Stance issues

[plimthing]

Ok, so I had a stock height 1972 bus. I fitted dropped spindles to front and horseshoe plates (boomerang plates or whatever you guys call them ) new shocks to suit all round. Put her back on the floor and she appears to be a tad saggy in the rear department (cue all the 'just like my wife gags').
So my question is, do I remove the plates at the rear, or lift it on the splines.
Answers on a post card to the 'stop rear view mirror pointing to the floor' competition.

[TDCTDI]

Was it sagging in the ass before you installed everything? what was the suggested drop of the front spindles vs the rear horseshoe plates? Is the "saggy rear" appearance due to the difference in front vs rear wheel arches or measured from the ground to rockers?
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[plimthing]

that's the only shot I have of it showing a before stance.
it wasn't noticeably saggy or was it?
Drops advertised were 2 1/2" front and back.
At the moment there is no interior or glass installed, but I'm not thinking that would make too much difference as the new shocks make the bus rock solid.

[Wildthings]

Did you replace the torsion arm bushing? That will bring the rear up a bit, beyond that you will need to reindex the torsion bars. This is not a big deal, but will take a couple of hours a side.

[williamM]

we ran the grey whale up to 24* on the spring plates and it still had suspension above the stop-- BUT- it did spit out a cv ball in 500 miles. Was a defective part- the others and the repair have lasted so far (damn you EMPI)- We did rotate the rubber donuts in the spring plates and added the white powder (no not that white powder- ) the baby powder.
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[plimthing]

you know, I cant remember what condition those doughnuts were in when I dismantled everything last time. Do they make a big difference then? first time playing with suspension really. they are quite cheap to buy, so I might just order 2 up anyway.

[SGKent]

Bentley covers how to adjust the rear. Of course with a lowered front you may want a different stance than a stock rear end. Why not go to the lowering sticky to see how others dealt with it, and do a search on how to change the rear angles if you lack a Bentley manual. To me this is part of the lowering process and should be addressed there.
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“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[williamM]

[plimthing]

I will get my head in the Bentley then! Next I just have to find a nice warmish afternoon to have a play.

[plimthing]

having read the bently for a few mins, am I correct in thinking that the bus body should horizontal in relation to the floor? I mean parallel with floor no inherent incline at all?

[williamM]

[OB Bus]

[plimthing]

ive just measured the distance from the floor to the roof gutter at both the front and rear axles (ctr of wheels).
The front is just under 4" higher than the rear.
If I raise the rear will the front drop? or will the front remain the same? If its a case of the later, that's a lot of lift required at the rear!

[airkooledchris]

Before anyone is sitting in the bus, it should sit a little high at the nose. It doesn't really level out until you have a passenger (or two) up front.

That's the normal "stance" - but when you are talking about lowering, you really would be best off posting about it in the lowering thread. No need to recreate the wheel, if it's a result of lowering someone there has dealt with it already.

[jtauxe]

[TDCTDI]

Your problems are caused by your aftermarket parts. the rear horseshoe plates have lowered the rear more than the dropped spindles lowered the front.

You will need to...
(a)re-index the rear spring plates.
(b) remove the rear horseshoe drop plates.
(c)install adjusters in the front beam.
(d)all of the above.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[plimthing]

Just lifted the rear body up about 2.5" and the front dropped about 1/4" so I guess the new shocks are working quite well.
I think I'm going to remove the horseshoe/boomerang plates from the rear and see how it works out.

[Wildthings]

[plimthing]

I just wondered how much it may drop at the front if I lifted the rear. So I don't have to lift it on the splines the full 3.75". It does look like I would have to raise it some way on the splines to make it level, so I'm going to remove the plates to see how it looks.