Date: Sat, 14 Dec 1996 12:28:25 -0500
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Derek Drew <drew@interport.net>
Subject: Re: French Syncro Club
I think I should clarify myself. My query was not primarily about the size
of the tires, but about the size of the final drive gears in the
transmission, which directly affects the size of the tires that you can use.
At 04:15 AM 12/14/96 -0600, you wrote:
>At 09:01 12/12/1996 -0500, you wrote:
>>I think what is killing us, Phillippe, is that we desire the extra ground
>>clearance of the 16" vans. Can you tell us how much more ground clearance
>>there is over the 14" vans?
>>
>I got 28.5 cm on front under the skid plate and 26.5 cm under the engine
>protection plate. I don't know about 14"er. I remember you that 1 inch =
>2.54 cm, get your computer!!
>I should say my Caravelle,(Vanagon) is a lot lighter than a Westy and that I
>use 205/16 Goodyear Wrangler tires.
>
>>Also, we are trying to figure out what the largest size tires that can fit,
>>and then to calculate what gear ratios to change to here in North America.
>
>I wouldn't mount larger tires than 225/16 otherwise I'd have to change the
rims.
>A friend of mine did that on a 16"er TD without intercooler, and it's a real
>pain!
>But I think with a 2.1l like yours, it'd work pretty well.
>We at the Syncro Club are around 70 members and I think there are about 20
>or so 16"er.
>Some purists people want to stay as close as possible than the genuine 16",
>that's why we usually don't change our rims. I have two sets of them.
I don't think the hard core USA Syncro people would mind getting non-factory
rims.
>>All North American Syncros come with a gear ratio of 4.86 but a check of a
>>microfiche I got from Germany shows that all these different ratios are
>>available:
>>
>>>>37/6 6.17
>>>>35/6 5.83
>>>>38/7 5.43
>>>>34/7 4.86 (DEFAULT USA)
>>>>32/7 4.57
>>
>>Our idea is to order 6.17s from Germany and then see if we can fit the tires
>>in that go with this size. If not, then modify the vans to be more like 16"
>>models so that those tires will fit. If the tires still do not fit, then try
>>5.83 or 5.43.
>>
>Why do you want to get 6.17s from Germany? Aren't they available in the US?
The term "6.17s" refers not to rims, but to final drive gear ratios in the
transmission. We would not, of course, purchase our rims in Germany. But the
6.17s are a Volkswagen factory part, and not sold in the USA. The only ring
and pinion final drive gears sold in the USA by Volkswagen are 4.86s.
____________________________________
Derek Drew New York, NY
drew@interport.net
DerekDrew@aol.com (backup; rarely checked)
'90 Syncro Westfalia...
...seen off-road at http://www.anet-dfw.com/~ddes/vw/drew/index.html
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