Lifting the Syncro Kombi. Rear end, wheels and tyres...

[poshbuggers]

I'm just wondering what the stock ride height is supposed to be on a 14" Syncro ?

Mine is a Kombi and I am halfway through the process of renewing the bushes, bearings etc as well as fitting a stud extension kit and lift spacers, uprated springs and shocks etc.

Unladen (with the exceptions of an extra spare wheel, spared seat and some tools plus a rear mounted ladder and wheel carrier I have just measured the rear at 80cm from ground to arch with 20cm from tyre to arch.

That's running stock wheels and tyres, stock springs and shocks, Syncro Services 20mm lift spacers and the rubber pad. I expect this to come down when I fit the Westy interior but when I fit the 16" wheels and 235/70R16MT Bronco's it should balance things out. I've had the rear arms modified with the flange folded down and seam welded to give extra clearance for the muds but even without spacers the 16"x8Jet11 Pentas clear wonderfully around the arm. I will post pics up when they are fitted to the van itself. I'm hoping to pick up some 944 CV joints next week to alleviate any binding problems at the rear I may encounter.

A few pics:

Wheels and tyres





The front end will be getting similar treatment with studs, bushes, bearings, 2wd HD (green) springs. The rear of the front arch will be trimmed a la 16" and Tristar arches fitted to finish them off.

[syncropaddy]

Those tyres will be awful on the road ....

[jed the spread]

Paul, what engine do you have in your van out of interest?

jed

[poshbuggers]

Those tyres will be awful on the road ....

Yes, but having run the crewcab on muds with no power steering for 3 years day in, day out I think I can cope.

You just need a loud stereo

Jed - it's running a 2.1DJ (with TDI suited box and diffs I am informed by the experts) at the moment. Looks very high to me but the Westy roof and interior conversion, roofrack, wheel carrier and LPG conversion it should settle.

[jed the spread]

I have those spacers on the rear of my westy. It obviously has the diesel spacers too near the arm but when I first did it, it looked really really high.

From this,



To this,



It settled down after a couple of days though, especially with a full tank of fuel and a full water tank plus camping stuff (a hell of a lot of weight there). It sits just perfect now like this and cost hardly anything to do really, just the price of the rear spacer.



The van sits slightly higher at the rear than the same van on Seikels and slightly lower on the front than the same van on Seikels, though I have noticed that the Seikels seem to be lower at the back anyway.

I put the same lift kit that you have on the front of my doka and the bigger spacers on the back (made from that stuff I gave you at Vanfest the other year) and it went from this,



To this with new front standard hight Syncro springs from Baxter. It gives me enough articulation (give in the springs) than a stiff spring on a light van with loads of clearance. To be honest the weight of my bull bar and heavy winch brought the front end down a tad. I have taken that off now anyway as i have other plans for that now and the Doka sits high again at the front like this. Its about the same as the Westy,



jed

[poshbuggers]

Thanks for those pictures Jed. Certainly helps make sense of it.

I'm only going to be running a 'lightweight' Westy interior from a very early van. Short cooker/fridge/sink setup, full width/corner R&R/storage seat and a full width overhead locker and buddy/toilet box.

So no wardrobe or big cupboards on the side reducing a little weight indoors. I'll be balancing the side weight with a Fiamma F45 over the slider.

I like what you have done with the Doka. I won't be using the Syncro Services fronts so I might use them on my Doka alongside the stuff you gave me at the rear. May as well lift that if I have the bits to hand.

[syncropaddy]

I put the same front springs on mine that you are going to use and I found them way too hard. I went back to standard springs with spacers all round and I have good ground clearance and no CV joint binding.

This pic was taken just before we left for Mammutpark so she was fully laden on standard springs + spacers



And at SP last year with HD front springs and standard + spacer on the rear. Thats a heavy standard sprung van behind with the same size wheels and tyres

[KarlT]

Will be doing a strip down of my running gear soon (ish). Can you get other spacers 10/15/20mm? What sort of costs? Have heard about uneven tyre wear with raised vans but then, if over time, your springs have sunk that would also lead to un-even tyre wear. What should, ie factory spec, the hub centre to wheel arch measurement be?

[syncropaddy]

Will be doing a strip down of my running gear soon (ish). Can you get other spacers 10/15/20mm? What sort of costs? Have heard about uneven tyre wear with raised vans but then, if over time, your springs have sunk that would also lead to un-even tyre wear. What should, ie factory spec, the hub centre to wheel arch measurement be?

30mm is about the max without CV joint/geometry issues and gives a lift of 2" depending on your van. If you dont do a front geometry set up after fitting you might have tyre wear issues but I cant see how settling springs will have an effect on tyre wear! I didnt do a geometry check but so far am ok on wear.

[KarlT]

Where did you get your spacers SP?

[syncropaddy]

Where did you get your spacers SP?

Syncro Services

[poshbuggers]

A quick update on the rear suspenders.

Having used the van for a week now it seems to be the case that unladen 20mm is too much. I had some serious positive camber at the rear and a badly knocking driveshaft (previously fine).

Once a bit of weight was added things improved and the drive was good and quiet. However - to play it safe I have forked out for new GKN 944 CV joints and gaiter kits. I don't wan tthe worry that overextending the rear might cause in future.

I'll post up an update over the weekend when (hopefully) they should be fitted.