Lowering your bus

[shiplee123]

Can anyone please explain to me the methods of lowering your bus
I've looked over the forum and I feel I'm now understanding it a bit better but I'm not sure what the right method would be for me.
This is for a Lhd Cali 1969 westy. All original at moment

I think I'm correct in saying the rear is not an issue, fairly easy job adjusting the splines maybe an hour or so each side ?

The front you have a choice of a couple of methods, can anyone explain the difference and also the cost.
I'm not looking for a slammed bus just a similar stance to my last panel van ( was lowered before I purchased it )
Maybe 3 inch on the front
I guess your gonna say dropped spindles , if so why is this better than other methods?
Thanks I'm not a machanic , we all gotta learn somewhere!

 

[john the horse]

lowered on adjusters.
as above and dropped spindle
as above narrowed ball joint beam
as above and beam change k n l
red conversion
then after that it gets stupid silly
beam raising , steering box raising , tubbing , engine raising etc
air/hydro
body drop

the further down the list you go it doubles in effort cost.

thats a v rough list. pricing depends on where you go or if you do it yourself, but as a guide i would say every inch down costs loads more than the last inch.

jth

 

[K@rlos]

Dropped spindles will do you fine 8)

 

[shiplee123]

I think it's spindles for me then john
I haven't got the money to go to crazy!

 

[shiplee123]

Yes Karol's :lol:

 

[john the horse]

I think it's spindles for me then john
I haven't got the money to go to crazy!

i like a lot

jth

 

[RichardAlexander]

I think it's spindles for me then john
I haven't got the money to go to crazy!

i like a lot

jth

But John yours is a seriously low bus, one of the lowest isn't it

 

[shiplee123]

Every time I see johns bus I have to look twice , that is seriously low ! :shock:

 

[john the horse]

yeah maybe but have a look at my list up top it wasnt cheap.

could go lower at the back an inch but id loose the stance so im totally happy with it

jth

 

[Graham L]

Horseshoe plates on the rear are a better option than playing with splines, retains the ride quality and doesn't give you camber issues on the rear wheels, Butty sells them I think for £50, no need to take the spring plates off just unbolt the hub carrier and bolt the units on but make sure you use new HT bolts when you do so.

For the front I would try the new vintage autohaus dropped spindles but you will need to use a later disk set up but means you get disc brakes and dropped spindles at the same time

 

[MisterListerSir]

This might help if your not minted , I only wanted mine to fit in the garage but it drives and rides better now and only cost around £350 with a shop doing the work!! They used only one adjuster and the front and one or two splines at back.
I have the other adjuster for sale for £50 if you need one.(in the parts for sale section)
before





After




Didn't cost the earth and can still go over speed bumps without causing tailbacks.

 

[Molbyj]

When I first had mine lowered it was done with adjusters and spline route. Drove aboslutely fine and was miles better than standard.

But Since then I've gone a bit lower as it's ADDICTIVE.

Ross

 

[Moseley]

My bus is on adjusters and I can't stand the ride. It may be that the ball joints are at the limits of their travel, but the bounciness of it is horrendous - every bump causes it to kangaroo and I fear something is going to break. It is on KYB shocks, although I haven't had any chance to see whether or not these have been sized appropriately.

Due to wanting to keep the low stance, I'm going for dropped spindles with the adjusters raised back up to a more standard height. I can then tweak them if I want a little more drop. I'm hoping that this will improve the ride, and will also look at adding some coilovers if the travel on the leaf springs gets used up too quickly.

 

[shiplee123]

As always thanks for your advice people
I think the route I'm gonna go down is dropped spindles!
I'll prob look into what graham l said and upgrading to discs but as always it comes down to money, and I ain't made of it lol!

My first job is to get my bus mot n retested this has now become first priority and urgent as I'll explain in a new post!

As soon as this is done I can start on the fun stuff

 

[sparkywig]

Unfortunately if the adjusters gave been fitted in the "normal" position and you fit 3 1/2" dropped spindles then you'll need to have them at maximum height to stop the tyres hitting the front arches.

 

[Heebee_GB]

As always thanks for your advice people
I think the route I'm gonna go down is dropped spindles!
I'll prob look into what graham l said and upgrading to discs but as always it comes down to money, and I ain't made of it lol!

My first job is to get my bus mot n retested this has now become first priority and urgent as I'll explain in a new post!

As soon as this is done I can start on the fun stuff

I looked into this but it'll cost you nearly a grand for the autohouse spindles and brakes. Then fitting if you can't do it yourself.
http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=54633&hilit=autohouse&start=40" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm going to save the extra and go the Red9 route hopefully.

 

[easy]

http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7365" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; this is where you need to look 8)

 

[shiplee123]

Is this the one u won't chap?

http://www.red9design.com/type2.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[shiplee123]

Thanks easy!

That'll give me some nice reading and some pretty pictures to look at later

 

[Heebee_GB]

Is this the one u won't chap?

http://www.red9design.com/type2.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yes mate. Looks like they have gone up by a couple of hundred quid.