With both Westies now running and parked out front I have the opportunity to compare and contrast the two vans on the streets and roads. The '84 sits high and level. The '87 sags in the rear. ( I'll measure the difference tomorrow (doing so at 11:40 pm would only serve to support the neighbors' suspicions of continued aberrant behavior in this "VW person"). This height difference (nor the neighbors' impressions) wouldn't bother me a whole lot except I've noticed a major difference in the way they each handle the road and particularly curves. I, at first, attributed the difference to the better tires on the '84; and because of this, I switched wheels/tires. This yielded a slight improvement in the '87's ride but not in the handling in dips, sways and curves. What to do? What to do? Shocks? ... no body-springing when I do the bumper dance like my Dad taught me; and I don't really feel much difference in either van in the way they act through pot holed alleys and such. Springs? ... the front end of the '87 is actually higher in addition to the rear end being lower. Oh blessed, rational Listees. Answer my pleas, and in doing so put your knowledge into the archives under a logical subject line..."Westy rear end sag"... a search of which yielded no results in all forms of querying said archives. BTW... Isn't the List much nicer lately? It seems to be back to normalcy. TY TC! {Personal PS to JC, JP, & GS... the outhouse is almost done.} -- Stephen Steele* Chillicothe OH '91 Caravelle "Hans" '87 Westy "Franz" '84 Westfalia "Fritz" '81 Diesel Rabbit "Ol' Yeller" by PO '82 Caddy VW Diesel P.U. '90 Jetta GL 17 yo Sons' "together" car '74 MGB My first car...yep, I've kept it since '74 '93 Chevy S-10 *all rights reserved/no portion of this document may be reproduced w/o prior written permission |
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Vanagon mail messages have been archived.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.