Help and advice on sorting my 1954 bus out

[gin23deluxe]

Hi Guys I am mark hopley, I am new to all this so need advice/help with getting the front of my bus sorted out,
Its a 1954 vw panel, the bus is slammed and currently on air using monroe air assists, the bus is on a custom built narrowed front beam on dropped king and link spindles (all new) ive gone down the air route as a friend is using slightly smaller versions of what i have but with great success. Ive done the same and its crap, iam running upto 160 psi to get any sense (my mates runnin 70 psi max, the only difference he s running ball joint set up)
on the back ive IRS converted and iam running bags which are great (all new).Running a 2 paddle up an down gauge panel up front, plumbed straight from the compressor to the panel direct to the shocks front an back.
I just want a simple up and down movement, so i can lift the back and the front independantly, as the ground to the back of my house is rough an uneven, on the road i want a nice even steady an not tooo hard ride, driving it low but not as nailed to the floor. but nailed parked up.
So its crunch time, i am not up on hydraulic sytems and what entailed in a car system my basic understanding
is powerpack/pump (advise and what and where) accumalators, rams, pipework  (as in feed and return) my confusion is on what valves are required, what solenoids, how to wire, and operating gear as in switches.
I want to keep the system as clean as in uncomplicated as possible, start at the front and then if it all works well
then do the back, i ll probably hard wire the hydrailic lines rather than flexi s. The switch gear for the cab i need to be simple and as the interior is sparce (being a 53/54) i want to keep it that way. The bus is eventually gonna be a mad mad show car, as iam big into doin custom paint as in 70 s style flakes and candy s. the bus is gonna have a drag strip refugee theme.
Ive done the air conversion myself again my knowledge is basic, an ive wasted a small fortune so far so money is kinda tight so i want to get it right this time, shock/ram room is limited (although iam sure rams are alot smaller than the air shocks) but there s plenty of room i hope for pump.
Please any help and advice will be much appreciated, a complete basic explanation of a system and whats required
cheers mark hopley


The top pic is about right for ride/ driving height, slammed when parked, saton wheel tubs/arches

[fatdaddy]

Hi Mark and welcome.

If you can get it right I think air is far more suitable for your needs.
Do you have any leaves left in you custom beam? Has it been lowered by removing some or with adjusters or by being the way its built?


Is it crap as in too stiff a ride or bad handling ?
With a 2 paddle system you are going to get an amount of roll no matter what you do.

btw.. nice bus, looks good the way it is

[gin23deluxe]

hiya yes its lowered on drop spindles and adjuster s, the center 14 mm grub screws removed from both center anchors so the leaf springs are free to rotate, all the leaf s are present.
The monroe s just cant seam to handle  it, the trailing arms where running on urethane sleaves/bush s but i had dome phospher bronze ones made up.
There s two big issues the room is limited even the monroes are too big in all honesty my other issue is that a set of real air ride shocks are over 700 quid an if that doesnt work then i am stuffed, i cant put bags on in board as i am running a steering rack so no room there. The rack actually bent/dented one of the shocks so that leaks now, it was bleeding down slightly on the front any how, so i am gettin a tad chuffed off with it all.
As far as body roll it was nt too bad, even though i was gettin some air displacement.
Due to the leaking down the front only, it was a pain to set the wheel geomtry i.e toe in.








Pic of the rear set up which works really well, shame i cant bag the front

hope you can help
cheers mark

[fatdaddy]

putting some load back onto the leaves will reduce the pressure needed in the shocks
it will still drop with some, maybe even one beam full, working. Lower psi will give a better ride and reduce the max dia of the sleeve.

[gin23deluxe]

Yes ive tried that setting the ride height on one and both anchors back in it made it worse/harder for the bus to lift, compressor was maxed out as its only a viaar 160 or 180 psi unit. I even moved the pivot point for the shock, if u look i made up an extended lower king pin (as i didnt like the idea of the bus being lifted on a 12mm mount anyhow) this helped abit however it put the shock inline with the rack hence denting it, Yes iam at my wits fatdaddy.

[fatdaddy]

only things I can think without looking at it are
more pressure
different mounting points
inboard some where

or hydro like you said. Don't see it as ideal for your ride but maybe there's no alternative!
keep the rear as it is and use a convertible roof [escort has built in valves and tank] pump unit. You'll need to increase the tank capacity a bit but they are nice and slow/smooth and very compact. Use 25mm bore rams with a 16mm rod. Get double acting rams so they piston is well supported and machine for a rose joint each end.
I will be posting ram sources in the "supplies" section on here soon.

[gin23deluxe]

hi thanks daddy iam grateful any help is good, wer are you based (malvern) my main issue is room,  id like to get bags on the inside, but there s no room, i ve been sent a link by damien on here for some shocks that airbaggit do but there only 3" of travel wiich isnt enough, iam not happy with the set up as it is as i am nor keen on the fact there s so much pressure (i.e the front of the buses weight) on thet bottom king pin as iam worried its forcing the whole assembly apart, maybe if it was set up off the top pin it would act with more of a compression action, what do you think....
Be great if i could have a chat with you... cheers mark

[fatdaddy]

dont touch anything from airbagit [or any of the other names they trade as]............................................

wr13 5dw
But I wasnt saying I could look at it......................... I dont have time any more (: .
From where you have got to so far I am sure you can sort it with some help when needed................... maybe good pics of underneath would help us.
Think about reinstating the torsion leaves and shocks, then using a central bag acting on one set of leaves through  a linkage and crank maybe.........

[gin23deluxe]

hi daddy yes ive had bags from airbagit with no problems, what issues u had.
yes because of me rack the center bag s gonna be an issue, why do you say hydro isnt the best way forward.
the hydro set up on the front is the way i was thinkin of goin... An idea of what i need and how to go about it would be a good startin point. Again thanks for your help.
cheers mark

[fatdaddy]

you've been lucky then................ or they've sorted out things.
Shocking customer service, 25% restocking fee on anything returned [even if it is faulty or wrong], dodgy parts.................still I'm going back a few years so maybe it's  alright now.

Just that air will give a better ride. Accumulators need a minimum amount of weight acting on them to get a decent ride and you hardly have any weight on the front.

If space is a real issue go the convertible roof pump route. If not any pump unit will do for what you want.
Watch the supplies thread for rams and accumulator details.

[blueridge]

Like i said on the phone you can have a look at my set up,i know its not the best setup on here but it works.i've got accumalators fitted and also little weight on the front but you could get an idea on what the ride and handling is like.And i'm only about 10 miles away from you.

[fatdaddy]

how are you getting on Mark.....................................