Hello everyone. Another question from he-who-listens-but-knows-little, When at Tambo in September, a seemingly knowledgeable chap advised me that have a second set of back springs fitted to our 2010 Ford G6E sedan that we use to tow our pop-top would raise the tow vehicle's rear and thus assist in preventing the sway bars hitting on traffic calming devices in caravan parks, driveways when entering and leaving premises etc. Any thoughts? We have HaymanReese sway bars/levellers fitted.
Not sure about the 2nd set but you certainly can get better quality springs fitted to your car to raise/lower it, Stiffer/softer. Just give a suspension service a ring and see what they recommend for your car to raise it.
I had Kings springs fitted to the rear of my GQ as it was dragging its bum and they had stronger ones to cater for the rear gas tank, It raised the rear back slightly higher than the front. Been in 10 years now and not one issue, They have not sagged at all.
We have been towing a large Camper Trailer with a BA Falcon wagon and had a similar problem to what you describe mainly due to the heavy ball weight. We took the vehicle to Pedders to have them install stiffer rear springs and new shockers. We also fitted all terrain tyres which have a higher profile than the standard ones in order to add a bit more clearance. The mods made a reasonable difference, but the cost made a big difference to our bank account!!!
All up we paid just on $3,000, $2k to Pedders and $1k to Bob Jane. Ever since the mods were done, the new springs constantly squeak and it sounds like we're driving an old bomb. Despite a couple of attempts by Pedders to fix the problem it still persists and their experts reckon there's nothing they can do to correct the problem.
Since having the mods done, we have purchased a 4WD dual cab ute which is a far more suitable vehicle for towing as it allows us to really get off the bitumen and discover the outback with more security.
Thanks folk. Last thing we will do is buy another vehicle as we don't caravan THAT much and use the car as a family vehicle. What I neglected to say was the car has coil springs. We do not want to fit air springs, but may consider heavier coils. We have been advised that could make the car travel "rougher" when not tugging the van. From discussions I have had thus far, it may be just better to leave things as they are. If the Falcon had leaf springs, it seems it would be so much easier and more practical to fix the problem simply bu adding a supplementary leaf. Again, we thank you as we have lots we don't know and this is a good forum.
Yeah I agree you can get progressive coil springs, As I stated my Nissan Patrol has coils all round and I didn't notice any difference with the King Springs fitted ride wise but it made the back sit much better and with a load it is far better than before. To Fastcoach they obviously don't know what are are doing and are trying to palm you off.
I would have told them to take them out and give me my money back.
Thanks again folk. Just a little update as I try to sort out where I am at. Like the look of progressive springs (thank you Blaze and Murraman (I had not heard of them until you helped) and am gathering info re them. Put progressive springs to RACQ and the chap there came back with airbags to fit inside the coil springs now fitted. My mechanic is not so keen on airbags but I am continuing looking into both. My first reaction to the airbag suggestion was; how reliable are they? Do they leak? Now, I put it out there.....any thoughts?
Air bags can do a lot of harm to some vehicles, Nissan GU's have suffered spring tower failures and required expensive fixes due to air bags as they put more pressure on the spring towers as they cancel out the spring effect. So the kinetic energy has to go somewhere.
I fitted air bags on our VN Commodore with standard springs when towing a van and I must say they did the job, But knowing what I know now I would just get a good set of progressive coils fitted and not fit air bags. IMO Cheers Allan
