Lowered my van this weekend

[keirv6]

Lowered my connect this weekend before



On the front i used focus RS springs got them second hand £35 had to buy RS focus spring caps,bearings and top mounts £80 main dealer



So onto the rear.I took the axle off,but stripped the drums,hubs and back plates off before removing it.Didnt disconect the handbrake or brake lines made for quicker rebuild no bleeding of the brakes etc.So axle of made some new spring mounts rather than grind the original ones off (can put back to standard if i need)





Used 4mm plate measured and drilled holes.Next to fix plate to other side of axle took a bit of measuring but a few tacks first to get it at the right angle and place



So now to make it a bit stronger cut and shaped bits of plate to fit to axle and new spring plate and welded





You can see you are moving the spring plate 180 degrees on the axle.
This has taken about 4 hours to remove front springs refit new springs and mounts,rear axle and make new spring plates and weld both sides.
Reasemble of rear axle is fairly straight forward had to cut the lower shock absorber bolts down about 5mm so they dont hit the ubolts.I also didnt put the asister leaf springs back on.
All back together it looks likes this



Been driving the van today and drives nice put some weight in the back to test shocks for bottoming out and they did when going over pot holes but i have measured the shock travel and will get some sorted this week will let you know what i use

[Brains_transit]

looks 10 times better. Top job

[ginsters]

Hats off but mabe its me but it looks like its sat on its arse...vosa magnet?

[dodgy20]

I would love to get this done to mine. Does look a bit low on the arse but it might just be the angle and it does look like it's on an small incline. Excellent write up. I wish i could find somewhere to do this local to me.

[g-man]

bit hard to tell with pic but looks down a bit,u carrying weight

[Fas]

any finished pics of the rear beam/leaf springs??

[Kent Discos]

looks really low at the back on that pic, are you on a slope or something like that?

[keirv6]

Hi the van is on a slope but is very slightly arse down like most people who have done this some adjustable rear spring mounts need to be made,i wanted to see what it looked like before making the brackets,but i may lower the front a little bit more to level it out

[keirv6]

Doing this the way i have has lowered the front by 1.5" and the back by just over 4"

[Kent Discos]

ah and you also said that you didn't put the assisting spring on?

so you have the van on one spring per side? - is that not bad for weight bearing and would possibly make it a little lower?

maybe its just the picture, have you got a picture on flat ground, would make it look better if the front was lowered slightly again, maybe it would level the van out too?

[Mylee]

Nice work. This is why it would be great if we could get a coilover set up on the front. Would make levelling the van out much easier.

Keirv6, any chance you can put some dimensions on the plate you made up please? I could then make the plates before hand at work

[keirv6]

ah and you also said that you didn't put the assisting spring on?

so you have the van on one spring per side? - is that not bad for weight bearing and would possibly make it a little lower?

maybe its just the picture, have you got a picture on flat ground, would make it look better if the front was lowered slightly again, maybe it would level the van out too?

My van is T220L my mate has a 200l and that only has one spring per side,think my van can carry more weight hence having the assister spring to help out when nearing the max weight dont think they do much with no weight on will take some good pics on level ground.

[Kent Discos]

Nice work. This is why it would be great if we could get a coilover set up on the front. Would make levelling the van out much easier.

Keirv6, any chance you can put some dimensions on the plate you made up please? I could then make the plates before hand at work

feel free to make me a set mylee, i'd come grab em from ya and gladly pay your way

[Kent Discos]

ah and you also said that you didn't put the assisting spring on?

so you have the van on one spring per side? - is that not bad for weight bearing and would possibly make it a little lower?

maybe its just the picture, have you got a picture on flat ground, would make it look better if the front was lowered slightly again, maybe it would level the van out too?

My van is T220L my mate has a 200l and that only has one spring per side,think my van can carry more weight hence having the assister spring to help out when nearing the max weight dont think they do much with no weight on will take some good pics on level ground.

please please please, never carry any weight then, otherwise you might be the first person on here with no rear axle, because it snapped off and ended up 10m behind

only joking bud, just be cautious matey, hopefully on level ground its sorted out

[Mylee]

Nice work. This is why it would be great if we could get a coilover set up on the front. Would make levelling the van out much easier.

Keirv6, any chance you can put some dimensions on the plate you made up please? I could then make the plates before hand at work

feel free to make me a set mylee, i'd come grab em from ya and gladly pay your way

See what I can do Jack......