Advice...... Spring/suspension/lifting options.

[Simon Baxter]

Jed.
The original rear springs are what is called a mini block.
It has small pigtails for a reason, the same reason that the others you mentioned "bind".

On a empty, unladen vehicle you want a softer spring, you don't want stiff springs as you'll end up at the chiropractor every week.

On a heavy, laden vehicle you need a stiffer spring to handle the weight and not sit on the bumpstops.

What you need is a compact "progressive" spring that will cover all bases and check all boxes, soft when it's unladen, stiff when laden.

The way to make a spring stiffer is either to make the material it is made from fatter or make it shorter.

So, with a mini block, the ones with the so called "weak pigtails" are quite clever in how they work as they are made from a tapered wire, fat in the middle, skinny at the ends and are designed to collapse into themselves. If you look at one from the end you will notice it is like a spiral.
When you add load the end point of the spring will change and the spring will become both shorter, and because of them being made from tapered wire they become fatter too, double whammy.

A normal parallel spring, same as Seikel and the Andreas Lidl ones etc can also be made to be progressive by winding the coil such that some are closer together, so as weight is added the coils become coil bound and again make the spring shorter so again making it stiffer. The problem with this is that you end up making it from a larger diameter wire so you loose the soft damping, and you can get noise as the coils clang together.

2 ways of achieving the same effect, the former the clever way to do it, but costs more, the latter a bit crude but works.

Now as usual there's a little more to it, and again as usual it's a case of horses for corses, the standard springs will suit most people if they are using them within the realms of what vw intended, but if your carrying more weight then the original springs probably aren't up to it, but again if your operating out of the parameters vw set then they probably will break as they weren't designed to do what your doing with them.

[Simon Baxter]

What's special about the 2WD front springs?

How are they different to a Syncro?

They are longer but softer, great for light vehicles, not so hot on heavy stuff.

There is also the 2wd heavy duty springs which do give a lift and are a bit firmer than standard Syncro springs.

[Simon Baxter]

The south African Bilsteins are hand made.
Bilstein in the UK will make you some if you ask and you order enough!

I don't like the old man emu things, I don't think they are all that special.
You can beat a standard Syncro on standard wheels with new, standard suspension, they drive lovely!
I've done a couple of Lidl / trialmaster combos and I really like them, but I've only driven them locally.
The trialmaster dampers are really well made, we are set up as a dealer but never get around to putting them on the web shop.

[syncropaddy]

Oddly...in the pic up there it looks like you have a bit of positive camber on the front...yet I thought the issue with raised vans was that the camber would end up negative without any adjustment being left..

Yes and no and depends how much of a lift you give it. I didnt go as high as some have gone and am only 10mm higher than a standard empty panel van is. The tolerance on the camber is +/- 30' and the setting is 0 deg from memory. If it was arseways the tyres would be showing signs but they arent so Im happy

[Simon Baxter]

Front of a Syncro does have positive camber, or it's meant to. When you raise them you end up with too much negative, you usually can't quite just get both side with the right amount of positive.
That's why the upper ball joint spacers work, they give you back a bit of positive.

[syncropaddy]

Could this be the best of both worlds?

[Simon Baxter]

Porsche coil overs?
Or do you meant the small helper springs? They are only there to stop the main spring becoming dislodged when the suspension is jacked up.

[syncropaddy]

Porsche coil overs?
Or do you meant the small helper springs? They are only there to stop the main spring becoming dislodged when the suspension is jacked up.

Dont think they are specifically Porsche. Saw a system like this on a website which got me thinking along the same lines. A softer spring for normal use which is designed to bottom out at a certain point and then the heavier spring joins in when the weight increases ....... do you follow?

[Simon Baxter]

Yep, but those are like I say, only there to keep the main spring in place during droop.

[..lee..]

Simons right that pic shows helper springs just there to stop the main springs rattling about when the car jumps or is jacked up.

Nobody has mentioned using a lift bracket on the bottom bush of the front shock. This maintains std spring / shock dynamics but results in the desired lift. An option I think you should consider.

Also std set up does take a lot of beating on a std weight van

Lee

[max and caddy]

Could this be the best of both worlds?

Nope...coz they have wires on and that means it will go wrong faster.

[max and caddy]

Front of a Syncro does have positive camber, or it's meant to. When you raise them you end up with too much negative, you usually can't quite just get both side with the right amount of positive.
That's why the upper ball joint spacers work, they give you back a bit of positive.

That's what I was getting at, looks a bit positive...but it's lifted, but not by as much as I thought, so guess that's still within range of the eggcentrics.

[KarlT]

Thoughts on these.......

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/ ... alFb41IXpQ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Too much for the CV joints?

What do we think they mean by this ratings.......

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/ ... -shNanqkig" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[syncropaddy]

Thoughts on these.......

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/ ... alFb41IXpQ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Too much for the CV joints?

It says for heavy campers and mentions 3 ton ......

[KarlT]

Jed, You ever get round to fitting those 2WD springs?
Any before, after pics?