Syncro Front End Rebuild

[tjet]

I installed Van Cafe 2" syncro lift springs and OME shocks. I also added 40mm lift spacers (not shown in pic), which also came with 40mm upper ball joint spacers and shock extenders. I didn't use the stock upper A-arm though as I didn't think they would fit.

You can see my clearance here...

Here is the spacer kit. I think they are in Finland.

[T3TRIS]

[T3TRIS]

[tjet]

[T3TRIS]

[tjet]

Thanks.

BTW, the springs will settle in 3-4 weeks.

[vandroid]

[tjet]

Here's a couple pics. My suspension is at full travel (I have a jack under it & tire if off the ground) Note: the rubber boot on the ball joint does come in contact with the spring (only at full extension). I don't think the upper control arm would clear the spring without the ball joint spacer.

The backspace on my current wheels is 4.25" with 26mm adapters factored in. 15x7 SA steel rims, & 31x10.5R15 tires.

[T3TRIS]

[valvecovergasket]

i think youre really setting yourself up for trouble without limiting the droop there.

maybe i missed it earlier in the thread but - why did you feel there was a need to extend the shocks from the get go?

lifting IFS setups is complicated enough and the tradeoffs are numerous, youre probably better off sticking to the "known" combo of parts
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[T3TRIS]

[MarkWard]

Probably too late at this point, but I'd be looking at coil over springs and shocks. I use HyperCoil. https://www.hypercoils.com/coil-over-springs/

You could also go to Penske, and have custom coilovers made that would be the correct length and valving.

It adds up quick though. https://www.penskeshocks.com/off-road/

Since you've already invested your money, I would feel fine adding droop limiters. It saves the shocks and can prevent your binding problems.

It's not uncommon to have parts from different suppliers to not play well together. We see it all the time. Even when the parts come as a complete package from one supplier.

Most people probably wouldn't have noticed the interference. You seem very methodical from your posts. So, I'm not surprised you caught it.
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[T3TRIS]

[tjet]

I wonder if it's possible to extend the top of the upright. It seems to me, that would be better than the block to move the ball joint down.

[4Gears4Tires]

You could do that really easily with a spacer with a hole down the middle tapped to the thread pitch of the ball joint. Only easily works if its fairly large or if you cut the ball joint threads down by half since it would engage instantly without having to pass through the strut. I think 6 threads engagement is SAE standard?

Maybe put 2 flat spots to hold it? Screw it on to the ball joint, then use a bolt through the strut into the spacer.
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'87 Syncro
Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition

[MarkWard]

If you move the top out, you may not have enough camber adjustment.
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[T3TRIS]

Regarding the previous comments: I do like the spacer idea to move the actual ball joint upward instead of the ball joint spacer! I was able to hit the camber tolerance without the need of a ball joint spacer, though that was before everything settled.

I worked double time on getting this buttoned up and haven't taken the time to update here because I have another thread trying to figure out why our front wheel hubs got so hot after the first miles on the front end rebuild. So far it seems like it was because of the grease that I added to the outside of each wheel bearing, which is unnecessary on syncro front wheel bearings (I have no idea for 2WD). It could have been brake drag but that's somewhat doubtful. The theory behind the grease is that it created pressure on the plastic sealing part of the wheel bearing when the parts were pressed together. Here are images of the bearing that I now took apart... again. Anyhow, I'll be chasing down this issue, but in the meantime I can tell you that the front end performed well before I realized the bearing issue!

I was working late nights because we were invited by our local group of Land Rovers to do a day trip of off-roading. Here's what it looked like before we headed out.

I was able to do a rough alignment the night before, at least getting the numbers within tolerance except for toe angle. I made the wheels parallel before I realized that with a Syncro, you have to be "toe out" somewhat and the value of that angle is dependent on the distance from axle stub to fender lip (there's a handy chart on the Bentley). The tolerances on toe angles are really tight and with our lift, we are supposed to be 0.4º toe out, which I'm pretty sure I didn't hit. However the manuals also claim putting some miles on components before re-doing an alignment so I'll keep driving it and adjusting. It did drive straight, it just "searched" a little.

Speaking of lift, our front end was at 20.5"/20.75" from axle nut to fender lip before putting a single mile on the rebuild. When we returned after driving 120/140 miles, including lots of serious off-roading, we were sitting between 19.75" and 20" (the tire side wall pushes the tape measure out a little but it's under 20"). Our front clearance is 11.5" to the skid plates, our rear was still at about 9'5" to the Small Car oil pan, which I'm not too happy with.

So last minute before the off-roading trip, I decided to add a spacer to our rear springs (I already had two 1" spacers). It was about 10pm when I decided to do that but figured that after rebuilding the front end, adding spacers to the rear would be easy peasy! I had just received the rear shock spacers from T3 Technique too. I know people build their own but I'm not at that level of fabrication yet... but these things are nice!!!

Anyhow, I crawl under the van and notice right away that our rear driver side inner CV boot is completely ripped! We had those replaced a few years ago when we installed 944 CV joints and I had ordered these Rockford boots, there's probably 15K miles on them, max. There is no grease splatter anywhere so I wonder if they just ripped while the rear wheels were hanging off of the jacks for a few months! So here we are, 10pm the night before off-roading, replacing CV boots. Fortunately I had a could laying around, Rockford again, except this time they are 4 pleats instead of 3... I hadn't even realized versions were available. Anyhow, it looked like that boot had dried up and just ripped in place.

And here I am now, contemplating adding even more height to the back of the van... I'm getting pretty good at these CV-Vanagon-right-of-passage-rebuilds and so is Jennifer (she's the one who often reassembles the puzzles), so figured we'd still try the lift. Placing a spacer was easy compared to the front. I compressed the rear spring with the jack and wrapped the spring a dozen times with some webbing (tying a not, not using the clasp/clip/ratchet), removed the shock, dropped the trailing arm, fitted the spacer, threaded the spring back on and done. Then I had to do a little drilling and cleaning to install the shock spacer but that was straight forward too. When the van was back on the ground, our rear was sitting at 21" axle/fender (before and after driving) and the oil pan was now 10.5" off the ground. Next step for clearance will be bigger wheels (which we hope we can make happen without much change in wheel weight using our recently acquired lighter CLK wheels).

For both the front and rear, I reassembled everything and put the wheels back on. With the van off the ground and supported by floor jacks, I spun each wheel slowly to "feel" if there was any sort of binding in the CV joints with the more aggressive axle/fender dimensions and full extension. I didn't feel anything.
By the way, I was pleased to notice that full extension on our rear lifted Schwenk springs matched full extension on the rear shock. Adding the 1" spacer to the rear spring and the rear shock extender didn't seem to change that detail, so I assume we gained some good downward travel on the rear (which is what I was trying to do on the front too but that'll require some limiting device).

The van performed incredibly well both on and off the road. On the road, the new bushings noticeably reduced road noise and vibrations, made the van feel both tighter and more comfortable. The new shocks/springs also felt strong and tight with less droop when cornering. It was a clear difference that even easily noticed from the passenger seat. Off-road, we feel like our little camper is a beast. We know there are tons of super-built Syncros out there, but dang this thing can go, especially when you add the word "camper" to describe our vehicle!!! Every time we take this thing off the road, we are reminded of how fun it is and it makes all of our mechanical aches disappear. It makes us look forward to the camping spots we can now reach and it makes us wonder how we can get most of our 2WD van friends join on some of these trips.
We only did trails rated up to "moderate" though some sections felt tougher than that. Everywhere the Land Rovers went, we followed which was sometimes challenging just because our wheel diameters are significantly smaller, and approach/departure angles aren't as advantageous. We drove through trails that a hightop wouldn't have been able to go through without hitting trees. We climbed up some steep rocky trails that, if it wasn't for other people guiding us, we would've never attempted (video never do these things justice but here's a Rover climbing right after us, scroll to the 3rd image/video to see the section that took us a few attempts, getting our smaller wheels over some these rocks just broke our momentum). We made full use of the added clearance and did some tap tests of front bash plate! We helped bail a Razor that had tumbled off the forest road.
The other Land Rover drivers of the group were very impressed with the Syncro, and so were we. The seemingly more experienced dude in the group used to own a couple 2WD Vanagons in the past and was thrilled to finally see a Syncro and what they can do (which I assume is even more than what we throw at it)... One of the best part of all this though, is passing other people on these off-roading trails (we were at Brown's Camp, outside of Portland, OR). There were quite a few people out there that day and they are used to seeing tons of massively built trucks, off-roading and 4x4 vehicles, ATV's, side-by-side's, dirt bikes, Jeep groups, Toyota groups, you name it. They would look at the Rovers go by and wave high. Then in the middle of the Rover group, they'd see this old VW Vanagon working these trails and you could just see the genuine surprise and overall happiness that the sight would give them.

What a fun day it was and we are super thankful for the community here that allows us to keep this thing running and giving use more smiles-per-gallon than we could have wished for!

Alright, now I have to replace front bearings again
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Guillaume, Jennifer & T3TRIS
87 2-knob Syncro
- 94 Subaru EJ22, 225/70-R16 CLK 16x7 ET37
- Transaxle rebuild, Mexico paint job, Front end rebuild, 320Ah LiFePO4 Battery

[4Gears4Tires]

That is a legitimately steep hill. Video never does the steepness justice. That looks like some pretty good off roading.
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'87 Syncro
Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition

[T3TRIS]

[MarkWard]

I noticed in another thread of yours that one of the upper control arm bolts was loosening on the trail. You may want to check that your poly setup is not "dragging".l It could be that the up and down movement might be loosening the nut. Its a crimp nut, so it could be tired, but just be sure. When that bolt comes loose, your camber also changes.
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