lowering

[mezzmo]

Hi Bedowins,

Does any one have a successful recipe for lowering a beddie (front and rear) without the use of drop stub axles? i know i can get these but i the only ones i can get are disc front and i dont want to convert from my drums.

cheers

mezz

[BusyKiwi]

notch the rails - you loose tons of leg room but get it low

[mezzmo]

What do you mean Busy?

[BusyKiwi]

Instead of the chassis rail going under the floor, you put it on top of the floor, kinda like this ___/----\___  (the middle section should be on top)

[mezzmo]

Ahhh Gothca! I'm kind of looking for a less dramatic approach though.

[Gordon]

Mezz, you can get a certain amount of front drop by fitting shorter front springs, but this comes at the price of upsetting the front wheel camber which leads to excessive tyre wear.

Its a time consuming exercise as you basically need to get the van on a wheel alignment bench, remove the springs, and play with the ride height until you reach the best compromise in terms of height versus camber offset and then work out your spring requirements. When I did my van I used an alignment shop that was right next door to the springworks and it took us a couple of days to get it all worked out, manufactured and fitted. We then had to match shock lengths to the lowered springs. The back is a lot easier to do by having the rear leafs re-radiused to suit the lowered front.
I've attached a picture of the finished result. Lower, but not as low as I would have liked.

[mezzmo]

Thanks Gordon, that looks pretty good to me as i will also be having flares it will appear to be a little lower also, this could be an option.

[Warren]

Mezz

The drop spindles is by far the easiest way to go low.

Are you wanting to keep the drums to maintain the beddy stud pattern? maybe a disc could be found that would suit the beddy stud pattern (may require machining).

How low do you want to go?

From memory the frame rails are around 4 inches deep, so you could notch them say 2 to 3 inches and then use shorter springs., This way you would not be disrupting the floor.

The notching would have to be Engineered for sure.

Attached below is an image of the type of notching that you could do to the frame rail without too much drama.

Or what about airbags, you could dump it when you stop

Warren

 

[BusyKiwi]

You can't do a half notch in a CF because the bedford has a uniframe - not a chassis but not just a floor.
To do a half notch you'd have to strengthen the whole area; would be easier to drop some rails in there

[mezzmo]

i made enquiries about the drop spindles - apart from being pretty expensive, they are only available for discs and i really just want to keep the drums for now. I guess i'll just have to check the stance once the guards on on and the motors in to see just how much i need to drop her ( if any)

Much appreciation for the assistance guys.