Hey There Volks, Has anyone had any problems with taller syncro spring? I'll share my experience with lifting my 86 syncro Westy. Last summer I set out to raise the ground clearance on my van. First, I installed 15" Rehin alloy rims from Ken at Vanagain and 235 x 75 x15" All Terrain T/A's. I liked the look and ride but the tires rubbed on the rear of the front wheel well. Next came the Syncro Lift Kit from Fast Forward. David was very knowledgeable and his parts arrived in a couple of days. I installed the rear spacers myself and brought the front springs to the Volks Cafe to be installed. One thing I found is that the stock rear shocks on my van had about 4 1/2" of travel at rest on level ground, with the shocks limiting the travel. With the rear spacers it cut that number to 2 1/2", and caused the shocks to make a loud "clunk" when toppingout out. My next step was to get longer shocks. I went to a 4x4 shop and bought shocks made for a ch*vy truck, which had 3 more inches of travel. I then cut the mounting eyes off the Ranchos and had the eyes from my old Boges welded on. No more clunking, but the tires still rubbed a little. My next step was to get the 16" fender flares, after selling my house to afford them :-). These require cutting the rear part of the front wheel well about 1" to install. This cured the rubbing problem and they look great. What I see still as a problem is the axles and CV's. They are running at a much more severe angle and instead of the shocks limiting the rear travel the CV's go to their limit, especially in the rear. I have been following the 16" trailing arm thread because I want these for clearance for snow chains, but I think longer trailing arms will compound my problem. Any thoughts or comments? Also, questions about my setup are welcome. Ken Herman 86 Syncro Westy. |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.