Suspension.

[bigbadbob76]

My suspension on my '86 t25 2wd camper conversion gives a pretty harsh ride on the crappy roads round home.
It soaks up the big bumps fine but I feel all the little bumps.
If it was a bike I'd be dialling down the rebound damping but of course it's not adjustable on the van.
Is everyone else's van like that too?
Is it the extra weight of cooker/units etc that's doing it or just the suspension design?
Has anyone upgraded their dampers? if so to what?

[Oldiebut goodie]

My suspension was at its most comfortable when the van was full of clay roof tiles! I am sure that in the past that someone else posted the same result.

[bigbadbob76]

I have a pile of old bathroom tiles that need to go to the dump, I'll give it a try.
Between them and the welding gear and tools it should be better. haha.
One of the down sides of a van conversion I guess, suspension designed for a loaded van aint gonna be optimised for a camper.

[DoubleOSeven]

I found the opposite. With my old shocks I used to rebound about 3 times before it settled. New shocks much firmer and help with cornering. Let some air out of your tyres, they sound rock hard?


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[bigbadbob76]

Cheer 007, i'll try that, can't remember what I'm running in there at the moment, 37psi front/40psi rear I think.

[itchyfeet]

poptop is much smoother than my tintop and is heavier.

old tyres get rock hard

[DoubleOSeven]

Cheer 007, i'll try that, can't remember what I'm running in there at the moment, 37psi front/40psi rear I think.

A bit high perhaps; just for reference I run 30psi front and 33psi rear in my 205/60 16" tyres.


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[bigbadbob76]

Cheers, I guess the pressures on the A pillar are for commercial van use rather than camper comfort.
Mines running on standard 185 R14C, I'll try 30/33psi as long as they don't get hot.
On my hardtail trike I run 15psi for comfort on bumpy roads and 25psi for speed on smooth roads, pressure makes a big differance to top speed.
15 sounds a bit drastic but the trike is light, unlike the bus. hahahaha....

[Oldiebut goodie]

My manual says 35 psi front and 47 psi rear on standard 185r14. Don't know if they should be different for converted vans.

[bigbadbob76]

Thanks OBG.
I'll try that as a baseline and work down from there by a few psi and see if it improves.