Back Heavy and Poor Traction
- Thread starter Davenjo
- Start date
Where in Leicester are you?
My brother in laws garage SJW auto tuning in market harborough can fit.
They know the van too well given they maintained my t5.1 and b14s on my t6. I'm sure they could track down the springs to but need part numbers.
My brother in laws garage SJW auto tuning in market harborough can fit.
They know the van too well given they maintained my t5.1 and b14s on my t6. I'm sure they could track down the springs to but need part numbers.
Burbage; Market Harborough is about 20-25 miles away so not an issue. However, I have a local garage that I will approach first (once I find out exactly what is required) if they can't do the job or want silly money, I will give SJW a call. Thanks.
@Dave Harris I can only think that it has to be a spring issue, as this is my T32 which just has lowering springs on at the moment, rather than uprated dampers (Bilstein B14's planned).
There is next to no deflection on the rear suspension.
That's with a 5.4m ribquest, and 2 optimists on a big ass trailer, plus all the spars, foils, trolleys, bags (and kitchen sink) in the van.
Hope this may help you out.
There is next to no deflection on the rear suspension.
That's with a 5.4m ribquest, and 2 optimists on a big ass trailer, plus all the spars, foils, trolleys, bags (and kitchen sink) in the van.
Hope this may help you out.
Guessing your nose weight is still only around 75kg though? For me the issue seems to be a fully loaded camper, with trailer, plus bikes hanging on the back adding to the weight over the rear axle. As above, not overloading but position of weight is bringing the back end down. Fix I'm pursuing is VW's recommended PR no 2MK (whatever that may be - any luck @Pauly ?) if not available (or the same thing) I will source some T32 springs and get swapped out.
Thanks - no immediate rush, I just want a plan of what to do to get fixed sometime between now and March/April when I will next want to fully load with bikes and boat, i.e. will be using as a camper all winter but too cold for us to sail.
@Dave Harris, just flicking through t'bay and there's a full set of T32 T6 suspension on there for £175.... thought I'd flag. (Item no 152329194094).
Thanks - I'm not too keen on putting second hand parts on my (nearly) new T6. I know this example only has minimal delivery mileage but, to cover the warranty, etc., I would prefer to have something with a bit of a paper trail to confirm that I've used genuine, brand new, parts.
I have some answers for you @Dave Harris but its complicated, will PM you my number give me a shout and i will try to explain it and you let you know the prices.
Last edited:
Dave, my vw commercial dealer (Trafford Park) has had no problem finding the PR no.2MK kit..........but the question is which one?? There are 9 variants (OYA - OYJ)!
Logic would suggest that that somewhere in the referencing it relates to equivalent upgrades from T28 to T30, T30 to T32 and T32+, but as yet my dealer is struggling to advise.
My dealer also advises that there would be no need to upgrade anything else - just the springs. Locating cups and dampers are all the same, apparently. Spring sets are c. £100 + vat each.
If your enquires lead to further clarification please let me know. I have a T28 and whilst I don't tow the combination of bikes on the back and full water tank does lead to a low back end that I am keen to resolve.
Logic would suggest that that somewhere in the referencing it relates to equivalent upgrades from T28 to T30, T30 to T32 and T32+, but as yet my dealer is struggling to advise.
My dealer also advises that there would be no need to upgrade anything else - just the springs. Locating cups and dampers are all the same, apparently. Spring sets are c. £100 + vat each.
If your enquires lead to further clarification please let me know. I have a T28 and whilst I don't tow the combination of bikes on the back and full water tank does lead to a low back end that I am keen to resolve.
Same thing here @Rookie i have the part numbers and prices but each spring is listed as weight range 1 (OYA) to weight range 9 (OYJ)
I looked at California bits also and they are identical in weights and prices so have used this to compare against the MK2 stuff
I can tell you a standard Cali Ocean (i used Polzeys VRN) came back as weight range 7 so this is what we are looking at ordering for Dave but the prices are per spring not per pair !!
We are looking around £200 per set inc vat + delivery
I looked at California bits also and they are identical in weights and prices so have used this to compare against the MK2 stuff
I can tell you a standard Cali Ocean (i used Polzeys VRN) came back as weight range 7 so this is what we are looking at ordering for Dave but the prices are per spring not per pair !!
We are looking around £200 per set inc vat + delivery
Yep, sorry for my poor choice of words - £100 per spring.
Thanks @Pauly - the springs arrived on Friday.
I had no intention of getting them fixed until the New Year but I called into a local independent MOT garage on spec this morning to enquire whether they'd be interested in doing and get a price; after getting it up on the lift to see if there were any complications from the conversion (e.g. dropping underslung water tank out), said it would not cost more than £60. So, I went home to collect the springs and they did them whilst I waited and only charged me £45 including VAT.
Initial results seem to be good and I reckon, in the current state of loading, i.e. the conversion plus our "ready to go items" but without the water tank full, bikes, trailer, etc., the replacement springs have lifted the back end by about 30mm (hard to get an exact measurement but before and after shots included below - if you draw a line from the bottom of the "Birchover" stickers you can see the level of lift). I'll know more when we fully load again in the "spring" but definitely seems to have improved things and I'll update again if/as appropriate.
The van also seemed as though it was rolling a bit less into the corners on the drive home.
Photos of springs added for info to show the paint marks (4 x yellow on originals and 2 x grey + 1 x brown on the replacement ones) - these marks relate to the specification of the springs but I'm struggling to find anything to interpret. Old springs were I believe '0YB' (weight range 2) and the new ones are 'oYG' weight range 7 - you can get even firmer springs, i.e. '0YJ' weight range 9, but we decided to go with 7 to check comfort and improvement first and give us something else to try later if necessary. It seems weight range 7 are what VW fits to Californias as standard.
Thanks again @Pauly for going the extra mile on this for me!!
I had no intention of getting them fixed until the New Year but I called into a local independent MOT garage on spec this morning to enquire whether they'd be interested in doing and get a price; after getting it up on the lift to see if there were any complications from the conversion (e.g. dropping underslung water tank out), said it would not cost more than £60. So, I went home to collect the springs and they did them whilst I waited and only charged me £45 including VAT.
Initial results seem to be good and I reckon, in the current state of loading, i.e. the conversion plus our "ready to go items" but without the water tank full, bikes, trailer, etc., the replacement springs have lifted the back end by about 30mm (hard to get an exact measurement but before and after shots included below - if you draw a line from the bottom of the "Birchover" stickers you can see the level of lift). I'll know more when we fully load again in the "spring" but definitely seems to have improved things and I'll update again if/as appropriate.
The van also seemed as though it was rolling a bit less into the corners on the drive home.
Photos of springs added for info to show the paint marks (4 x yellow on originals and 2 x grey + 1 x brown on the replacement ones) - these marks relate to the specification of the springs but I'm struggling to find anything to interpret. Old springs were I believe '0YB' (weight range 2) and the new ones are 'oYG' weight range 7 - you can get even firmer springs, i.e. '0YJ' weight range 9, but we decided to go with 7 to check comfort and improvement first and give us something else to try later if necessary. It seems weight range 7 are what VW fits to Californias as standard.
Thanks again @Pauly for going the extra mile on this for me!!
Sounds good Dave; fingers crossed that you have sorted the issues!!
Just looked back to your first post as the 4 yellow didn't make sense but see you had a panel van not kombi. T30 kombi would of had 3 yellow 1 orange.
I have been trying to work the colours out for weeks . My t32 kombi has 3 grey so guess the 1 red is even harder.
It looks much better in the photos
I have been trying to work the colours out for weeks . My t32 kombi has 3 grey so guess the 1 red is even harder.
It looks much better in the photos
Good to see the results @Davenjo, i guess time will tell exactly how the end result looks next year under full load but does look promising so far.
Just to clarify for others the springs supplied are classed as the 'heavy duty range' so do not fall in with the range of standard springs in terms of colour coding.
They do share the 3 digit code on the end defining the weight range 1-9 but are listed in a separate class, even separate to that of the california springs (although the price is identical so i do suspect they may be the same or very very similar)
FWIW i kept on digging and have found californias running on weight 7 springs (@Polzeylad ) and as low as weight 4 springs (@Loz ) and they are similar specs ie both 4motion oceans (not sure about dsg)
Whilst the answer seems to be good thus far it may not be definitive
Just to clarify for others the springs supplied are classed as the 'heavy duty range' so do not fall in with the range of standard springs in terms of colour coding.
They do share the 3 digit code on the end defining the weight range 1-9 but are listed in a separate class, even separate to that of the california springs (although the price is identical so i do suspect they may be the same or very very similar)
FWIW i kept on digging and have found californias running on weight 7 springs (@Polzeylad ) and as low as weight 4 springs (@Loz ) and they are similar specs ie both 4motion oceans (not sure about dsg)
Whilst the answer seems to be good thus far it may not be definitive
That's really odd! Amazing detective work though!
