Please help my friend with his possible future vw purchase :)

[4wheels]

Fuel tank/cooler guard

Hi Gary,

I'm glad you bumped this thread. I missed it the first time around, probably because it was when I was heading off to Cape Yorke.
I had the King springs fitted, by Pedders, to the rear of my T5 (LWB 4Motion Trakkadu) for this trip because it was a relatively cheap lift (~$350). There was no requirement for rear diff spacers and they reckoned the CV's would be OK as it is really only returning it to the 'empty' ride height. Nearly 30,000Km later I've had no dramas relating to the rear end.
I'd still like to lift the front an equivalent amount, but being struts that is much more complicated and expensive (~$2k). I think it is necessary though if I'm doing any more off road trips, as I have done some damage underneath (front engine tray, fuel cooler, fuel tank straps) by bottoming out.
I'm currently looking for some sort of guard for the fuel tank/fuel cooler area if anyone knows of one.

Brian

[fr73]

Hi,

I have been looking at lifting and adding some protection to my 4motion.

These guys sell the Seikel bits individually and post worldwide. Still very expensive though.

http://www.4x4styling.com/Cars/VW/VW_T5_E.htm

http://www.seikel.de/de/index.php?id=10&cid=300&param=20&lang=2

Brian, how much lift did the King spring give you at the back?

fergus

[4wheels]

King spring lift

Hi Fergus,

I never actually measured it, but it was noticable. I suspect at least 30mm.
I did it because the back overhang looked pretty low especially with the towbar, but now I've mainly had trouble grounding at the front or middle, so I'll have to think about lifting the front if I plan any more big trips.

Brian

[David Morris]

My T4 2003 ex ambo LWB came with pedders yellow HD coil springs & bilstine shocks all round after gutting it for my use I reset the toursion bars on the front lower as they were topping out & stuffing the shocks now the van weighs 2080KG empty left the rear alone apart from replacing the top shock bolts with a beter quality HT bolt as I tow a caravan & other gadgets
Got a lazer wheel align as ambos get a hard life it was only out a fraction of a mm any way .
droping the front & leveling it up mad it ride heaps beter
Not a great fan of Bilstine when its replacement time I will go with Tokoyo a Jap gas shock that transformed my old subaru into a limo & half the price at the time .
I will drive off road with care not just blast through so far got in & out of places that leaves the wife white knuckled traction control with the ABS works well when used with respect & understanding & low gear in the auto just take your time & it works well .
TC

[Seano]

Just a word about the Seikel gear.........it is well made and beautifully designed but as we all know expensive to source in Oz. The follow-up to this is the fact that it isn't that special.

The shocks (both the T4 and T5) are simply revalved Bilsteins (which explains the cost) - they are not longer travel shocks!! The new valving is suppose to help vehicle control given the extra ride height but they are not any longer, fatter, bigger or better quality than plain old Bilsteins. The springs are however specially made. The advantage of the Seikel springs is that they likely have far more progression whereas the King Springs are made for extra load...so they are stiffer which means you won't get the same sort of wheel travel. If you use the Seikel springs then you'll need the Seikel shocks but if you use King Spings then the off the shelf Billys/Koni/etc are probably fine...

As for additional underbody protection......I've never had any nor have a felt the pressing need for any. But some parts of T5 underbody do seem more vulnerable that what is under my T4.

Even so, I'm of the feeling that many underbody plates are often more trouble than they are worth.....I have occasionally had the vehicle become caught on obstructions by the underbody bash plates/guards themselves.

[cort1977]

Hi all, I came accross this thread while researching ways of raising the T5.

I have found that Weitec make a kit consisting of spring spacers that can raise the van either 20 or 30mm depending on the kit. East Coast suspensions in Sydney have them for $149.40 per front axle & $136.20 per rear axle. Alternatively, the Birckwerks site in the UK have the kit for both axles at about $230 + postage from the UK.

I am really tempted to get one of these, seems like a bargain in comparison to the Seikel gear.

I wonder if it could be combined with the King Springs and centre diff spacers for an even bigger lift...

[Transporter]

Hi all, I came accross this thread while researching ways of raising the T5.

I have found that Weitec make a kit consisting of spring spacers that can raise the van either 20 or 30mm depending on the kit. East Coast suspensions in Sydney have them for $149.40 per front axle & $136.20 per rear axle. Alternatively, the Birckwerks site in the UK have the kit for both axles at about $230 + postage from the UK.

I am really tempted to get one of these, seems like a bargain in comparison to the Seikel gear.

I wonder if it could be combined with the King Springs and centre diff spacers for an even bigger lift...

That interest me as well, but it would be worthwhile to find someone who used their spacers and done 50,000km + with them without affecting life of the CV joints and the wheel alignment. I also saw in your first post that you are after dual battery system as well. Did you see www.redarc.com.au lately?
And there are some posts in this section of the forum about dual batteries as well.

[cort1977]

Thanks Transporter. By coincidence I actually have a redarc unit in the shed all ready to go in. I've got a six week old boy at the moment so don't seem to have the time to work on the van I used to...

I know what you mean about CV joint angle, I tend to read the 4wd mags and am well aware of the issues in lifting IFS vehicles. I have seen T4s raised with King springs and tweaking the torsion bars that used some spacers under the centre diff and longer bolts to keep the drive shaft angles the same. Maybe that would be an option if the angle looks a bit dodgy.

To my mind a 30mm lift is not excessive in terms of CV joint angle. I will jump under the van and do some measuring of the shafts to find the change in angle. The Weitec kit is TUV certified so if it has passed some engineering checks.

I have pretty much decided to get some spring spacers so I will post up some before and after pictures. I wwon't receive them until Christmas though.

[Seano]

The spacers in the T4 are fitted to the rear diff mounts.....there is no centre diff. They are only necessary if you frequently run the van with no additional load over the rear axle. I ran my 30mm lifted T4 for half its life without the spacers and still have the original CVs after 8 yrs and 145,000 km.

I would imagine the same scenario for the T5's. That said good risk analysis suggests that fitting the diff spacers is a goodly idea.....just not that urgent.

I'm not familiar with the driveline of the T5 but I would imagine that the 4motion arrangement is not dissimilar to the T4 syncro. That is that the vehicle has a bolted on rear diff. The question is whether the main driveshaft to the diff has the same 'flexibilty' that the T4 does (my LWB has three sections in the main driveshaft each with a flexible coupling) and could therefore cope with a slightly lowered rear diff....