Bilstein b14 height adjustment

[F2JON]

So I’ve had my b14’s on a few months really happy with them but when they were put on they left 25mm on the thread adjustment, since going from 20’s to amorak steels I wanted it lower so today I’ve wound them right down, my question is WHY IS IT STILL THE SAME HIEGHT ?? Surely 25mm in the threads would have made some difference ?? Grrrr

 

[RedUn]

Drive it around so it can settle?

 

[F2JON]

Tried that for a couple of miles, I’m going out with six of us in it tonight so that should squish it down a bit

 

[Tourershine]

I dropped my fronts the last 10mm I had left, and with a tape measure, it did drop, but in reality it was only about 5mm different, and because it's such a small amount, there's never going to be an obvious visual impact. I wonder if the amount of thread showing, actually equates to the same amount lower if you wind it down, taking into consideration the spring tension and other factors.

I bet it felt a lot harder on the road.

 

[F2JON]

I would have thought it would have but obviously not, I was hoping for a good inch drop. To be honest the couple of miles I did it didn’t feel any different, it drives much nicer now with my amorak steels on than it did on my 20’s and the original 16” steels. It’s weird.

 

[Ned Kelly]

I recently put my 20;s back on my T6 4 motion offside is rubbing under load on the top of the arch there seems to be about a 1cm gap on offside and 2cm on the near side I have checked tire pressure and had the wheels off to look at the B14's and they are both identical and measure 35mm of thread. I have the C spanners but i didn't fit the kit so im looking for advice. I want to raise the offside by 1 cm is it straight forward. I looked at loads of videos online but none are the same as mine I'm thinking its the two large black rings that will need to be rotated up to expose more thread but I wasn't sure if this would just add more preload to the springs or if it would actually lift it up. thanks in advance... Ned

 

[The Van Cave]

It seems slightly odd that if both front height adjusters are set exactly the same that you have 1 side sitting higher than the other. When you took your arch gap measurements were you parked on level ground with no uneven loading in the van?

To answer your question on adjustment, yes, to raise the height at the front you wind the adjuster rings up. It helps to release the load from the spring, so get the van up on axle stands at the front and have a go. It might even be necessary to use a spring compressor to enable the adjuster to turn, but worth a try without.

 

[Skyliner33]

The problem is possibly to do with the fact that the engine and gearbox places more weight on the offside wheel than near side. Plus you also have the weight of the driver on that side, so measuring the number of turns on the adjuster could give an uneven gait to the van.
plus also if the ground isn’t level this could also affect it.
Finally rock the van from side to side before taking any reading on suspension height to get the suspension settled.
you shouldn’t need to use spring compressors it should be easy to turn the adjuster rings.

 

[Ned Kelly]

Thanks guys had it on level ground so can rule that out. Van has full camper conversion and water tanks on that side and me at 18 stone so this is probably got a lot to do with it. taking the rings up 1cm seems to have improved the problem but might need a further 5 mm to 10 mm to get it to match the other side. would you recommend I get the tracking redone when I get this setup? Also, the lower thread also has gaps for grips for the smaller spanner does turning this make any difference or is this just there to hold it to stop it turning when you adjust larger black rings. Many thanks for your advice its a great help.

 

[The Van Cave]

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Thanks guys had it on level ground so can rule that out. Van has full camper conversion and water tanks on that side and me at 18 stone so this is probably got a lot to do with it. taking the rings up 1cm seems to have improved the problem but might need a further 5 mm to 10 mm to get it to match the other side. would you recommend I get the tracking redone when I get this setup? Also, the lower thread also has gaps for grips for the smaller spanner does turning this make any difference or is this just there to hold it to stop it turning when you adjust larger black rings. Many thanks for your advice its a great help.

I would recommend getting the alignment checked after any change to the suspension settings.
Those gaps are there to enable you to stop the sleeve rotating when you make adjustments.

 

[The Van Cave]

you shouldn’t need to use spring compressors it should be easy to turn the adjuster rings.

I agree, it should be easy, but mine weren’t when I adjusted mine to lowest setting. Even with spring compressors on and no load whatsoever on the adjusters they didn’t want to move. They had only been on a couple of months but were seized pretty tight!

 

[Insert Coin]

Experience tells us you cannot get these vans tracked often enough, they are forever going out of alignment.

I found on my T32 that after 2 years of them being fitted my B14’s had dropped a few mm, everything gets a little saggy with age right?

So when I took off my old tyres and fitted new tyres they were rubbing in a few places that they hadn’t been before so the inner arches needed some persuasion with hammers and heat guns.

 

[Ned Kelly]

Following on I have adjusted the front right twice now currently have 60 mm of thread showing from the yellow case to the two black adjustment rings as opposed to 35 mm on the front near side it is definitely better but still rubs if I hit a bump at speed or at the bottom of a dip in the road. When I measure from the floor to wheel arch edge on level ground I am getting 705mm on N/S and 700 mm on O/S so I might have to adjust again. The question I have is there a limit to how far I can go safely and would this seem normal to have a 25mm difference on the shock and only 5 mm on the van to floor measurement.

 

[The Van Cave]

Following on I have adjusted the front right twice now currently have 60 mm of thread showing from the yellow case to the two black adjustment rings as opposed to 35 mm on the front near side it is definitely better but still rubs if I hit a bump at speed or at the bottom of a dip in the road. When I measure from the floor to wheel arch edge on level ground I am getting 705mm on N/S and 700 mm on O/S so I might have to adjust again. The question I have is there a limit to how far I can go safely and would this seem normal to have a 25mm difference on the shock and only 5 mm on the van to floor measurement.

That really seems off to me. Imagine if you had standard front suspension. Both struts would be identical length, so your van would be leaning heavily to one side. There must be something wrong elsewhere, there must be. If there is a problem elsewhere and you adjust it out using your front strut adjustment then it may stop the rubbing and even out the height, but what is it hiding that could be dangerous?

Just to clarify a couple of things that can cause rubbing in normal circumstances, what is your tyre size and wheel offset on the front and does it run on the inside or the outside of the tyre?

 

[Ned Kelly]

Hi Chris its rubbing on the outside edge tyres are 265 40 R20 on 20 BBS

 

[The Van Cave]

Hi Chris its rubbing on the outside edge tyres are 265 40 R20 on 20 BBS

There's a little trick that might help stop the rubbing on the outside edge. There's a screw at about the 12 o'clock position on the outer edge of the arch liner. You can remove that screw and push the arch liner up behind the retaining tab for the screw. If you're careful you can also bend that tab back a bit, it'll just push the arch liner a little higher and may at least help solve the problem of the rubbing.

 

[Ned Kelly]

dont no the offset been told it should be stamped on inside hub or spoke so im going to take a look

 

[Ned Kelly]

Thanks, Chris, yes the tab is rubbing and it has worn the paint on one corner ill try bending that back. I have been looking into air suspension recently its such a heavy camper when fully loaded and i don't want to go back to OEM suspension im hoping air will give me the best of both worlds, just got to find someone who wants a 50-year-old slightly abused Kidney. Is there a market for a 1-year-old set of B14's that could help a little. Pre conversion they were top notch but the extra weight seems to be the problem.

 

[Skyliner33]

Thanks, Chris, yes the tab is rubbing and it has worn the paint on one corner ill try bending that back. I have been looking into air suspension recently its such a heavy camper when fully loaded and i don't want to go back to OEM suspension im hoping air will give me the best of both worlds, just got to find someone who wants a 50-year-old slightly abused Kidney. Is there a market for a 1-year-old set of B14's that could help a little. Pre conversion they were top notch but the extra weight seems to be the problem.

Speak to @CRS Performance he might be able to sort it out for you without the expense of air.

 

[CRS Performance]

OK this is going to throw a spanner in the works . As we all know threaded body shocks weren't designed for transporter owners . They were designed to balance up Race cars to make them handle better and optimise track times and corner weights , They do this by balancing the weights to each corner of the vehicle and sometime bias the weight to help cornering . As mentioned above adjusting one side up and preloading the spring on that corner seems odd , but moving weight around is exactly the reason Coil overs were invented . ( Not to slam a van )

So the comment on Driver and engine on one side does mean way more weight on OS front , if we were to put the van on a corner weight machine ( we do sometimes ) you will find more weight on the OS than NS . to balance this up you can adjust the threaded body up on the NS and this will pretension the spring But more importantly move some weight across to the lighter side . Dont worry about the thread measurements it means nothing really , Measure the wheel gaps and try to keep it close both sides

We have adaptors that we can adjust the position of the shock up and down slightly ( T 32 specific ) ( hub mods on other models ) by doing this we can get the van level and pretension the spring to move the weight as well . Its overkill really for 99 % of clients but because the topic has popped up we can mention it . A Van with a pretension on the NS and the shock adjusted to level the gaps is the ultimate set up , Difficult to do and you need a corner weight machine to get it right .

You just need to avoid going to fitment centre who doesn't understand and who levels it up because they think its wrong ????