Specs. of tire, wheel, and suspension - Lowered Buses

[Robert Stolk]

Hi Guys,

Recently i start driving mij 1960 splitvan after several years of restoration.
I have dropped spindels in front and straight axle in the rear. I am running on stock 15" rims.
In the front I have 165/50/15 tyres from Dunlop.
In the rear I have 185/65/15, ecocontact from Continental. When I drive above 80 Km/H the van is very instable by side wind and passing casr etc, very scary.
When the van is parked and I stand on the side of the van and push it a little bit the whole rear is moving from left to right. Not the rims, or anything, only rolling from left to right on the tyres.
The tyres have a load capacity of 88T, but still very instable.

Have anyone had this problem also? Any suggestions?

Thanks from Rotterdam, holland

[eduardom]

1962 Westfalia SO33

Front: 175/60/15, dropped spindles, 2-inch narrowed adjustable beam, sway away
Rear: 175/60/15, IRS, adjustable spring plates

All around: Bilstein bus shocks, replica 356 wide 5 stud

My setup does no allow larger than 175 tyre, as it is really close to touching side panel from the inner side.

[PaulSims]

67' Bus.
Front - WagensWest Front Beam. 4" narrowed, set as low as it will go. Wilwood disc up front. 5x4.5 lug pattern. 3" full front tub from Trailer Queen Restorations. Raised Steering Box

Rear - Narrowed Rear Torsion Housing 3". Dubfab shortened torsion bars. Adjustable Spring Plates from Vintage VW. Beetle Drum Brakes. 5x4.5 drums from So Cal Imports. 1/4" spacer

Benco Pro-street Transaxle, short axle short shaft. Lightly built 1776cc.

17x7 Torq Thrust II Wheels.
205/40r17 Nitto Neo Gen Front
215/45r17 Nitto Neo Gen Rear

Don't be afraid of a cutting wheel and a sawsall. Nothing a little welding can't fix.

_________________
67' Bus

[6sixTinBox]

[SolarPoweredPickles]

I did a search on this entire mega thread and didnt see the search word "raider" come up, maybe I missed it! Nonetheless...

Ordering a beam soon, I will MOST likely be running 15" EMPI Raider wheels, and a narrowed adjustable beam with flipped drop spindles, disc brakes, wide 5 sitting on the ground, steering box raise, all that in the works.

It'll be 15" front back, width, I am open to rear and front. Here are the specs and offset for 15x5's:

Diameter: 15"
Width: 5"
Offset (ET): 20mm
Backspacing: 3 3/4"
Lug Pattern (PCD): 5x205mm
Lug Seat: 60 Degree Conical
Weight: 14 lbs

https://www.jbugs.com/product/9753-4.html?utm_cont...LHEALw_wcB

From my tinkering and questioning it seems like a fully built beam with disc/adjustable at 4" narrow would be the best choice. Thoughts, mainly versus a 2" narrow? I can't recall what my last bus build beam was being 10+ years ago. But it was 5-spoke EMPI 15" wheels. Also the rear will be an IRS conversion, not sure on the rear width, but mostly concerned with the front as ordering an expensive beam and all...

Thanks!
Hope all is well with my dropped bus peeps.

[EverettB]

Try searching on Rader and Radar too - There are some posts but I didn't go through them to see if they answer your question.

I also don't know if those originals or repros have the same offset and specs as the EMPIs

Of course it's fine to ask again and get people to answer too as there could be differences specific to the EMPI version
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[shoebird]

1964, flipped spindles, 4,5" narrower front axle, 1" tubs.

5x15 randars with 165/50/15 nankang and 185/65/15 firestone