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Date:         Mon, 22 Mar 1999 20:26:01 -0800
Reply-To:     Mark Drillock <drillock@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Mark Drillock <drillock@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject:      Re: Vanagon Springs -2 WD,80-87
Comments: To: Karl Wolz <wolzphoto@ATT.NET>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Karl, what year Westy did you do this to? Which color is suposed to be which load rating? Thanks.

Mark

Karl Wolz wrote: > > VW only lists 3 part numbers for pre-86. Those are the three colors, blue, > yellow, and brown. My understanding is that they are all the same length > when new and unloaded, but I could have incomplete info. The heaviest > rating was for the Westie, which is several hundred pounds heavier than the > 7 pass. > > I put the brown splotch springs on my Westie (after 300,000+ miles) and it > handled like a pig, especially off road and in crosswinds. > > Found a set of blue splotches with less than 100,000 and all was fixed. > Also, they raised the front end about 2 1/2", which relieved stress on some > front end components. I could tell because, as soon as the new springs were > installed, the front end stopped going "EE-OOH, EE-OOH" whenever I backed > out my driveway and went down the curb. Kinda odd, but newer springs had no > noticeable effect on the back end. > > My suspicion is that your findings on spring length are happenstance, but > again, I don't have the data to back that up. I would, however, agree with > my VW dealer and my front-end guy, and advise against using 7 passenger > springs in Westies. > > Karl Wolz > > -----Original Message----- > From: Mark Drillock <drillock@EARTHLINK.NET> > To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> > Date: Monday, March 22, 1999 7:26 PM > Subject: Vanagon Springs -2 WD,80-87 > > >I purchased an 82 Westy recently and it has what seems like a common > >affliction. The springs are sagging and the result is a rough ride that > >bottoms out easily. It wasn't this way when it was new, so I am going to > >restore the ride of this Westy and thought I would share some of what I > >have learned about Vanagon suspensions. I have inspected and measured > >springs from many vanagons and I found that at least 3 different lengths > >were used in North American models from 80-87. This is not just from > >sagging, as the springs have different numbers of coils and the > >thickness of the taper varies on the rears. I find the 80-83 to be > >shorter and have the most sag. The 84-85 are the longest and stiffest > >and the 86+87 tend to be shorter again. I have learned this by removing > >and measuring used springs only and I have not looked at factory data to > >see if different part numbers are listed. I have not seen any part > >numbers on the springs themselves, only dots of colored paint. I have > >improved the ride of 80-83 Westys by putting springs from 84-85 > >passenger models in them. This also worked on an 86 GL that had 250K > >miles and a poor ride. The smaller coils on the progressive rears were > >completely collapsed and only the stiff coils were still active giving a > >very harsh ride. The "new" springs raised the body by more than an inch > >and give a better ride. A VW only junk yard near me had dozens of > >vanagon rear spring sets last year and I looked at many of them to find > >the longest ones I could. The longest ones were always marked as from > >84-85 vanagons. Does anyone have any factory data regarding different > >springs used in different years and models? An explanation of the > >colored dots would be helpful also. > > > >Mark > >


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