Rear springs

Yes, they came in a few days ago and it took this long to get them in.  Its foodshow season, just did not have the time.


Broken coils on left.

Anyway, for anyone who needs to repair the typical butt dragging the Westy's have, rear springs are easy to replace.  Mine even more so as the drivers side was broken.  Made the Westy lean much more pronounced.

Essentially, after chocking wheels (do not rely on e-brake) and jacking up the corner you are working on and stabilize on a jack stand, you remove the lower shock bolt.  After that, the spring is generally loose enough to rotate for optimum alignment and removal.  Please keep in mind the need to pay attention to the direction of the coils and the location of the rubber spring isolator disks.  Locate the position of the spring disk before installation of the spring, and secure it into place with some black electrical type tape.  That way it won't move during installation.  The bottom end of the coil will need to be spun to fit into the perch correctly.

For a taller spring, you may need to compress a bit in order to get it in there.  The arm will flex down with some pressure, but wrangling the spring while pressing down with a lever to gain room can be tricky.

The springs I went with were a Weitec spring, about a 45 mm drop in ride height, which I previously discussed, and got them from Bus Depot for about 300 bucks for the set of 4. The springs are different than the ones I removed.  Aside from not being broken, the new Weitecs are progressively wound.  They are a smaller diameter than the stock ones, and as for finished ride height, I will have to get back to you on that.

Things take longer with a nearly 4 year old involved. But it made
him happy and I was glad to have the company.  At
least he will not be one of those moronic men who do
not know how to change a tire.

UPDATE - these Weitecs ended up being far too bouncy with Bilstein shocks, and too low for a Westy. If you feel you must not heed my warning, and absolutely must have this look for your van than you must run Koni shocks.  They will work well in a tin top van that has less weight.