rides like a truck

[torchard]

My pregnant wife loves driving the van, (prefers it to the Jetta) but hates riding in the back on the bench (she sometimes sits with our 1.5 year old), because she finds the ride too rough. Short of removing leaf springs is there way to soften the ride somewhat yet maintain its handling? I'm wondering whether a different shock set-up would make any noticeable difference? Thoughts?

--T

[monstabishi]

Hey Todd,we will have to stop meeting like this,try dropping tyre pressures a bit and have the rear shock's checked out they may be u/s......good luck.




Mick.

[EnviroImports.com]

the Shocks are probably pretty old. I would put in a nice soft riding set of shocks. that should smooth the ride nicely

[BCDelica]

Nice shocks, and bushings changed on sway bar and the leaf springs, really do spruce up the ride - but, the is a vehicle with; a transfer case, 30 inch tires, sits as high as a city bus (almost), and is designed to occasionally be driven off the beaten track. It's not going to ride like a benz (well it does ride better then a G wagon but I mean say a 500 series), but that white rig of yours is cooler then any truck.........

Maybe try tightening up some bolts underneath, may help. Did it?

Cheers,
Kev

[torchard]

Agreed - it is what it is and my subject line was meant as a joke as I expect it to ride like a truck. Having said that, I did let a few pounds out of the tires and that made a noticeable difference. I'll have a look at the bushings, shocks and so forth, and will replace them over time as needed.

Kev, I did get at those front axle subframe bolts and the forward ones on each side were a little loose. I didn't get quite as methodical as you did with yours, but did back them off, hosed them down with WD, and tightened them back up. Can't say that it solved the main problem, but I'm sure there will be some net benefit.

On another note, I spent some more time cleaning the headliner and pulled apart the overhead light giving it a good cleaning, including lenses. Much improved - very satisfying task.

--T

Nice shocks, and bushings changed on sway bar and the leaf springs, really do spruce up the ride - but, the is a vehicle with; a transfer case, 30 inch tires, sits as high as a city bus (almost), and is designed to occasionally be driven off the beaten track. It's not going to ride like a benz (well it does ride better then a G wagon but I mean say a 500 series), but that white rig of yours is cooler then any truck.........

Maybe try tightening up some bolts underneath, may help. Did it?

Cheers,
Kev

[jrman]

Hi there,
What was the reference to the subframe bolts about? Any photos?
I've got a "clunking" coming from the front end occasionally - not over speedbumps, but larger potholes and bumps in the road particularly when the wheels are turned a bit. Gotta get under there this weekend and poke around. Any ideas from more experienced owners would help.
All the best,
Sean

[josh]

Sean,

It could be the bushings... I know there are more under there than these, but here is a post on a couple i replaced, took care of a lot of clunks in the front end anyway.

viewtopic.php?t=224&highlight=bushings

Good luck

Josh

[jrman]

The photos are perfect - pretty sure mine are showing surface cracks so age is clearly a factor. Appreciate the link & part numbers - will swap them out this weekend (can't go wrong on $11 a side!) and follow up on this post to see if that does the trick.
Cheers Josh.

[torchard]

I'd go with the bushing replacement first and see what that does for some of the clunks. I've done three of the four sway bar mounts up front and that cured or reduced some clunks I was having. If they've never been replaced chances are they are pretty stiff and cracked. My other problem turned out to be wheel nuts that were not seating as they should. There wasn't enough taper to properly snug the wheel to the rim so when the wheels were under the most load--in a tight turn--they'd make a kind of creaking/snapping sound as the wheel shifted at each stud. Glen and crew spent some time recently sussing out the problem. As is typical, the problem wasn't terribly complex but it did have us scratching our heads sorting out the source of the sound. Much thanks for their assistance.

[monstabishi]

check the nut on lower suspension arm bolt,the one for adjusting camber it's got to be really tight check manual for torque setting......good luck.




Mick.

[BCDelica]

check the nut on lower suspension arm bolt,the one for adjusting camber it's got to be really tight check manual for torque setting......good luck.




Mick.

Tightening those lower bolts made a big difference on mine and a improvement on hers. Here's a pic of the front nut;

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=590&hilit=+bolts

[jrman]

Well....Josh was right - the sway bar bushings (I think it's a sway bar anyway???) - were dried up as old prunes and virtually falling out altogether. Went with the Energy Suspension 98101R from Lordco (the red ones per Mardydelica...many tks!) and all is right in the world. Driving as smooth as can be! Took no time at all - so took off the step bar on either side while I was down there - think it looks better without them - understand they're intended to protect the various coolers down there...but don't expect that to be a problem given the kind of driving I will be doing. Feels great to be poking around down there - a few more to change soon just for good order. Tks for all!

[josh]

understand they're intended to protect the various coolers down there...but don't expect that to be a problem given the kind of driving I will be doing.

I find you get more protection taking off the steps anyway... the steps just get smushed up into the AC and AT rads... you clear a couple more inches without them... and if you would be hitting something that is a couple inches higher, it would probably cause those steps to do damage to the rest. Anyhow, I take it off road fairly aggressively and haven't had any problems yet.

Josh

[Schwa]

I smashed one step up so bad that it rubbed the tire, had to park it and come back with tools to remove the step to get it home. I have to agree, the steps may save something, but they just as easily are the thing that will get hit and cause a problem. Mine are off now, but I wouldn't mind putting them back on, I still haven't come to a final decision about them. Just remember, if you do go offroading with them on keep a ratchet set in the van so you can take them off if you hit 'em hard.

[torchard]

I've considered removing the steps also, mostly for asthetic reasons as the closest I get to offroad these days is bumping over the odd senior citizen (this is Victoria after all), but even in urban conditions I worry that something might get tossed up under there and poke a hole. So I figure a cover or box bent from expanded metal, or something of that description, would do the trick. I wouldn't try to rest the weight of the van on it, but it would offer protection from offroad debris and urban road debris e.g. the trail of parts blowing off that '69 beetle in front of me (this is Victoria after all).

And I figure you could shorten the rear mount and bring the coolers up a few inches. Granted, the angle change might have some impact on cooling capacity, but in my case I don't think it would be significant.

Having said that, I write all this from memory so it could be more complicated than I make it out to be.

In order to do this though, I will have to explain to the wife, who likes the look with steps intact, that I'm removing them in order to clean and paint them. I then may find that I have to special order the paint, which could take a few weeks or months or ...

--Todd