How to lower the rear of your Van

[mike.s]

I lowered the rear of my van yesterday and thought i`d take some photos as i went along to help others out who were thinking about having a go at this.

i had recently done this anyway so most of my nuts, etc weren`t that rusted/corroded up fortunately for me.

I do have a long 1/2 inch drive 2 foot breaker bar which i wouldn`t be able to do the job without as this helps `alot` cracking undone the large nuts and bolts holding the hub and spring plate together!

here you go -

first up - undo the lower shock nut and bolt and pull it away loose - its a 19mm bolt and 17mm nut

next - undo the handbrake cable in the cab completely ad push the cable down through the floor so thats its loose. Then pull the push fit tube of the body just behind the spring plate -

I`d then undo the brake pipe at the union where it meets the flexi hose and the wheel cylinder. Pull it through the hu so that its dangling free. It passes through the spring plate and you won`t beable to pull the hub away from the spring plate without pulling it through. There is a big rubber bung in the hub which`ll stop you pulling it all the way through -

Next up, support the hub and remove the 2 nut and bolts and 2 captive bolts that go through the spring plate and hub. They are very tight and you`ll probably need a breaker bar to free them up - also worth soaking them in wd40 the night before probably. I think they are bigger than 21mm but i ended up using a 7/8inch socket and spanner for them.

Now you need to take the spring plate of its splines. The way it works is that there is a torsion arm with splines on both ends - one is held in the middle of the chassis the other is held in the spring plate. You can remove the srping plate of the torsion and the shift it upwards a tooth to achieve about 1.5 inches drop. There are a different number of teeth on the inner spline and outer splines so you get a very slightly different drop depending on whether you move the inner or outer splines.

Support the spring plate under your jack and then remove the torsion bar cover - 4 15m bolts here -

You can see the outer splines here in the spring plate. - You can also see where i`ve marked with tipex so i can see where th teeth currently are.

My van was already lowered one spline so the spring plate wasn`t under any tension but if your van is stock height, the spring plate will be resting on a step on the chassis and under alot of tension - BEWARE!

If this is the case, i find the easiest way to pull the spring plate off the torsion arm, is to jack it slightly so that its about 1mm cleared of the small step, then with a very large lever ( i use a piece of a stairwell!), lever it out slowly until it clears the step, then lower your jack down so the spring plate comes down and then rests when its not under tension.

I only have a pic of this from when i did this on an early type 3, but you get the idea-

At this point, you need to mark where it lies when its not under tension - you can see above where i`ve drawn a line on the body. If the plate comes off and its all messed up, you have a mark so you can re-align it back to what it was.

Once the spring plate is no longer under tension, you can then get a screwdriver behind it and lever it out off the torsion arm - its only a push fit so will come. You do want to make sure though that you adjust the splines on the either the outer splines both sides or inner splines both sides. I tend to do the outer splines as i can see it easier. When you prise it off, if the inner splines start to disengage instead of the outer, you can put a small block behind the spring plate and knock the torsion arm back in by hitting the end of it with a bar and hammer. This `ll make sure it comes off the outer splines.

Now you`re at this point, push the spring plate back on so that you`re however many splines you want to go - moving the plate upwards will lower the supsension and moving the plate down will raise the suspension.

And then as Mr Haynes famously says, refitting is reversal of the the above steps! :mrgreen:

I should add that its a good idea to bleed the rear brakes after you`ve got it back together and readjust the handbrake properly .
Make sure you correctly torque all the bolts back up and your done 8)

 

[gninnam]

Nice write up and pics - kind of thing that helps those who have not done this kind of thing before :mrgreen:

 

[jonnyvolks73]

cheers mike s , I may be doing this soon so , top bloke for sharing ! 8)

 

[creationblue]

Great How-to, ill be fitting my rear Red9 plates soon, so good to see an in-picture step-by-step. I still not got my head round the fact that the rear will be under tension, can someone explain in 'simple' terms for thick me please :lol:

Just

 

[67panel]

correct 11/10 :lol: and a gold star

 

[mike.s]

Great How-to, ill be fitting my rear Red9 plates soon, so good to see an in-picture step-by-step. I still not got my head round the fact that the rear will be under tension, can someone explain in 'simple' terms for thick me please :lol:

Just

If your van is stock height then the spring plate will be under tension.The way the spring plate works is that the torsion bar is it pushed onto twists when pressue is placed on the end of the spring plate ( the wheel).

So when the van is sat on the floor, the whole weight of the van is placed on the ends of the 2 spring plates - this pushes them upwards twisting the torsion bar whcih is `springy`. That gives you your suspension.

When the weight is off the van, then the spring plate will rest against that bottom small step pushing down against it with alot of tension if you`re at a stock height. You basically lever it out so that it clears the step, then lower the jack. This lowers the spring plate which is pushing down. When the tension is removed, the spring plate sits in a lower position.

Just be careful when levering and lowering it - put it this way, i`d never put my hand underneath a spring plate thats under tension!

Hope that helps!

 

[71Westy]

This is great - many thanks for taking the trouble. I had asked on here before, as I had never understood the "under greate tension" bit - finally I can see clearly how this works!!!

Having refitted my interior, the rear is even lower, and I think may need a bit more travel in the suspension. So I think i may be fiddling with inner and outer splines to get it right (there'e a handy guide somewhere else on here). Any idea how to get the torsion bar out of the inner splines once you've go the outer ones off? Or will it just pulll out?

I may, on the other hand, go for adjustable plates....

Nick

 

[Clem]

Good thread

Does anyone fuss with rear wheel alignment? :?

 

[mattd1984]

I lowered mine 1 outer spline a few weeks ago, looks much better. I have been thinking about getting the tracking / Alignment done but not got round to it yet.