ride is a joy again. And as you know mines a light interior, one man in the front tin-top and I'm skinny. Mork - you're going to regret it and your missus won't be happy. They are sold on the fact that they retain the original suspension which they do - the first little soft bit, then it's bump stops. So much for a softer ride than adjusters! Great on a motorway or A road if that's all you ever do. The Wagonwest welded ones look a better bet - less drop and ball joints the right way up. This is just my opinion and I know Pie doesn't agree. 2 1/2" + 1 spline is fine for a westy though - keep your standard tyres and shocks. Possibly ride a bit firmer, but you still have as much suspension as you need in all but the roughest conditions.
Thanks for the information Zed, I really appreciate it as it says exactly what I want to know. I think I will go down another route & look into the wagonswest route and gain some further information on that method. At the end of the day I just want to close the gap between the wheel/top of the tyre and wheelarch, not excessive but just enough if you know what I mean without going down the beam adjuster method either! Anyway, thanks again!
Pie - I've heard nothing but praise for Justyns work and prices over the years. Here's my old westy one spline and drill the dimples twist at the front. I believe that's the look you're after Mr Mork? Standard tyres, 2 6ft kids in the back and a 17 stone ex in the front, loaded up to camp and never a problem other than a whining noise from the passenger seat area.
