Lowering a bus to get in and out of a garage

[Ben72Bay]

Evening all!

Going to be fitting a roof rack soon, in front of the pop top.
Obviously this adds a bit of height to the bus.

Question are:
1 how much could I lower the bus to get it in and out of the garage without cutting suspension/ bodywork/ adding tubs etc?

2. What’s the route to achieve this? Air ride for example? Any suggestions for kits to install?

Many thanks
Ben

 

[ozziedog]

Hi Ben, your bus looks great! It does look like it’s already lowered and lowering it further will undoubtedly incur a fair bit of work and more than likely expense. How close are you to Graham at Midland Early Bay? He’s our go to chap to see about lowering, he can also fill you in on your options depending on what’s already been done to yours. Have a chat with him.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,, a nice green

 

[sparkywig]

Wouldn't it be much cheaper and easier to fit quick release attachments to the roof rack?
Lowering is a can of worms unless you do it all properly. That is unless you're using the roof rack as an excuse to go lower.

 

[Ben72Bay]

thanks both! I don't feel the need to go lowering the bus, just exploring options.
I am planning to fit an awning along the side of the roof which will fit to the roof rack as well as the pop top so I am planning to leave it all in place rather than occasionally remove and then having to figure out where to put it all!

 

[fallingoffalot]

My stance is about the same as yours, and I lowered it a bit to get it in garage, but it scraped the front arches and the silencer hit speed bumps. I only lowered it about an inch or so. Now I just put the roof rack on to go on holiday once or twice a year. Can you not make your awning detachable?

 

[Benyon]

My van is stock height with a dormobile roof and roof rack, I already have a relatively tall garage but needed 100 - 150mm extra height in the doorway to get the van through so I opted to swap the garage door from a standard up and over to a fully retracting door that goes up into the roof space.
Depends what your limiting height is but you may be able to gain the height you need without compromising your bus.

 

[Clem]

My van is stock height with a dormobile roof and roof rack, I already have a relatively tall garage but needed 100 - 150mm extra height in the doorway to get the van through so I opted to swap the garage door from a standard up and over to a fully retracting door that goes up into the roof space.
Depends what your limiting height is but you may be able to gain the height you need without compromising your bus.

True. Swapping an up and over door for a roller will add height to get the bus in and wont affect driveability of the bus at all. About £1k give or take.

 

[naskeet]

I have a 1973 VW Type 2 Westfalia Continental, of factory-standard suspension and ground-clearance, which has fitted in my family's garage and both of my grandparent's garages, which had 7-feet high garage doors without any clearance problems. When I substitute 7 x 16 inch Mercedes C-Class wheels with 215/65 R16C tyres, giving about 20 mm more ground clearance, it should still fit with room to spare.