Westfalia Lifted

Riptide

Active member
Riptide's latest assessment on Vancompass lift and suspension mods:

https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showpost.php?p=580493&postcount=21

Need further info re Riptide's wheels/tires sizes

https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showpost.php?p=581517&postcount=6)

and handling on-road in windy conditions.
Yep, very happy with the new suspension and lift as a whole. Because I did it all at once, I am not sure which part is my favorite.

The extra clearance was very helpful, as that dang propane tank, lying right in the middle of the vehicle, always gives me pause. On our recent trip to CO, I wanted to explore dirt roads as much as possible, and disperse camp when we could. One evening, it was getting late, and we were driving up a forest service road that had dispersed camping along its length. But, being the weekend, many of the sites were already claimed by evening. So, we pushed on up the road. Finally I spotted a site that looked promising, but the path to it dropped over a bit of a lip. I scouted it out, and against my wife's wished, we dropped over and down to the site. Very scenic.

I noted a Land Rover camped out about 50 yards from us, kitted out for overloading with winch, and reasoned that if I needed to, I could call on him for some assistance the next morning.

Except the next morning, while still in bed, I hear him leaving, and getting stuck on that lip. He eventually made it, but now my Plan B was gone.

After breakfast, I scouted out the path back to the main road; it was a little steeper than I remember it from the previous night. I put the girls on the road with an FRS radio, to tell me if someone was coming, because once I got a head of steam up, I wasn't stopping. I shut off the ASR, got a good running start, and she charged right up and over the lip. The extra clearance is great, and the Sumo's prevented any harsh hits when I hit the lip.

As far as tires, the BFG KO2's are great. Not noisy at all on the highway for an AT tire, and they have done well in the snow on my Land Cruiser. 245/75R16; minor rubbing on one front mudflap, I still gotta get down there with a heat gun and mold it back a little...

Can't show pix because the stupid site always puts the pictures in upside down. So then I reformat the pictures upside down, re-upload, and guess what? They stay upside down. I don't get it...
 
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Kiltym

Active member
Can't show pix because the stupid site always puts the pictures in upside down. So then I reformat the pictures upside down, re-upload, and guess what? They stay upside down. I don't get it...
There is "meta-data" in the photo that is not in sync with the photo. Some websites (apparently this one), honor this information, and some don't. My wife struggles with it on her blog all the time. She uses a tool to "fix" the photos before uploading, and that works, but it's another step every time she wants to upload photos. Also, some devices include the meta data, and some don't, making it all a big mess. Your're not alone :).

Here is a link with lots of details: https://www.howtogeek.com/254830/why-your-photos-dont-always-appear-correctly-rotated/

Not trying to hijack the thread, but figured other's may benefit as well.
 

OldWest

2004 T1N Westfalia
Poster on James Cook Friends forum is looking for wheel spacers for more stability.

Put some info (and copied over some of his Instagram photos there) re PNWSquid's lift for bigger wheels wirh zero offset and tires and increased wheel track.

http://forum.james-cook-freunde.de/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6487&p=41561#p41561

Interesting to note.that a company is selling the VanCompass lifts in Europe (which does.not have the Sprinter factory one inch lift).
 

OldWest

2004 T1N Westfalia
Alternative method of lift on a James Cook using VB coil springs and air bags. Note that James Cooks have 15" wheels and USA Westies have 16" wheels, a spacer bar lift in front, different curved rear leaf springs, different front struts, etc. This James Cook owner switched from original 15" wheels to 16" wheels.

Add: What's especially interesting is that the poster received TUV approval--which is a big deal. In the USA, AgileOffroad and VanCompass had difficulty coming up with coilsprings for the front struts--the concern was that the Sprinter connection for the upper mount was not strong enough. Thus, there were no auxillary coilsprings made for our T1N Sprinter. But here, the VB coilsprings were added and passed TUV. Now, of course, the question is whether this would work on our USA version.

 
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OldWest

2004 T1N Westfalia
Difficult to find any information on these VB coil spring around front struts. Of course, may not fit as different length front struts for European and USA--but don't know for sure. Interesting that product is supposed to reduce crosswind sensitivity.

Finally found ebay listings for seller VB with this info:

VB Part # VBASCS07758

VB-Airsuspension Front/Light Coil Springs Mercedes Sprinter 3.5T 1996-2006





£405.45

Item description
"Supplied as a complete installation kit; less sagging; increased comfort; increased stability; stronger suspension and less crosswind sensitivity. Does not include front struts. You may require a wheel spacer kit - see guidance notes."

 

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