16" steelies on a 14"

[ELVIS]

is it possible/not possibe? does the 16 have different/'higher' springs giving more room to play with ?

They are to go on an ex finish army 14" that appears to sit very high compared to other 14"'ers. Do you think maybe they were ordered with HD springs etc ?
ideas?

[syncropaddy]

16" will fit on your 14" no probs. Need a pic to answer the rest

[axeman]

As paddy said, i am pritty sure that the srings are all the same lenth but I may be wrong, I have seen 2, 14 inch swedish dokas both with standard 16inch wheels. One for sale via owen at vw garden and the outher at sp a couple of weeks age owned be a scotish chap called eric I think. He posts on the forum every now and then.


Neil

[..lee..]

did some work on an ex-army 16" a while back and that sat high compared to my 16". didn`t seem to be modded atall.

lee.

[ELVIS]

Am dropping in on Patrik at vw-tristar next week on way home so might try some out.

Hoever , will the 14" struggle to pull such a big change in rolling radius due to different gearing ? Dont want to change it into a 3 speed (with 4th for downhill only)

[syncropaddy]

Shouldn't struggle really but it depends on what your standard gearing is and what engine you have got along with other considerations such as weight and if it has a high top or not.

[Justavan]

I've got 16" wheels on my 14" Doka and it does affect the final gearing a fair bit.
But it is an advantage on motor way and road use as it gives a good mpg on my 2.1 MV petrol we managed 30mpg to and from Syncropendance.
Off road it does limit its hill climbing ability a little bit but not enough as be a problem.
We got over everything that Syncropendance threw at it and there were some scary steep hills there thats for sure.
You've got to weigh up what you want to do with your bus?
If you want to get it dirty and dented then jack it up and put 16" on it
If you want to get the best on and off road go for a set of 15" wheels......the choice is yours ..................

[jebiga41]

is it possible/not possibe? does the 16 have different/'higher' springs giving more room to play with ?

They are to go on an ex finish army 14" that appears to sit very high compared to other 14"'ers. Do you think maybe they were ordered with HD springs etc ?
ideas?

Might be the case when i bought my panel van high top off patrick a few people commented on the fact that it looked higher than other 14's they had seen maybe the swedish vans have some kind of spec that is unique to them

[Syncro G]

Some people think my 14in looks a bit high for stock. Think its a combination of relatively small tyres (equivilent to the factory syncro optional 205R14) and a relitively lightweight van body/intereour (most are now heavy campers or kitted out in some form so thats what the eye is used to) so the tyres look a long way below the arches on mine.

Rim size is one thing, but what aspect ratio tyres are you planning to fit? Can only say what the effect on gearing will be with the complete package. 205R16 surely wouldn't fit on a 14in van or VW wouldn't have bothered to chop the arches in the first place. Something like a 205/70R16 or 215/65R16 would be simular to a 205R14 if you could find such a tyre so that'd still drive nicely. There has got to be a decent compromise between the two stock sizes that can be made to work without hitting the arches/screwing the gearing much. You'd want to avoid a wide tyre with a low aspect ratio though as 16in rims are only 5.5in wide and you wouldn't want to pinch them.

[ELVIS]

205/14s win on standard syncro rims. Cant push to two sets of wheels tyres. good enough for VW................

Bit worried too bigger a tyre will make the JX unenjoyable to drive on road and G will be too high off road(fitted 38s to a LR once -changed transfer box but not diffs and low 1st/2nd were pants-wayyyyyyyyyy too high)

[syncropaddy]

Im running 225/70/15 on mine and it doesnt make that mush of a difference

[syncrowjoker]

Just do it1

[jed the spread]

Just do it1

With the bigger rims, look what Dai's was like in G on that big hill in Germany Stan and Dai is a sh*t hot driver too. A 14" van on standard road tyres and rims made it no problems. I would say it makes a massive difference on a really steep hill or off road. Personally I wouldnt put anything bigger than 15" on my Westy and that has an AAZ that runs sweet, not to mention the Doka 2.1dj I would just be making it worse off road. The 16" 2.1dj Finish army vans have the lower geared box like in the 2.1MV but with the bigger wheels and with the DJ having more grunt than the MV, bring them up to standard dj 14" gearing as I under stand it (maybe wrong again). I dont know how it would get on with a jx. Like has already been mentioned in other similar threads go for the middle ground, 15"

jed

[axeman]

It may be worth doing a few tests before changing over to 16's. On my doka 2.1 mv with an avl box.With 215-75 -15 at 60mph sat nav speed reading (speedo reads +5mph so 65mph) my van is reving at 3400. If if i still had the 14.s i would like to have done the same test but i dont .What sorts of revs are outher gearbox codes and wheel and tyre combo getting? I may be wrong but i dont think that the engines matter. Unless you have a tdi and then the gear box 3rd and 4th should have been changed.


Neil

[Aidan]

my MV 2.1 AAN 4.86 fd standard set up
3300 is true 60mph in 4th running 205r14c
Caravelle Sunroof Multivan with camper interior fairly laden, 2 lpg tanks etc...

on 15" 215/75/15 MTs it is overgeared by at least 5% I'd say, but is still driveable, and reduces fuel economy; my MV struggles with the standard AAN anyway in some conditions unless you can get it upto 3800rpm, but it's 144k mile original engine no youngster now. I've considered going to the 5.43 fd ratio but as I don't have any spare it's not an option at the moment. The HighTop I ran was MV with 5.43, extra 350rpm at 60mph, barely any slower overall, I never ran it onything but 205R14c though.

I reckon with the scooby 2.5 the AAN would be bob on, may even take a 0.82 fourth gear for economy

VW never fitted the 4.57 to anything bigger than 185R14c/205/70/14R or to anything other than DJ 112bhp

I'd say making any adjustment of more than 10% to any ratio would have to be more than matched by engine upgrade, but as usual Andrew is the exception that proves the rule running 225/70/15s and 4.86 final drive with a standard JX and having excellent fuel economy and a perfect drive