Remove rear coil springs 2003 Weekender

[Masta Shake]

I apologize if this has been covered elsewhere but I just couldn't find anything. The rear right coil spring on my 03 weekender is broken. My transmission shop pointed it out. About an inch of it is missing. I am the second owner and the first owner drove the poop out of it and pretty much killed all the suspension components so I'm not surprised. I found a really good video on replacing the shocks and it shows that when you remove the shock the spring pretty much falls out. The van in that video does not have much retaining the upper or lower end of the coil spring. My van does. I spent suspect the video van is an earlier T4. On the top of the spring is a 2" cone and the bottom about 1.5" cone. I "think" I should be able to remove the upper cone or maybe the lower but it was not immediately obvious. Any help on this would be appreciated. Btw I went ahead and installed the new Bilstein HD shocks I had while I was there. It shouldn't be to hard to go back and get that coil once I figure out how to free it.
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As a good friend told me when I got the Syncro: "Welcome to the an intense love/hate relationship".

[Zeitgeist 13]

I haven't crawled around under mine yet, but from the diagrams it looks a lot like a Vanagon rear suspension. On those, you just remove the upper shock mount and lower the control arm enough for the spring to fall out.

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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[Masta Shake]

Thx. I found this diagram as well. In the diagram part number 2 is quite a bit larger than in this drawing. Maybe I just need a strong friend to step on the wheel and push it down to where I can extract the spring. Or maybe both wheels need to be unweighted to unload it completely?
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As a good friend told me when I got the Syncro: "Welcome to the an intense love/hate relationship".

[Zeitgeist 13]

You might need to loosen up the sway bar mounts
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[Masta Shake]

That's what I'm thinking. Thx.
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As a good friend told me when I got the Syncro: "Welcome to the an intense love/hate relationship".

[TDCTDI]

Raise the rear so that both rear wheels are off the ground, remove the lower shock bolts on both sides so that you're not fighting the swaybar. If you decide to remove the swaybar, you'll need to remove it from the opposite side from the side that you're trying to remove the spring from
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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.

[Xtremjeepn]

[firebus]

I recently put a pair of H&R springs on my 99 EV .. have the rear end up high enough so that rear arms can be pushed down about 4 inches or so .. even with lower shock bolt removed you'll have to push down to clear the lower and upper spring retainers .. I used a 3 ' 2x4 ..

[Xtremjeepn]

I do this nearly daily since I manufacture lift spacers for these. If both lower rear shock bolts are out. The springs will almost literally fall out. No pry bar required at all.
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http://www.cavevan.com

[Masta Shake]

Thanks all. I was working one side at a time with my floor jack. I'll lift the entire van next time and use my jack stands to relieve the sway bar.
_________________
As a good friend told me when I got the Syncro: "Welcome to the an intense love/hate relationship".

[Xtremjeepn]

[Masta Shake]

What I meant by my last post was I'll lift both sides at once. This relieves the sway bar. And I left the wheels on when I did the shocks. You just need a long extension.
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As a good friend told me when I got the Syncro: "Welcome to the an intense love/hate relationship".

[Zeitgeist 13]

Speaking of lifting, are there any good central lift points front and rear for those of us lacking a four point lift?
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[jjvincent]

Center of the front subframe or the trailer hitch (if you have one).

[Xtremjeepn]

[Zeitgeist 13]

D'uh, I should've thought of the hitch; I use that to lift both my lowered Mercedes. It's good to know that the subframe is tough enough to support the weight. Thanks
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[Broseph Stalin]

Yeah, well, on a 2003 EVC with rear sway bar the coil came out easily with both rear shocks removed. But getting the coil reinstalled with a 1.25" spacer puck is problematic.

The pic is how it is right now, the factory top seat for the coil is on the swingarm, the 1.25" lift puck is where it should be for a proper install, mounted above the factory top seat. Trouble is, there's no way I can figure the coil can be reinstalled with the lift puck without dropping the rear sway bar.

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'68 Bus in West Germany, 1977-1979
'67 Riviera poptop conversion in the US, 1984-1990
'95 EVC Winnie, 2018, Sold
'03 EVC Winnie, 2018, Sold

[Broseph Stalin]

After removing the two 13mm bolts holding the rear sway bar to the frame seems I'll have to use a breaker bar to get enough droop to reinstall the springs with the spacers.

I'm not comfortable with that, the ABS lines might get stretched, brake lines. I'm thinking a C-type spring compressor. I have a spring compressor like this - https://www.harborfreight.com/automotive-motorcycl...63262.html but that doesn't work, tried it.
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'68 Bus in West Germany, 1977-1979
'67 Riviera poptop conversion in the US, 1984-1990
'95 EVC Winnie, 2018, Sold
'03 EVC Winnie, 2018, Sold

[Xtremjeepn]

I’ve installed a ton of these and never had to undo a sway bar.

Are both shocks unbolted?
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http://www.cavevan.com

[Broseph Stalin]