Tricks for optimum bus handling

[dawerks]

I'm looking for any bus handling tips that I might have missed

Front; Big sway bar, negative camber (how? with the shims?), lowered spindles, stock beam w/ disc brakes. I was thinking of boxing the trailing arms and the beam, but I'm not sure about that.

Rear; camber compensator, SA Kit, lower in the back than front.

Sticky tires, Blistiens all around.

Is there an adjustable coilover kit available for Splits in the US? There's one in Europe. And Red9 A Arms would be great, but the cost/shipping is a little much for what you get.
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"There is only one sin; disconnection from self."

[candyman]

Dont ya hate when noone answers your question? No tricks, just dial everything in to spec and add some stiff sidewall tires and they handle pretty darn good for a dinosaur. I added a front sway bar to my 61 and that was a very nice upgrade

[Clara]

stock height.
all steering components in good shape.
good tires

add this:

before:

after I was taking corners easily 10 mph faster than before:

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[mandysbus]

kyb "white" gas shocks...made the most noticible improvement on my bus

[blitzkrieg59]

I noticed an improvement in handling when I went from KYBs to Bilsteins.

Clara -- have you noticed a difference in off-road ability after putting on the camber compensator?
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SST X, XI, XII
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'65 Riviera Camper

[zimblewinder]

drive slower
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59 mango standard
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[quartermilecamel]

I noticed an improvement when I converted to disc brakes. I should wait to see how many people ponder that last statement...............give up?
Adding the disc brakes got rid of the wide 5 pattern which I still wanted. So I also added the Wheel adapters. I think the adapters came from wolfgang. Anyway that increased my front wheel base a inch. I didnt know it at the time but it sure made a stability difference.
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Waiting for santa to drop off funky green. I can wish can't I????

[Clara]

[iamdonquixote]

are there aftermakret camber compensators still available?

[quartermilecamel]

Considering making my own camber compensators..out of leaf springs. Or possably contacting a spring shop. Also saw a bitchen sway bar at summit racing in the returned material shelves, although they wanted a shitload of money even though the dam thing was a return, the swaybar was for a 4x4 ford. Perfect U shape to it. I know I could adapt that to work.
A camber compensator still is a spring which will affect the overall spring ability of the bus. A sway bar wont affect spring load. At least thats what I gather from that last picture
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Waiting for santa to drop off funky green. I can wish can't I????

[Snoop Bob]

I am kind of surprised EMPI has not repopped that item.
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[sub-hatchtim]

make sure all your bearings, spring plate bushings, link pins, center pin and tie rods are all in tip top shape will make a world of difference
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58' pg/sg silo fridge westy
58 Dove blue singlecab
76 911S

[dawerks]

[quartermilecamel]

hmmm metal mounts. I wouldnt recommend those unless your racing. Do you like noise? Those metal mounts will transfer every bit of noise through the body. Had a 67 bug that somebody put eurothane mounts in. I swore I could hear everything but the spark jumping the plug gaps.
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Waiting for santa to drop off funky green. I can wish can't I????

[RobzKombi]

[cdennisg]

^^^ Those camber compensators work well ,but you're right, they put all of the stress into the tranny mounts. The style that Clara has is better, but I don't think are available any more. Should not be hard to fabricate a different mount.

Camber compenstors and sway bars will inhibit off-road performance. They fight downward action of the wheel, which is often what is needed off road. It's called articulation.

As has been said, make sure all of your suspension components are in top condition, and you have quality tires that have proper inflation. Anti-sway bars work wonders, too. Quality shocks will certainly help.
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nothing

[Clara]

[[email protected]]

[Riff Raff]

When interested in reducing body roll, a sway bar is really the only choice.

A sway bar will reduce body roll.
A Camber Compensators will prevent wheel tuck.

A sway bar will counteract the body roll, a Camber Compensator will exacerbate it.
Conversely, a Camber Compensator will counteract wheel tuck where a sway bar will exacerbate it.

Imagine turning right in your bus. The body tends to roll to the outside of the corner (left) due to centrifugal force. This has the effect of raising the outside wheels in relation to the body- and lowering the inside wheels, resulting in body roll.
A sway bar, or more correctly an anti sway bar, counteracts this force by raising the inside wheel, when the outside wheel is raised, counteracting the body roll and keeping the bus reasonably flat.
The way the Camber Compensator is designed, it actually enhances the body roll. As the outside wheel is rising around our right hand corner, the compensator actually lowers the inside wheel. It is just a teeter totter on a fulcrum.

Now, in the case of wheel tuck, pretty much the opposite is happening. Because of the design of the swing axle, on hard cornering, the outside wheel can actually be pushed down (around its' axis of rotation) rather than being pushed up. In this case, the Camber Compensator actually compensates for the camber by pulling up the inside wheel which couteracts the tuck on the outside wheel.

This is what the camber compensator is designed to do - prevent tuck, not reduce body roll.
In the tuck situation, the sway bar would push down on the inside wheel which would tend to push the bus farther to the outside, exacerbating the body roll and the problem.

The reason that all newer vehicles have sway bars instead of Camber Compensators is because sway bars actually reduce body roll and Camber Compensators do not.
The best set up for handling on a swing axle rear is a sway bar AND limiting straps.

This way you get the anti body roll benefits of the sway bar coupled with the anti tuck benefits of the limiting straps.
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[RobzKombi]

Nicely put Riff Raff.

My first suspension upgrade was the addition of a front swaybar, the camber compensator came later.

Installing a front swaybar will be a night and day difference. I've installed them in all of my buses and will continue to install them on my future buses.