I know Ratwell recommends them but has anyone fitted a heavy duty arb and has it improved the ride / sway ?
I have the JK arb kit (empi) Thicker front arb and a rear arb fitted ,plus kyb dampers all round. Handling and straight line stability vastly improved. Especially cornering and much improved motorway driving, no more involuntary lane changing.
Same with std Boge shocks. The other day I had a low tyre on the o/s/r in the high winds and it was scary. Pumped up and went straight as an arrow.
^this. Stock everything, boggo Boge shocks and steering tweaked up properly. Drives straight as an arrow.
Another thing worth doing is replacing your tyres. New 'uns definitely make a Bay more stable. Check the date codes - I bet they're over 10 years old.
Agree with this and consider commercial tyres or tyres that are steel braided so should you get a blow out will help to avoid a catastrophe
I’ve just fitted the JK kit. Initial test drive seemed good with a bit more stability but the real test will be a proper trip with a mixture of A and B roads of differing standards. In terms of cost I’m yet to be convinced the upgrade is worth the expense, time will tell. If you do go for it, the empi kit, the instructions aren’t great (mainly the back, the front is a direct replacement). There are some YouTube videos but they vary in quality so I’d recommend reading this thread; https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=431999&postorder=desc
I’ve driven mine stock, lowered no arbs. and then also with hd rear arb + custom front arb to suit my (slightly) narrower beam. On kyb initially now on bilsteins. def prefer how it drives now.
yes, from what i've read, i think bilsteins are probably the best you can get if you have a modified/ lowered bus. Stock height then Koni like @MorkC68 has. iirc ratwell preferred his with the rear bar removed and HD bar at the front - i thnk a lot of folks just read that and copy his approach without doing their own research/testing. there isn't really one "right" answer to the arb question - its impacted by what dampers you have, what wheels/ tyres you run, height of the bus/ other suspension mods plus of course its totally dependent on what you're going to use the bus for. If you regularly go off-road then you want a lot of suspension articulation, with each wheel able to move a lot independently, so arb's especially on the rear will be working against you here. mines better in corners than it was when it was stock, still gets in and out of camping fields ok so thats good for me.
Mine snapped years ago, I removed it. Lowered bus, wore roll bar out hitting it on speed bumps. I rely on the higher spring rate of coilovers to cover for its loss. I prefer the having completely independent suspension on rougher surfaces as the front of the bus lurches less towards potholes. And I don't get much grief until trying to drive at over 60mph in a gale. Random lane changing turned out to be uneven front camber causing steering to lean against sloppiness..kept pulling against it with the steering wheel, then if the cross wind flipped , the wheels would move to the other side helped by hauling on the steering.
