Lowering a wagon

BuckTooth · 31-05-2010, 10:04 AM

Hey all,

Due to luckily gettin a new job, finances have been relieved abit. So i'm now looking at keeping my wagon as a daily hack, but with some mild mods.

I really wanna ditch the 4wd stance it has, so i've been looking into lowering it a little.

My mate has a VY commy wagon, now he can get it to sit about 1.5" off the road (not really suited for driving, but damn it looks good). Now i know the vy has IRS and the au has a live axle, but just how low can you go, with out sacrificing driveability and load carrying.

TUF-640 · 31-05-2010, 10:33 AM

i'd look into getting the car lowered about an inch (king spring 35mm 'lows') its sort of not really worth doing but if you really want go for super lows which are supposed to be somewhere between 50-60mm but as ive found in the back of my sedan i run super lows (lows in the front) while it looks good it just doesnt like my driveway :( if you are after more of a handling upgrade lows is the best bet, if you want it to look fairly low go for super lows. I believe wagons have leaf springs in the back so they will most likely have to be reset (never really heard of anyone replacing them with 'lowered' ones). Fronts are the same setup on sedan, utes etc.
I do have a pair of front super low springs which i bought 2nd hand a few months back with the intention of installing them with new shocks, if you are interested (i like the way the car sits at the moment so no plans on using them anymore) i would suggest lowered shocks as well, the standards will give up after a few thousand kms
but do be warned if you plan on running big rims (as i do) the ride quality isn't too much fun
but in all that if you are after maximum comfort then dont lower it, i really wish i drove a standard car haha

bartsau · 31-05-2010, 12:40 PM

Firstly the wagons are definatley leaf sprung in the rear.
You can also buy off the shelf lowered springs from pedders. (My new wagon had these).

Below is a pick of my wagon lowered and to be honest it still can haul a load with ease. (prefer not to though)
After the first attempt
http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/x...s/P1040021.jpg
After Second attempt
http://gavinlewisphotography.com/var...9/DSC_1923.jpg
The front is i believe a super low height (not 100% sure). The rear i have had reset twice to get it where it is. The first time i added an extra leaf in to stiffen it up a little to compensate for going lower. (Took about 55mm out of it)

Wasn't as low as i wanted so got them done again and took another 40mm out.

Hope this helps you,
Cheers, Rhys

BuckTooth · 31-05-2010, 01:28 PM

That does look alright in the second picture. I'm not really planning on carrying much weight so shouldn't be to bad.

Rhys, funnily enough you commented in here, it was actually your build thread that implanted the wagon idea in my head, i've been following it for a while now.

Auturbo6 · 01-06-2010, 08:06 PM

We recently installed springs out of an XH ute into a Ba taxi (due to requirement and difficulty in finding BA items at the time.) and it acctualy sits very low and they have 2 xtra leaves to boot. Best handling wagon in the fleet. But unfortunatly also the most bottomed out as one can imagine. 16 inch steel wheels body sits just above the tyre only by about a millimitre. A lot lower than bartsau... Later.

GK · 01-06-2010, 08:58 PM

Rhys, your first pic of the wagon is certainly better IMO than the second.

But then again, I haul my family around in our wagon all the time! LOL! If I was a young buck like you, perhaps I'd go the second option.

GK

azza11 · 02-06-2010, 10:32 AM

I took 3.5 to 4" out of the rear of my wagon, it had that raised look in the rear, now with standard front springs looks slightly ski boated. New king lows will flatten it out. I have had probs loading pictures here but can email some to you, just pm me. I have 18's on there as well. Occasionally the 3.5" dump hits a driveway but its not excessively low. My aim is to mount up 20's.

AZZA

HLC · 02-06-2010, 02:13 PM

King or any other brand SSL'sin the front, and ether some HUGE lowering blocks in the rear (illegal) or get the leaf springs reset with an extra leaf added to match the front and it will look awesome, ie slammed.

rag top · 03-06-2010, 03:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HLC

King or any other brand SSL'sin the front, and ether some HUGE lowering blocks in the rear (illegal) or get the leaf springs reset with an extra leaf added to match the front and it will look awesome, ie slammed.

Not sure about the lowering blocks... from memory, the rear shock will hit the inside of the rim if you go too big. 2" lowering block may require 4" increase in rim diameter.

BuckTooth · 03-06-2010, 10:59 AM

Thanks guys, I'll look into the SSL's for the front, but yeah as per suggestions i wanna stay away from lowering blocks, i would much prefer to get them reset, and yes HLC i am trying to get it to look slammed.

It will only be a daily driver, and will have no real loads put in it, but i'll definately look into an extra leaf or so. I might even consider the XH ute springs as suggested

GK · 03-06-2010, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BuckTooth

Thanks guys, I'll look into the SSL's for the front, but yeah as per suggestions i wanna stay away from lowering blocks, i would much prefer to get them reset, and yes HLC i am trying to get it to look slammed.

It will only be a daily driver, and will have no real loads put in it, but i'll definately look into an extra leaf or so. I might even consider the XH ute springs as suggested

If you're not really going extra loads in it, then I wouldn't bother about the extra leaf.

I find it's made the rear end quite firm, probably too much for my liking.

Also, consider what load the car will carry on a normal day to day basis and take it to the suspension place with such a load or a little less.

I made the mistake of having a full tank of gas and petrol, plus a little ballast to account for the weight of my kids! What I didn't realise until after, was that the extra leaf means that extra weight than normal is needed to compress the rear.

The result is the rear simply sits a bit too high normally, and only settles to where I really want it when we go on holidays. A real pain.

Without the extra leaf, I reckon it would have been about right.

Such is life.

All the best with it.

GK