Date:         Wed, 24 Mar 1999 15:00:15 -0800
Reply-To:     Steve <Steve@SCHWENK-LAW.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Steve <Steve@SCHWENK-LAW.COM>
Subject:      Re: Re; How to lower a Westy?
Comments: To: gholst@RAMBUS.COM
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

If you want better suspension, junk  the KYBs.  Of all the
shocks available for the 2wd vanagon, these are the cheapest
and junkiest in terms of performance and materials and
construction.  The stock boges are a much better shock. The
bilsteins are the best buy...they will last the life of the
van unlike the kybs (despite the lame warranty...read the fine
print) and the others, and will perform ten times better.
steve

Grant Holst wrote:

> I put H&R springs in my '85 GL. They are harsh.
> The van does handle great though. On hard bumps
> the front end used to bottom out on the shocks. I have
> KYB shocks front and rear. To keep the front
> from bottoming out I made some shock extenders.
> Basically they allow the shock to return to their
> original length. All front Vanagon shocks are the
> same length, 80-92. The shock extenders bolt through
> stand-offs to the outside of the lower control arm.
> 1/4" plate drops down 2" to two more stand-offs that
> bolt to the lower mounting of the shock. Tabs must be
> welded to the inside of one of the 1/4" plates to keep
> the whole assembly from rocking back and forth. The tab
> hits on the lip of the lower control arm. I've had these
> shock extenders on for several months and they work great.
> Without doing something like this you will bottom out.
> The Eurospec Vanagon has some really short front shocks,
> but don't know what they came from.
>  The H&R rep. says you need Bilstein gas shocks up front
> to keep from bottoming, but I think Bilstein's would make
> the ride even more harsh. I drove the Eurospec van and it
> has late '88 springs in it. The ride was about the same as
> mine, maybe alittle more harsh.
>  The rear H&R springs are a joke in my opinion. There are
> 7 coils of which the first 5 1/2 coils are touching each
> other. This gives you 1 1/2 coils of suspension. The H&R
> rep. says that is the way they designed them. The first
> 5 1/2 coils are used as a spacer.