My view is that lowering gives you less travel for standard springs and shocks that are designed for more travel, so you blow through your available travel and hit the end of it one way or another sooner, because there’s less of it but your suspension spring and damper rates are standard. Other things that affect this are bump stops and tyre sizes. I would suggest coil overs for the front but these will need to be custom built to your needs and will require some measurements before ordering as well as finding out how it’s been lowered and what’s been done with above factors. If the bump stops have gone then the next things that meet and limit travel are usually either tyres hitting body or shocks bottoming out metal to metal etc., none of which is desirable. Rear was less of an issue for me and uprated dampers may suffice. I fitted air level adjustable ones at the back, work a treat. My Gaz front ones were about £240 from memory. They have small internal bump stops. As Mike says the helper springs just add more support to compensate for less travel so it limits movement more, and the damper rate is adjustable. Makes it very driveable on good roads but as always lowering has compromises, off roading, potholed roads and speed bumps are not enjoyable. I just slow down a bit. Only real fix for that is more travel, which usually means more height. Edited to add that mine was lowered ‘professionally’ too, which resulted in it being downright dangerous and is how I ended up having to fix all the issues similar to those described by other posts. First I had about an inch of rubber suspension from riding the bump stops before the steel of the stops met, then when they were cut off I had more travel but it ended with the tyres hitting the tubs just before the standard shocks hit their metal-metal compressed limit. New uprated KYB shocks didn’t fix that. Lowered by: Turned spline on rear, adjustable front beam, bump stops cut off (after giving it back to me first riding on them). Dampertech were really helpful in working out what coilover set up was required. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Well, I can agree with that, but TBH I've made a mistake having it lowered (albeit by a professional). Presumably this means he makes money by ruining vehicles all day long and has certificates proving that he learned to screw a vehicle's ride at college or something. Although everyone I speak to knows how to solve it, no two people would ever solve it the same way. (Gaz shocks/Bilstein shocks/coil overs etc) My options seem to be to continue playing suspension-parts darts... And chuck endless additional shiny bits at it and drive it around trying to convince myself that it's marginally better, or a load better, or the same. Or just give up & replace the dropped spindles with ordinary ones.
Signor pantaloni di pesce, Sorry if you feel that wasn’t helpful, I can only speak of my own experience with my bus. I think it will depend largely on how it’s been lowered. The principles of reduced travel and appropriate spring/damper rates are applicable, and I’d say ‘fixing’ it is more like ‘mitigating’ it. Return to normal is maybe the right option for you, but again it depends on how it’s been lowered. Edit: just seen it’s via dropped spindles, sorry. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
i'm guessing if they are old they were the ones originally fitted before lowering? if so then that's where i'd start personally. what brand/ type are they and how old? I read in hayburner last edition that ned was going to do some testing of the various dampers that where available for our old buses - maybe wait until he's done that before making a decision? I have run my bus with cheapo standard dampers (floaty - some folks like this but personally i like it to feel more controlled/tied down) and now with the KYBs. These are an improvement but it's still a bit too soft for my liking personally. Samba folks all seen to rave about red konis if you are stock height - i don't think these work on a lowered bus. I also had a bad experience with konis on a different vehicle so i wouldn't go there. Protech and Bilstein seem to get the best feedback from what i've read. the protech guy posts on facebook occasionally - they make up a specific set for you based on your open/ closed measurements. Bilstein are developed specifically for Type 2 detectives. I'm planning on getting some as i've had very good experiences with bilsteins on other vehicles.
I had the pro tech dampers on my bus before lowering and they were great! Built for stock height but not for flipped spindles.
I did the same, flipped spindles. I drove it for a year than put it back to stock. It is possible to adjust your bump stops to stop the rubbing but at the end of the day it'll never be as good as stock. IMO. Stock = good 1 spline = sort of ok but a bit pointless. 2 splines = no suspension to speak of but looks cool. A downward spiral.
Yes , thats why the pieces of my anti roll bar remain in my scrap metal pile and have not been replaced on the bus. It snapped one morning crossing a camber change going onto a roundabout
