Lowering

[Teddytransit]

front banded steel.JPG

[Teddytransit]

old van 2.JPG

[Teddytransit]

old van 3.JPG

[stugg77]

Is it possible to get some of those banded steelies and if so how would I go about getting some?

[Teddytransit]

I had mine made up at this company

Bswfabrications http://www.bandedsteelwheels.co.uk/

I got 4 wheels from a breakers yard but if I were to do it again I'd buy them new from this company

http://www.oponeo.co.uk/steel-wheel/alc ... 7#19283100

The price I was charged for used ones I may have just bought these! Bswfabrications have a cheap courier service that will pick your wheels up or if you take the brand new route you could have them posted straight to Bswfabrications.

Bswfabrication's will offer a shot blasting and powder coating service, I wouldn't use this as the courier really marked mine up, instead find a local powder coaters and drop them off yourself.

I had a 2 inch band added to the front and a 3 inch band to the back though I started with 6.5j wheels which I think I would have been better using the 5.5j wheels instead so the tyre's do not have to be stretched as much and the same dish can be achieved for a marginally narrower rim.

I run 225/45/16's on the front and 245/45/16's on the back. My side door does rub against the rear but it still opens enough to use!

From memory I think it was about £50 a wheel to have them banded.

They are pretty easy to get done all that above may sound like a bit off a faff but it is actually fairly straight forward.

If you get a set send me a pic of them

Regards

Edd

[Teddytransit]

I don't think I was right with the size of my bands, looking at my own photos it looks like 1.5 inch band on the front and 2.5 on the back

[Nibbles02]

Forgot to mention

With a lowered set of coil springs which was how I lowered my Mk6 at the front I found that the shock would extend to far past the top of the new lowered spring. This basically means the top mount and bearing are not held in place with the top of the spring and it end up moving over and rubbing against the shock centre shaft. Again Gaz to the rescue what they did for £80 was take my OE damper remove the standard insert and fit their own shortened and up rated insert which held the spring and top mount firmly in place and the van went round corners like a mini.... almost!!

Now the MK6 and 7 springs differ the MK6 is a better single diameter spring, the Mk7 has the dreaded pigs tail at the top so I don't know if the a shortened MK7 spring has the same issue. Either way Gaz do good work for in my opinion not a lot of money and they currently have 2 Mk7 front legs I left with them which is another story!

Again if someone can tell me in simple terms step by step how to up load photos I'll put some up of both my Mk6 and 7 and all the bits along the way as they're all on my phone!

hi mate I'm looking now at lowering mine it's the fronts I'm having trouble understanding on how to do so if you have any more info or photos I would really appreciate it I love the look of your van it looks great fair play to you fella

[Nibbles02]

Forgot to mention

With a lowered set of coil springs which was how I lowered my Mk6 at the front I found that the shock would extend to far past the top of the new lowered spring. This basically means the top mount and bearing are not held in place with the top of the spring and it end up moving over and rubbing against the shock centre shaft. Again Gaz to the rescue what they did for £80 was take my OE damper remove the standard insert and fit their own shortened and up rated insert which held the spring and top mount firmly in place and the van went round corners like a mini.... almost!!

Now the MK6 and 7 springs differ the MK6 is a better single diameter spring, the Mk7 has the dreaded pigs tail at the top so I don't know if the a shortened MK7 spring has the same issue. Either way Gaz do good work for in my opinion not a lot of money and they currently have 2 Mk7 front legs I left with them which is another story!

Again if someone can tell me in simple terms step by step how to up load photos I'll put some up of both my Mk6 and 7 and all the bits along the way as they're all on my phone!

hi mate I'm looking now at lowering mine it's the fronts I'm having trouble understanding on how to do so if you have any more info or photos I would really appreciate it I love the look of your van it looks great fair play to you fella heres what mine looks like at the moment

[Buzzer]

I've lowered mine, but did mine on a very tight budget.. as in nothing!
For the front I dropped the strut down in the hub and redrilled the pinch bolt hole to give about 2" drop and removed half a coil but heated and re seated the spring so it seats properly on the shock cup.
For the rear I flipped the spring mounts from on top of the beam to below it. And then made longer, adjustable hight shackles to raise and lower the rear hight as and when I need it.
Drives just fine. Only complaint is that there rear shocks now don't seem to do much But this is probably more to do with them being knackered than them struggling with the angle there sat at.
Not everyone will be able to do it the way I have as your need to be able to weld to a decent standard for the rear spring mounts.. bird poo welds just won't cut it come MOT time
Loaded up with camping gear.!

Front coil resated and shock drooped and old pinch bolt hole below new one.



Rear plate welded under the beam.

Longer shackles.

[Nibbles02]

I've lowered mine, but did mine on a very tight budget.. as in nothing!
For the front I dropped the strut down in the hub and redrilled the pinch bolt hole to give about 2" drop and removed half a coil but heated and re seated the spring so it seats properly on the shock cup.
For the rear I flipped the spring mounts from on top of the beam to below it. And then made longer, adjustable hight shackles to raise and lower the rear hight as and when I need it.
Drives just fine. Only complaint is that there rear shocks now don't seem to do much But this is probably more to do with them being knackered than them struggling with the angle there sat at.
Not everyone will be able to do it the way I have as your need to be able to weld to a decent standard for the rear spring mounts.. bird poo welds just won't cut it come MOT time
Loaded up with camping gear.!

Front coil resated and shock drooped and old pinch bolt hole below new one.



Rear plate welded under the beam.

Longer shackles.

wow your a legend i didnt expect that much info thankyou im going to start my lowering just after xmas still got a few things left to do on outside first like u i use mine for camping but i still want to do the lowered sporty looking thing lol,, o and your van looks brilliant i love it thanks again your a star

[stugg77]

Love the look of your transit buzzer great stuff any chance of a pic of the front?

[Buzzer]

Got this one..

And this one of how I want it to look when finished.

[Teddytransit]

Van porn! Your van looks the mutts nuts!

Did you cut your bump stops down?

[Teddytransit]

Hello Nibbles02

This company www.wheelmania.co.uk has a couple sets of lowering springs for a MK6 left though they don't list them.

The problem I had was the spring wouldn't stay seated at the top so I had Gaz modify my front shocks.

What you could do get a pair of used shocks off eBay and get them sent to Gaz as they still have the specs from my set. Get them to post the parts back to you and assemble them yourself. The front struts are a straight forward swap.

Cost wise you're looking at

2 re-worked shocks at Gaz £170 (this was 4 years ago)
Lowered springs £100 from wheel mania
Cost of two breakers yard shocks if you can't send yours away as the van would be off the road for a few weeks.

Now Buzzers method can be done in a weekend and doesn't require any special tools other than a cutting disk on your grinder and a set of spring compressors which you'll need with both methods.

Honestly I can't say my method has any advantages over Buzzer's either, I did try it but it made my wheel bearings rumble but as it turned out they were on their last legs!

The most awkward part of the swap is probably getting to the top mounts as they are in the cab and covered by the floor rubber. What I did is cut a flap over the top of the mounts which I duck taped down when the swap was done. I used a 13mm stubby ratchet spanner but a 1/4 inch ratchet will get in there too.

I still have a MK6 Haynes manual, if you pm me your address I'll post it to you. If you have changed front legs on a car before the van is no harder or I can't imagine a garage would charge much.

Just found some photos of my MK6 just before I scrapped it with just the front lowered so you can see how much the springs drop the front

Best of luck

Edd

[Teddytransit]

My van is being tracked at the moment but I will get some more photos