At the Hollister Syncro meeting we had a chance to = test the rear prototype springs for the Syncro from Betts. The = rear springs are designed to work with the front springs from Betts = that we got at the end of last year. The prototype springs differ = in three ways from the stock springs:
1: they don't have the tapered wire at the ends (no =
progressive spring rate)
2: they're designed to raise the van by =
1"
3: the spring rate is increased by about 10%
The rear springs looked just as sharp as the front = springs did. Nice black finish (powder coated, I guess). = One set went into Mark's Syncro (home made Westy conversion) that's = equipped with a set of Bilstein shocks and the 2.2l 5 cylinder Quantum = engine. Tom Lengyel put the second pair into his Syncro together = with a pair of OME rear shock that Mark had brought for show and = tell.
Mark and I took turns driving his Syncro on the = trails in Hollister and got a pretty good impression of the = before-after effect. We could tell right away that the rear axle = had more travel. The rear axle felt more 'springy'. Mark = liked that a lot. I felt it was a bit too 'bouncy'. In any = case the new springs handled the terrain very well and gave the rear = good traction.
Next we added the air suspension (more info on this = coming soon in a separate post) to the Betts springs. We tested = the air suspension at 25 PSI (max. rated pressure), 15 PSI and 0 = PSI. Initially we were quite skeptical about the air = suspension. We were not sure if this would have any effect on the = suspension at all. But it did, in a very positive way! At = 25 PSI the rear became very stiff. I was almost thrown out of the = rear seat at big bumps. At 15 PSI the rear was perfect. It = now had the right damping. The bounciness was gone and traction = was much improved. Joe Ernest also had a chance to test this = setup. He was very impressed with the ease the suspension was = handling the trails. Joe had been on the trail with his Syncro = Westy (stock suspension) and his Land Rover and neither of them had = handled that well.
Tom found the Betts/OME combination great on big = bumps but too jumpy on the little stuff. Overall I guess he = really liked it because at the end of the day he didn't want to take = that springs and shocks out of his Syncro. At 10:30 p.m. Mark and = I were finally able to convince him to return the springs so I could go = home (Mark wanted to leave early the next morning) and we swapped them = out by the light of a lantern.
I talked to Mark this morning. He drove the 400 = miles back to Oceanside with the springs. He likes the way they = behaved on the road and is happy with the design parameters. =
Conclusion (so far): The Betts springs are = great. They give you additional clearance (1") and increase = the stability and tracking of the Syncro. In combination with the = air suspension they're near perfect and the damping of the suspension = can be adjusted for road and load conditions.
I'm not sure where we're standing as far as a group = purchase of these springs is concerned. Mark doesn't have time to = organize the order until June. Steve Schwenck might be able to = get something going sooner than that. But might change the spring = design. He wants to install them on his van and test them on an = off-road trip to Death Valley end of April. Stay = tuned...
Best,
Peter