Still Knocking On My Rear B14s

CALLAKN said:
Had it up on the ramp yesterday, took shocks off, they seemed fine... and the mechanic confirmed that, so then we decided maybe the adjusters that sit in top of the springs was knocking, because it’s metal on metal, and the weld points on the floor of the van where the top of the adjusters sit could be rocking/knocking due to not being a flat surface maybe ?

So I took them out, and replaced with original rubber top mounts, so no metal on metal.. it lowered the van a tad more lol... so then I put shocks back on, and guess what, NO CHANGE! Sooooo tomorrow evening we’re gonna swap the shocks for originals,

Noticed little dimples where the top of the shocks sit, from weld points the other side of the sheet metal where they’ve welded the square nut on, however no rubbing on this was noticed. I hope whatever it is, it’s not an expensive fix
Click to expand...

How many times have the bolts been out and tightened back up again? I only took mine out twice and they were about 2mm stretched than the an original new set ...VW recommend new bolts each time there undone and torqued to the correct setting as the top and bottom are different
 
Not sure this can be done without checking but can you try switching the shocks from the left side with the right and see if the knocking then happens on that side...this would help identify if its shock or the spring or another cause?
 
What a great video ....
are u sure it’s the suspension??
Once the weights on the springs I doubt it would knock like that ???
it’s more of a rattling knock like a loose damper,may be a daft question but it’s not the spare wheel carrier ???
Also if you have gone to all this bother take off the rear and put it to standard form then try it again .strange???
 
Yeah we’ve had a good look underneath, can’t seem to see anything. Everything’s tight, I’ve even taken off inside panels in the back to check nothings rattling:rofl: strange one. Tomorrow it’s going back on the ramps... gonna swap out to old shocks. If it carries on then yes @T6180 ill swap out the bolts. But as far as I’m concerned, tight is tight, o_O
 
Okay, so tonight on the ramp

Took out b14 shocks, and replaced with stock, and then made a real effort to ensure the springs sat correctly in the rubber bottoms, putting back the Bilstein adjusters at the top. Also, swapped the springs over, as one of the springs is actually slightly more compressed than the other when sat side by side comparing them

The knocking seems to have gone, it’s not noticeable as present however I get the camera out again and the brave guy that hangs on for dear life,

Anddddd also post pics of what I believe are dimples on the body work where the upper shock sits. That could be the problem , though the mechanise thinks not
 
Whislt my opinion on fitting Mono tube shocks in this type of vehicle is reserved , It certainly sounds like the shock is the source of the noise , as people have said remove one side and drive it , If noise has gone thats definately the issue . The shock mounting bushes should be checked for wear also . it maybe that internally there is an issue with the Gas and oil mixing due to a floating piston failure or bottoming out . the problem is , its not easy to tell a MONO tube shock as failed if the gas is still in it . The ride height of the vehicle is probably the cause of the failure if the car is low . constant bottoming out will destroy the shock internals . Looks like the spring adjusters are turned right down so running very low i would guess ?
 
A few other things , if the removed springs have different free heights then they are sagging, this can only get worse , never better . I dont know who makes those springs or what quality they are , but there is a bigger issue , The B14 kit only has one rear spring that fits all transporters . the problem here is there are actually 4 or 5 different spring rates on the rear of Transporter models , this means that the springs might not be totally suited to all transporters . Load , model , camper conversion, etc , all these factors need to be addressed with spring rate changes , not winding the spring adjuster up to comensate the height .
 
It sounded like the plastic cover over the damper was rattling to me. Can you put some foam around the damper body to hold the plastic cover away from the damper body?
 
It might also be that the rear spring collar has not been tightened up evenly/at all..
SpringMount.jpg
 
i put my original rear shocks back on, and the knocking was gone. so i left it at that... i will at some point go back and have another go, after all I've pald for the b14s so might as well try, if not ill sell them! they'll fit on someone elses and not knock im sure of it.
 
CALLAKN said:
i put my original rear shocks back on, and the knocking was gone. so i left it at that... i will at some point go back and have another go, after all I've pald for the b14s so might as well try, if not ill sell them! they'll fit on someone elses and not knock im sure of it.
Click to expand...

Fair enough!

Yeah, it would be better to have the B14 dampers on but not if they knock like a bugger!
 
Well, finally got enough time to look into my rear knock!

I removed the B14 rear dampers and noticed the top eye bush had some quite decent indents in 4 locations, 90° apart.

20190713_125449.jpg

So, looking up into the damper top mount on the van it seems I have the same issue as @CALLAKN.

20190713_122907.jpg

I had a look at the oem damper top bush and it had no such 4 indents/markings. This prompted me to measure the oem damper top mount bush centre and compare it to the B14 top mount bush centre, quite a difference it turns out!

OEM ~20mm OD
B14 ~25mm OD

20190713_123559.jpg

As a rough guide, this indicates the oem rear damper top eye bush centre will sit within the ring of 4 spot welds on in the van damper top mount.

20190713_125525.jpg

It seemed a good idea to try was to turn down a portion of the face of the top eye bush to give clearance so it didn't contact the 4 spot welds (I didn't fancy filling/grinding the van and risk a rust problem later in life). I could always replace the damper top bush if it didn't work!

20190713_132446.jpg
20190713_132456.jpg

Once I'd crudely taken the face with the indents down to give clearance, I greased the mounting face and reinstalled.

So far, no knock.......guess I'll see how it goes!
 
Last edited:
A nylon washer might be a good fix for this to clamp between the damper and the body?
 
I fitted the original dampers and no knocking. So I now have two B14s dampers for sale
 
There was a faulty batch or rear shockers. Bilstein were swapping them out at the time. But never admitted there was a fault. We spent hours/days on this with Bilstein.
 
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