Our 7 Month Wait is Nearly Over...

[Pedro]

That looks the business @Dave Harris , well worth the wait in my opinion.
Enjoy

 

[Davenjo]

Sweeeeeeett. Nice one at @Dave Harris, looks really nice. Campers look really nice in grey..... oh I guesss I would say that!!!
Loving the bike rack too. That's coming up on my purchase list. I'm guessing you'll be doing some fiddling with it tomorrow (or like me when I got mine back, happy to just sit in it all day!!), if you get chance, would you mind measuring how far out from the tailgate the bike rack sits in the closed position. So I can see if my van will fit in my garage with it still attached. Cheers.

About 14inches from the VW badge

 

[Walski]

Cheers fella..... should be ok with that. Thanks for taking the time to measure

 

[Davenjo]

@Walski we put 3 bikes on the rack earlier to try it (part of our afternoon of playing!) and couldn't believe how stable everything felt - we've had a few bike racks in the past but nothing as solid as this seems to be.

 

[Walski]

where did you get it from... really expensive from VW!!!!

 

[Davenjo]

where did you get it from... really expensive from VW!!!!

It was part of my package price with Hillside - I was pleasantly surprised that it was OE.

 

[former member]

Looks great Dave!
I think we'll be getting the same rack soon too.

 

[Buggirl]

Looks awesome !

 

[Roadrunner]

Very nice, now the fun begins

 

[Simmo49]

Glad you got the van ok @Dave Harris - colour does look awesome

 

[Rookie]

Hillside do do a quality job, and are great to deal with. You might find that you need to upgrade the rear gas struts with the bike rack, though (they had not done on ours).
Although the Birchover is a very well sorted conversion, I could not help making a couple of additional tweeks to ours - cover over leisure battery, two way switching of the main interior lights (extra switch by the door for when you get back to the van in the dark), second reading light (his 'n' hers!), plus a few other bits and bobs!
Enjoy.

 

[Davenjo]

Hillside do do a quality job, and are great to deal with. You might find that you need to upgrade the rear gas struts with the bike rack, though (they had not done on ours).
Although the Birchover is a very well sorted conversion, I could not help making a couple of additional tweeks to ours - cover over leisure battery, two way switching of the main interior lights (extra switch by the door for when you get back to the van in the dark), second reading light (his 'n' hers!), plus a few other bits and bobs!
Enjoy.

First week away in the van, with 2 adults, 1 chid and 1 dog, completed and we have loved it. The layout really works for us and the little extras such as large water tank, Eberspacher heater (a personal favourite of mine!), etc.. are all fantastic.

I think our gas struts are OK - no problem opening/closing with the rack (though we would never try to do so when loaded with 50kg+ of bikes?).

Leisure battery cover does seem to be a bit of a cheap fix that should be incorporated by Hillside - what did you use?

Two way switching of the main interior lights would be good - in a similar vein, the switch for the "upstairs" lights could do with some sort of clearer on/off indicator - I've had to lift the roof a couple of times to check that they are off! (the OCD in me coming out!)

My only real issue is that when the van is fully loaded with bikes on the rack and my trailer hooked up we do seem to be doing a bit of a wheelie - seems to still handle OK over the 500 miles I've towed the trailer this week but I have spun the wheels a couple of times pulling away and did come close to getting bogged down on some grass. All of the weight (by design) is over the un-driven rear wheels and there is not much I can do to move any of the weight forward - wondering whether there is anyway to improve - I deliberately went for a T30 (Hillside normally use T28s) to avoid this.

 

[Walski]

Sounds like a top week Dave. Other than putting stronger suspension on I'm not too sure there is a cure for the drop in rear suspension height. I too had saggy arse syndrome, but have managed to get it sorted!!

FROM SAGGY ARSE.........



TO SAGGY VAN.......

 

[Davenjo]

Sounds like a top week Dave. Other than putting stronger suspension on I'm not too sure there is a cure for the drop in rear suspension height. I too had saggy arse syndrome, but have managed to get it sorted!!

FROM SAGGY ARSE.........

View attachment 2428

TO SAGGY VAN.......

View attachment 2429

Lol. If I upgrade the rear suspension would that also improve the front wheel drive's traction?

 

[Walski]

Not sure buddy, all I can say is I haven't had any issues with mine.

 

[Davenjo]

Not sure buddy, all I can say is I haven't had any issues with mine.

I'm hoping it would but guessing it probably wouldn't as all of the weight would still be going through the back axle?? I'll ask the same question in one of the other forums to see if anyone with more mechanical knowledge is able to advise?

 

[former member]

I'm hoping it would but guessing it probably wouldn't as all of the weight would still be going through the back axle?? I'll ask the same question in one of the other forums to see if anyone with more mechanical knowledge is able to advise?

Seen a couple of threads mentioning this; what's up with it? Sounds annoying.

 

[Davenjo]

Seen a couple of threads mentioning this; what's up with it? Sounds annoying.

Can you post the links for me? Thanks

 

[Pauly]

This topic has its own thread now located in the link below

https://www.t6forum.com/threads/back-heavy-and-poor-traction.804/

 

[Davenjo]

Thanks @Pauly - I should have done that! @Polzeylad suggested he had seen others asking the same and I was wondering if he was able to point me at those threads to hopefully answer my question. Cheers.