Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1998 11:29:14 -0500
Reply-To: Derek Drew <drew@INTERPORT.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Derek Drew <drew@INTERPORT.NET>
Subject: Alternate Syncro Ratios and Configurations
In-Reply-To: <3.0.32.19981125075752.00bde100@po-2.openmarket.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
At 09:48 AM 11/25/98 -0500, you wrote:
>
> Dear Derek,
>
> Ok, next question: How large a tire can I go to WITHOUT installing the
> special 16" trailing arms? I was intending on installing 225/70-16 BFG's on
> 16x7" rims with 23-25mm offset. This tire has a diameter of approx. 29.29" --
> am I "safe" with this tire/wheel combination?
This question is one in which I have an interest but not yet a clear answer.
I do know that there is a probability that, after you have conducted all your
research, you will decide that if you want to go tall you will also want to go
narrow for whatever size tire you pick. Most of the 16" vanagons I have
observed have tall narrow tires. If you buy an off the shelf typical tire in
the USA you may find that it is too wide and you need to go through the data
and find a narrower one. There is even a possibility that the proper tire will
be special order because of this aspect.
Secondly, I believe the limitation is really your gear ratio and your
willingness to change the final drive gears. If the height of your tires is
beyond 27", you must address this limitation co-incident with, or before, you
address the limitation of the rear trailing arm. In order to address the
limitation of gear ratios, it is required that you obtain a microfiche from
Germany so you can properly research the actual part numbers you need. I have
such a microfiche, but you would need to beg another one off one of our
European friends.
Without a gear change, at 29.29" your vehicle may have reduced effectiveness as
an off-road machine because you will, in effect, lose the benefit of you
creeper gear and be unable to drive slow enough for many bolder fields. At 27"
tall I am unhappy about my creeping abilities already. Moreover, your
acceleration will suffer to a material extent.
Given the location at which you live, I would advise you to round up a spare
drivetrain and send it to Dennis Haynes for conversion to the better ratios.
This is the direction that I will be taking myself. The trouble with doing this
is that it leaves you quite vulnerable in the event that you have a problem
with either your transmission or differential in the future, as you will not be
able to obtaining spare units of the correct ratio on short notice. For this
reason, it probably makes sense to proceed only if you can create two spare
drivetrains of the correct ratio so that you are covered in the event of a
difficulty. If there were a group of us all doing the same conversion, we could
possibly pay for yet another set to be produced on an insurance plan, to be
shipped out to the first member in need, though on first blush, such a plan
might be far fetched, it addresses a need.
>
> Cheers,
>
>
> Michael J. Sullivan
> Director of Catalog Design
> Open Market, Inc.
>
> '87 GL Syncro Westfalia "Sunny"
> '89 Audi 200 Turbo Quattro Wagon "Wizard"
>
> ********************************************
> work: <http://www.openmarket.com>http://www.openmarket.com
> vanagon: <http://www.hsdesign.com/vanagon>http://www.hsdesign.com/vanagon
> scan tips:
<http://www.hsdesign.com/scanning>http://www.hsdesign.com/scanning
> ********************************************
________________________________________________________
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/
