Thoughts on stance, underslung water tank and headlight lumens?..

[SPR75]

Hi Guy's.

I've a 23 SWB which is quite low to the ground - I've never given consideration to the water tank underneath; anyone ever had any damage or punctures due to a low stance - also, will the 60 litres (full) take it lower to the ground - I suspect so?

Also, my factory LED headlights dipped beam, appears to be as bright at full beam - is this normal; I get flashed in anger every other vehicle?

Cheers

 

[Salty Spuds]

Hi Guy's.

I've a 23 SWB which is quite low to the ground - I've never given consideration to the water tank underneath; anyone ever had any damage or punctures due to a low stance - also, will the 60 litres (full) take it lower to the ground - I suspect so?

Also, my factory LED headlights dipped beam, appears to be as bright at full beam - is this normal; I get flashed in anger every other vehicle?

Cheers

brightness isn't the issue, it's geometry & angle of the beam. I suspect your suspension "improvements" have altered the beam angle. Are they factory LEDs?

 

[oldiebut goodie]

Factory LED lights are usually factory! ( been on the turps?)

 

[Salty Spuds]

Factory LED lights are usually factory! ( been on the turps?)

Missed that . In that case, they should be self levelling, unless the change in stance exceeds the range of the system.

 

[Ads_Essex]

Often, the LED headlight levelling sensors on lowered vans get snagged, leaving them aiming all over the place.

Have a look under both the front and the rear anti-roll bar to see if any wires or joints are loose

Example:

[RESOLVED] Rear suspension - what’s be this small strut that’s snapped?

Was just changing my wheels and noticed the following which looked like it’s snapped. No idea what it is. Any one able to save me hours of googling 2016 t6 140

www.t6forum.com

And here

H&R rear ARB level sensor bracket

So, I find myself in need of the H&R rear ARB level sensor bracket for an upcoming retrofit. Has anyone ever had any success in sourcing that single bracket alone…….if so who/where from? Said bracket circles in the images below to show what I’m harping on about!

www.t6forum.com

As for water tanks, most seem to have a large screw cap on the underside to assist with cleaning. My van is down only 80mm and it has scraped on occasion.

Naturally, if yours is full at 60l, it’ll weigh 60kg/65kg more - so perhaps get the van loaded and include someone weighing that amount to give you an idea if it will need raising up

 

[SPR75]

brightness isn't the issue, it's geometry & angle of the beam. I suspect your suspension "improvements" have altered the beam angle. Are they factory LEDs?

Salty, ello mate - I was told so, yes - super bright, and i cannot find a dip switch anywhere. On the VW cars, it's in the radio/vehicle interface, but not on this.

 

[oldiebut goodie]

Do you have a, edit to add in , LEVEL control next to the headlight switch?

 

[Salty Spuds]

Salty, ello mate - I was told so, yes - super bright, and i cannot find a dip switch anywhere. On the VW cars, it's in the radio/vehicle interface, but not on this.

The dip/main is on the right hand stalk in common with most. Are you saying you’ve no means of switching between dip & main?

 

[Ads_Essex]

The dip/main is on the right hand stalk in common with most. Are you saying you’ve no means of switching between dip & main?

Left hand stalk.. or is it my van that’s unusual?!

 

[Salty Spuds]

Left hand stalk.. or is it my van that’s unusual?!

damn the turps!!! Taxi for Spuds.....

 

[SPR75]

The dip/main is on the right hand stalk in common with most. Are you saying you’ve no means of switching between dip & main?

Good morning. I've dip amd main; I'm sorry, what I meant by dip, was tjangel of the beam, raise and lower. I thought that, if the headlight were dazzling drivers, I could lower the angle of the beam by 1. I hope this makes sense. I'd Friday night the usual night for solvent abuse on here chaps!?hehe..

 

[SPR75]

damn the turps!!! Taxi for Spuds.....

*angle

 

[SPR75]

Do you have a, edit to add in , LEVEL control next to the headlight switch?

I don't have any level control fella.

 

[Stay Frosty]

That's about 65mm above the road when we're in camping mode bearing in mind there's only two of us and we don't take shed loads of stuff with us ie. floor clear and rear window clear.
We're currently midway on H&R coilovers with their ARBs too and want to be fully "gangsta" but bottle out as I can see that large screw cap shattering followed by the submerged pump dropping out and me losing my 5hit and ruining the holiday... so we roll on 18's and do a pensioner half "gangsta lean".
As for blinding people on factory LEDs surely that can't be a thing, did you have the van lowered by "experts" and they've overidden the ride height leveller switches... if there is such a thing?

 

[Salty Spuds]

I don't have any level control fella.

If they are indeed genuine factory LEDs, then the levelling is automatic & requires no user input. There are sensors on the chassis that operate the levelling system.

 

[Stay Frosty]

Getting technical and bear in mind I have a T6 with H4 headlights but with the 6.1 factory LEDs VW did away with "travel mode" with the LHD/ RHD option having to be coded in rather than selected from the menu... is it possible you're on LHD mode and the reason so many Daily Express and Mail readers are being blinded rather than by yobs like me with retro fitted led bulbs in reflector headlights?

 

[SPR75]

View attachment 269304
That's about 65mm above the road when we're in camping mode bearing in mind there's only two of us and we don't take shed loads of stuff with us ie. floor clear and rear window clear.
We're currently midway on H&R coilovers with their ARBs too and want to be fully "gangsta" but bottle out as I can see that large screw cap shattering followed by the submerged pump dropping out and me losing my 5hit and ruining the holiday... so we roll on 18's and do a pensioner half "gangsta lean".
As for blinding people on factory LEDs surely that can't be a thing, did you have the van lowered by "experts" and they've overidden the ride height leveller switches... if there is such a thing?

Frosty, hello mate...
So, I'm about midway on the height too now. This is without bodies, gear and 60 litres of water. It was too low, but had it upped 20mm. This has maxpeedingrods all-round. I'll get a shot of what's underneath for me, and post it asap.
The van has been lowered by 'the builders' who, I can only assume are. I do know, that when I switch the ignition on, the headlights do an up, down, middle 'dance' as it were. Is this the levelling mechanism? Other than that, I cannot find any way to raise and low the beam angle manually. And yes, I actually had a truck blind me with everything he had one night - I pretty much had to come to a standstill on the road. The main beam, doesn't appear to offer much more than the headlights. I've asked the builders if they put any high powered or illegal leds in, and they've said not - factory leds.

I'll get in and under it ASAP, using all this information from you guys on here.

Cheers.

 

[Stay Frosty]

Check your beam pattern against a wall or garage door, ideally either one painted white and see where the up tick in your light pattern is.
It should rise sharply at the extreme of either headlights pattern to illuminated pedestrians, cyclists and road signs, if it rises sharply to the right (LHD style) then you'll blind oncoming SUVs so not entirely a bad thing but apparently on a T6.1 means you need to programme the headlights to RHD operation.
The up down shuffle, if you can see it against that wall or garage door is a good sign when the beam pattern moves, if it doesn't move but you can hear the motors whirring then something's not right.
I had a case on a another car of a plastic arm popping out of a ball and socket joint meaning the adjuster motor was working but the headlight reflector was going nowhere and the headlight being slightly cock eyed.

 

[SPR75]

Check your beam pattern against a wall or garage door, ideally either one painted white and see where the up tick in your light pattern is.
It should rise sharply at the extreme of either headlights pattern to illuminated pedestrians, cyclists and road signs, if it rises sharply to the right (LHD style) then you'll blind oncoming SUVs so not entirely a bad thing but apparently on a T6.1 means you need to programme the headlights to RHD operation.
The up down shuffle, if you can see it against that wall or garage door is a good sign when the beam pattern moves, if it doesn't move but you can hear the motors whirring then something's not right.
I had a case on a another car of a plastic arm popping out of a ball and socket joint meaning the adjuster motor was working but the headlight reflector was going nowhere and the headlight being slightly cock eyed.

Cheers mate, I'll do all this asap.

 

[Ads_Essex]

The thread goes in to more detail regarding low vans and adjusting the LEDs manually

LED Headlight Adjustment

hoping someone can help, my vans on air and at a low cruising height if I’m stuck in traffic and pull forward it flicks the headlights up and pretty much flashes the car in front. Also found driving around it’s going up and down all the time. Found quite a bit information about adjusting them...

www.t6forum.com