VW bus shocks
So… my ’71 is lowered quite a bit. How much? I can’t remember because a PO did the lowering and it’s been so long since I’ve had a stock height bus I have nothing to compare to. I’ll guess it’s somewhere around 4″ lower. The “kongs” are cut off and the arms are swung down. I had KYB Gas-A-Justs at all 4 corners and I noticed the front left was leaking the other day. It may have been leaking for quite some time. The “ride” in this bus is hard and bumpy – I avoid running over cracks in the road for fear of jarring my spine.
Here’s a pic of the clearance I have from top of my 14″ wheel and the top of the wheel well. The tires in the front are 185/65 R14 and the clearance above the tire is 1.5″… With someone sitting in the driver’s seat that sinks by only about 1/4″…
1.5" of clearance
I read a bit and got some opinions… I re-ordered KYB Gas-A-Justs for the rear although I don’t have them installed quite yet. I got KYB GR2′s for the front.. They’re a lighter duty (squishier ride) than the others. I ordered them in a shorter length for the lowered stance. I’ve had good experiences and quick orders with wolfgang international (http://www.wolfgangint.com/).
KYB GR2 shocks, for lowered bus
I didn’t mess around taking the old shocks off… An obligatory squirt of WD-40 just because… and then I broke out the pneumatic impact hammer. Off the old bolts come. Installing the new ones was easy too. I did all this work with the front end of the bus jacked up high in the air with the wheels hanging.. So I cut the band around the new shock to let it expand all the way and that was about perfect to install as is. They’re easy to compress by hand if you need to.
New GR2's installed!
Let me tell you the ride is SO much nicer now! I don’t regret switching to GR2′s in front… Well we’re off to the 11th Annual Spring Picnic in Yorba Linda, CA in an hour! I’ll put up some pics and let you know how much fun it was!
Tags: shocks, suspension
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