BUGA Community
Technical => Driveline => Topic started by: lsh on January 18, 2010, 01:25:17 PM
-
Hi all
I am a new member to the forum, I don't own a beddy as yet..... am looking into buying one shortly. The Qusetion I have is: how low can a bedford be lowered? And will the rear and front need to be tubbed out? If anyone can help me please let me know...... or if you have / or point me in the direction of any pic's of a super low beddy please let me know.
Thanks
LSH
-
as low as you can afford - money will buy you anything.
custom rod shop have 2inch drop spindles for the front of bedfords and you can retension the spring a little, other than that you need to spend big money on major mods
-
I grafted Jag control arms onto the bedi front cradle which alows you to drop 7" because the Jag upper arms are shorter than the bedi and the stub axle is mounted higher up the spindle and as a bonus they have big killer brakes and are holden stud pattern lots of work but (approx 300 hours in it ) there was pics on the old buga site of it Cheers neil :o ;D
-
Busy can you still get these drop spindles?? how much , prob HQ stud pattern too I presume
-
(http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x234/craigc327/Bedfords1122008044.jpg)
(http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x234/craigc327/Bedfords1122008045.jpg)
(http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x234/craigc327/Bedfords1122008042.jpg)
(http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x234/craigc327/Bedfords1122008042.jpg)
;D ;D
-
you can still get those drop spindles mark o has a set on his van but they are a bit of work to fit you have to cut modify and weld the lower control arm to accept the holden ball joint but that said his van is one of the best riding bedi's ive ridden in (he'll probably get a fat head when he reads this) ;D :D ;D Cheers Neil
-
anyone got any phone/details etc..... is that Castlemaine rod shop ???/ a web site ?? will start searching ;)
didn't have any joy with CRS...so far...
-
I will get Mark to post all the details for ya Cheers Neil
-
dano, yeah i was meaning castlemaine rod shop
-
i got my 2inch drop stubs from castlemain rod shop about 4 years ago cost $450.00 back then, they take hQ rotors and brakes or torana brakes , the paper work that comes with the stubs is a bit rough but give you the basics to work it out,you need to graft in a hQ lower balljoint and reshape the end of the a arm for disc clearence, the back of the stub needs to be milled for spacers and longer bolts for the steering arm, the spring tower needs to be trimed for caliper clearence, this setup also narrows the wheel track by 1 inch per side which allows for deeper dish rims.
hope this helps in the discission making ???
-
hey mark o is your v8 back and really low?? if so have you got a crash plate for the engine sump and tranz?
cheers
ben
-
Hey ben, the cross member is the lowest point about 4 inchs of clearence can just get a trolley jack under it. the sump and tranny sit above ive never had any clearence issues, but i dont go bush bashing ;D ;D
cheers
mark.o
-
i got my 2inch drop stubs from castlemain rod shop about 4 years ago cost $450.00 back then, they take hQ rotors and brakes or torana brakes , the paper work that comes with the stubs is a bit rough but give you the basics to work it out,you need to graft in a hQ lower balljoint and reshape the end of the a arm for disc clearence, the back of the stub needs to be milled for spacers and longer bolts for the steering arm, the spring tower needs to be trimed for caliper clearence, this setup also narrows the wheel track by 1 inch per side which allows for deeper dish rims.
hope this helps in the discission making ???
cool will chase this one up when i get a chance..... cheers
-
they dont make them any more...
-
and ive only ever herd of 1 set for sale of second hand one. not many around
-
contacted stubtech...they sent me this
Hi Keith,
We don't make drop axles for CF Bedfords but many people have adapted our
Holden axles in, from memory (and its over 6 years since I had anything to
do with Bedfords) the top arm had the Holden balljoint fitted and the axles
were reamed to take the Bedford bottom joint. Commodore brakes fit straight
onto our axles and were much better than the Bedford brakes. I can now only
supply the axles at $775.00 a pair including GST and the rest would be up to
you.
Regards
Rod
-
(http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w156/vintageholden/l_540cd68a8e17ad2a95a1b8edd345aaf2.jpg)
can a bedford go this low????
-
I haven't seen any photo of a CF yet of a front that low... without some major modification I dont think you can do it.
The rear is much easier to lower.
-
The standard CF front suspension can't handle being lowered very much as the more you lower things like springs the more you upset the steering geometry.
for ideal ride the wishbones should be straight across or slightly down when looking from the font
The only real way to lower it is major mods.
-
This is the lowest I have seen and its obvious that it has major work done as the chop indicates.
-
Why has the blue van got sliding door covers on the back(not front) with no doors. whats going on?
-
hey allan, there is a side door, and it is a slider, with shaved handles.
george.
-
its also a chev van..
what about cutting the front chassis to lower the front cross member..
or modifying the cross member so it sits higher into the chassis rails...
i have the rear how i want it...lowered 5"
-
i recon that would be the best. same suspension travel.
-
what about cutting the front chassis to lower the front cross member..
or modifying the cross member so it sits higher into the chassis rails...
I was thinking about this now and you probably have to cut the firewall and make a taller doghouse as the engine will not fit then...
-
(http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w156/vintageholden/20_01_10_001-1.jpg)
looks like it been done before ....
notice the chassis has been lowered....(cut out)
firewall cut out as well
-
the up side is it can be done (i did it), down side is you loose elsewhere.
example, say you want to lower it 4inches, grab a tap measure and measure from your floor up your engine cover (or door, or seat ...) this is where your new floor would be, now do again on top of your engine cover (dont forget the wiper is up there).
Also depending how much you do you might have to move your steering shaft to clear, but you'll have to either modify or get another steering column anyway.
If you do 3 or 4 inches you also have to cut out your inner guards as the wheels hit on lock, and re-angle your pedals which can mean lifting your brake booster.
way more to it than just sinking the beam
-
There was a van over here a bunch of years ago called Mirror Image owned by Grant Downing, now of US funny car fame. It had been lowered heaps. Easy 4". I'll see if I can find some pics of it. Not sure of all the details but the rear was 9" I think and lowered easy but with a big dome in the rear floor to take the diff head. The CF front end was ditched and replaced with a full holden front end from something. Was heaps of work, looked good but drove like a pig. Problems with bump steer etc. I'm sure there was an article in a late issue of CV&T.
With all the hassles of changing the suspension, cert etc, why not just leave the suspension at std height and achieve the lowered effect by modifying the body with flares, spoiler etc in such a way that you pull the body down. It's the exterior look your trying to achieve so start with your custom body line say 100mm of the deck and build it up from there to blend in with the van body at what ever height it is at the moment. That way you can have the look at whatever body height you want without changing the suspension at all.
Garry.
-
(http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d16/Rogue1234/Old%20Van%20Photos%202/018.jpg)
-
Grant used a commodore front end in mirror image, the struts came into the floor area.
If you look close at the picture Rogue put you you'll see the front flare is not round as he had hell of a job reattaching them as had to cut so much of the inner guard out.
I was lucky enough to see him do parts of it at his work down span farm, I was in West City vans with him
And last I heard that van was rotting away in long grass somewhere in south auckland
-
Hay David, there's no chance of our vans rotting away, as we have been working on them for years now, don't get a chance to sit around and decay..............
-
i,m not having flares....
i want the wheels in the guards as per the blue van i posted.....
any details on the chassis mods...
how much was cut out and what reinforcments were done...
thanks
-
Merlin.......Hurry up with those kits boss!!! chop chop!!....
-
This is another lowered CF done back in the day, the CBS Supervan.
The front and rear is jaguar suspension, heavily moded up front.
"The jaguar suspension has one or two adaptations for its use in the CF. The front utilises the stock Bedford springs in the Jag wishbones, mounted on what is still essencially the CF crossmember despite heavy hacking-about to acheive the low ride height. A 3/4" EN16T steel anti roll bar is mounted in Rose joints. At the rear, the Jag components had to be widened by a massive 10" to put the fat wheels out in those arches. Extra Rose-joined radious arms are fitted as a precautionary measure."
- street machine 1981
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_s4lQMG5rCSo/TH0NapnG5AI/AAAAAAAADUw/XkA6SqAQIbo/s1600/4502766491_b800fd8292_b.jpg)
-
i,m not having flares....
i want the wheels in the guards as per the blue van i posted.....
any details on the chassis mods...
how much was cut out and what reinforcments were done...
thanks
You'll have to square the guards to get that type of effect.
I've dropped my custom van 4 inches and had to cut the lips of the bedford wheel archs so can turn etc, and thats with standard springs.
By what I've heard about your engineers and road worthy etc you'd probably at minimum have to put in a front sub frame if you want to drop it, the standard rails aren't strong enough to support big mods and if you do cut into it then your crumble zone changes (when you have a head on, the part that folds up). I put a full chassis in mine
-
My 2nd attempt, would it not be easier to do what someone here is doing, and build a complete new rolling chassis, with all the latest technology, and then drop your modified beddy body down onto it, that way you can get all the geometry right and airbag your body. Having read all the post here so far, regardless of the method, dropping seems to be a massive job.
For me i like the high look, but i am bias, i love my 4x4s, and a 4x4 beddy will be my next beddy project, already designed it, now just have to find the money to finish this van, then find the money for my second van. lol ;) ;D ;D yep....
george
-
Have a look at the picture on this page on my site
http://munchtech.com/bedford/van17.html (http://munchtech.com/bedford/van17.html)
shows how high the floor comes up when you drop it 4 inches, and because of the roof chop my seats bolt to the floor and steering column is angled like a car and a lot of the inner guards are modified to suit, still using standard height springs (van sits about 160mm off the ground), lowering it anymore my feet would like in the dash
-
i was only going to cut 2" from the chassis..
and get lowered springs....
maybee 1" from the cross member..
-
would be nice if you could source some 2" drop spindles, i'd be careful with lowered springs, mainly because bedfords already have a problem with wishbones cracking and lowered springs are harder and also can/will effect steering
-
thanks
contacted castlemain rod shop ..there not going to make anymore....bedford ones..
but can still get hq???
can i fit hq...
-
Any updates on this topic?
-
Would there be any interest here in drop stub axles? My mates old man is an engineer, does cnc machining. I'm going to asking him about a pair for my van, when he has the time. If so I reckon would be cheaper then castlemains price.
Alex
-
i would be carefull with drop spindels word is they are banded or about to be in most states check with your enginer or rta first