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Date:         Tue, 7 Jul 1998 11:48:59 -0400
Reply-To:     Derek Drew <drew@INTERPORT.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Derek Drew <drew@INTERPORT.NET>
Subject:      Weight distribution data relevant to suspension tuning.
Comments: To: "Steven X. Schwenk" <sxs@concentric.net>
Comments: cc: vanagon@vanagon.com
In-Reply-To:  <35A146B2.C6AC17F8@concentric.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Steve, I have measured the four wheels of my van on numerous occaisons and here is some data for you that may be helpful for comparative purposes. Basically, the data suggests that the syncro camper may be typically 200 lbs. heavier on the left rear than any other corner. Accordingly, it seems to me a valid mission to put an extra shim on the left rear corner, as you have in the past suggested.

'90 Syncro Camper at scrap metal yard truck scale.

Whole Camper 4900 Left Side 2560 Right Side 2380 Front 2400 Rear 2500 Corners Right Front 1100 Left Front 1080 Right Rear 1060 Left Rear 1240

Conditions of this test were as follows: gas tank full, water tank empty, driver outside of vehicle, all esoteric additions removed, (no winch, canoe, motorcycles, awning). Closets full of little playthings. Since I had once obtained a weight of 4680 on my '87 camper, let's say I had 150-300 lbs in the closets.

CONCLUSIONS:

1. FRONT TO REAR IS PERFECT. VW's claimed near perfect front to rear weight ratio of 50%-50% seems to be borne out since adding the driver to the front would make it exactly even. 2. WESTFALIA TOO HEAVY ON LEFT SIDE. As Ed Anderson of Adventurewagen claims, the van is indeed almost 200 lbs. heavier on the driver's side than the passenger's. Fill up the water tank and the refrigerator and stick the driver in the vehicle and the problem would get much worse. 3. LEFT REAR IS THE CULPRET. It seems odd to find that almost all the L/R weight imbalance comes from the left rear side. It must be all the blankets I have in there?

Or maybe it is all the food I have? I am not really sure. If the camper is really 20% heavier only on the left rear, then perhaps we should have a heavier spring on that one corner.

Anyone else who happens to drive by a truck scale or yard that buys scrap metal is invited to see if their Vanagon too is extra heavy on the left rear corner.

At 02:50 PM 7/6/98 -0700, you wrote: >SUSPENSION >I got a p-mail from a listee who is on a NASCAR team regarding the >recent spring wars. He discussed how the stock cars have pre-load >adjusters on the upper spring perch, and that they are used to do >exactly what I had been explaining I wanted to do with the spacers. >That makes everybody who has actual experience tuning suspension >agreeing with me re the effect of the spacer. nana na na na > >The NASCAR list member did not want his post sent to the list because of >how nasty the debate had gotten. Nevertheless, he did provide me with >some info that I did not consider. On the motocross biks, spring >pre-load is set by measuring the sag of the bike under the weight of the >rider. I was going to attempt that with the syncro, but our friend >informed me that on cars you instead weigh the weight on each wheel, and >make the initial adjustment on that basis. This makes sense since with >4 wheels the sag of any given wheel is going to be affected by the 3 >other wheels and the sag they have. Accuracy becomes imposssible trying >to measure. So...I am looking for a place where I can get my vehicle >weiged and set the pre-load based on the weight at each wheel > >SYNCRO TRANSAXLE AND VC > >In my continuing saga to have my transaxle rebuilt, I stumbled upon some >interesting info. Weedle Engineering informed me that in their view, >using mis-matched tires can not only kill the VC, but the transaxle as >well. They have not figured this out beyond noting that when they get a >bad VC, invariably or frequently, the tranny is toast too, or ends up >failing prematurely. Mis-matched tires is apparently the no.1 cause of >death of the VC. What happens, according to weddle, is that the VC >fluid becomes contaminated...not sure if just by heat or heat and leaks >with the front diff. Once this happens, the VC is history...and starts >binding sooner and sooner. > >Weddle DOES rebuild VC. They are the only place in the country I am >aware of. They import, at great expense I am told, the VC fluid, which >they change and which fixes the problem. It seems other parts must get >replaced, too, as the cost is about $1400 + core charge for this. > >Weddle also said they cannot keep up with syncro transaxle rebuilds. >They use all VW parts...they said the parts alone for a syncro transaxle >rebuild come out to about $1300. As a result, some syncro owners just >throw in a regular 4 speed tranny and give up the 4 wheel drive! > >Anyway...just some info to pass on. I am off-list so will not get any >posts to the list. >steve >

________________________________________________________ Derek Drew New York, NY & Washington, DC drew@interport.net '90 Syncro Westfalia... ...seen off-road at http://www.tiu.net/~des/vw/drew/index.html

Also seen at: http://www.pipeline.com/~tforhan/swrange.htm http://4wd.sofcom.com/VW/snow.html http://www.pipeline.com/~tforhan/swmassn.htm http://4wd.sofcom.com/VW/Campers/Campers.html

Note: most valuable Vanagon sites on the planet (for owners) are: http://gerry.vanagon.com/cgi-bin/wa.exe?S1=vanagon ftp://gerry.vanagon.com/pub/


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