Club 80-90 Forums

Sold van (85 Autosleeper Trooper) before moving house/starting business and thought that was that for a good few years - then looked on eBay!

Anyhoo now have 81 Devon Moonraker 'project' and a single garage. Needing to drop about 12cm and trying to decide between following and was hoping for any advice/past experience input.

Pop top will be coming off in any case then planning to choose between one of the following;
1 - take tyres off rims and roll van on rims into garage (have new set of wheels/tyres to go on)
2 - take out springs and drop onto stops keeping tyres on for easier rolling
3 - anything else

I envisage having to come out of the garage 3/4 times during work.

Any thoughts greatly appreciated.

Oh and must change bit at bottom of posts.

I'd replace the springs with steel tube I think.
Tiger sealed down on one end to stop them slipping.
It'd take a bit of messing about to cut them to size, but the van would be safe once in there.
A lot of the air bag guys use 6 inch pipe to make mounts. Same idea but longer.

Thanks Chewbacca - Tiger Seal I have, pipe I can get and any excuse to make grinder sparks I'll take. Glad I posted here now as never occurred to me to slot in something at perfect height, may be able to balance getting into garage and still underneath.

Thanks.

Swap up and over door for barn doors or ratchet strap it down?

Thanks Double O, I did think about swapping the doors bit never considered ratcheting down, I'll have a think about it. After you mentioned it I did think about the doors again and it wouldn't be much hassle to take the up and over door off to free up some precious room then pop the door back on one van is inside.

Thanks.

Had another thought. What about a set of 2nd hand springs and chop them down?
There must be people on here with a set of rubbish springs for you.

Make the garage taller.....

Depending on how much you need:
Hire a (modern) Kango or similar and shave a couple of tyre grooves into the concrete floor. Or find someone in the game to bung to do it for you. They won't need to go right to the back.
CS

Sorry about not answering for a few days - been busy in my HY van (I know I know it's sacrilegious).

Chewy - funnily enough the van came with a set of springs for lowering once back on the road so I could cut the standard ones - good call

tforturton - you jest but believe me it has gone through my mind more than once but not worth it.........for now

Citizen Smith - I did read a couple of threads where this was mentioned/done and again thought about it (I could get a stihl saw no probs), my main prob with it is losing ability to get underneath whilst in the garage.

Got a couple of hours free this PM so about to get the tools out and look at the springs.

Thanks to all.

Was only semi-joking.
If you lift the roof, then once you're done, you can park the van inside all the time. Much better for it than being parked out in the rain and wind. And miles better if you have to work on it. It's hard to tell how the garage is put together from the pictures, but you could lift the roof on acrow props, build up the walls, then drop the roof back down.
Have I ever done this? Er...no. But it sounds like a good idea.

That's job no1 done - just need to fit gearbox, complete a/c to w/c, build an interior etc etc so could be in there a while!

Ecopod wrote:That's job no1 done - just need to fit gearbox, complete a/c to w/c, build an interior etc etc so could be in there a while!

That's a snug fit!!

Yes that can't be a standard size garage! But then I used to spray Cars in a standard single garage by rolling the vehicle from side to side on little wheeled trolleys on tracks running on rails. I had a fan blowing warm air from the house through a vent in the back wall. Her Ladyship wouldn't let me make a door - probably just as well on reflection .
CS