We've never liked the ride height of our Transit Connect. It was either too high in the back with a 4'' (101mm) gap between the tire and fender edge, or how low the van became after installing a set of aftermarket rear coil springs.. The aftermarket rear lowering springs were listed as being 40mm. But over time, they've started to sag and have dropped down to 34.7mm. This places the tire extremely close to the fender edge and we had to do something about this.
An average sized balled up fist could be placed between the tire and fender edge. On the other hand, when we installed the lowering springs.. we could barely place two fingers between the tire and fender edge.
With the factory set up on a cargo van that utilized a heavy duty taller, stiffer coil spring, when one mounts 16'', 17'', 18'' or 19'' wheels on the van, the gap between the tire and fender edge was always the same. 4'' or the 101mm. over time these aftermarket coil springs have started to sag and now it's very difficult to place one finger between the tire and fender edge.
After one years worth of Maryland roads.. this is what the springs and rear suspension looked like. In order to prep the van for the first set of lowering springs.. we had to clean and repaint parts of the rear suspension.
Once everything was suitable to the new rear lowering springs.. we had them installed on the van. Cobra suspension lists these springs as being road rated springs. So it was perfectly acceptable for the center portion of the springs to be touching. Adjusting the poly isolaters was important to keeping these springs in place.
Coil Spring installation procedure, was to place the van on the lift, remove the lower shock bolts, all while supporting the dead axle, the wheels did not need to be removed and a pry bar was used to pry out the old springs and install the new lowering springs. Once the spring was in place, the dead axle raised and the shocks bolts reinstalled. For the 2 years we've had these springs installed, we never heard any clunking, grinding or scraping sound from the springs. Only this past year the springs started to sag significantly.
In order to see or imaging what the yellow Bilstein shocks would look like with the red of the Cobra springs.. I wrapped the lower portion of the shocks with a self adhesive yellow vinyl wrap.
With the eventuality that the Cobra springs sagging as much as they have over the last year, we needed to create a new set of springs based on the taller, stiffer factory springs. I was happen with the 2 inch gap the Cobra springs first offered. So contacting Suspension.com who later redirected our emails to Coil Springs Specialties, Speaking with the engineers at CSS, we agreed that these new springs should be 2 inches (50.8mm) shorter and 20-25% stiffer. The forging process would take 4 weeks to complete.
During that time frame, I contacted Eaton springs and asked their guru if it would have been easier to just cut the factory springs for our van. Although Eaton Guru said that the factory springs could have been cut, they would have had to been cut from the continuous rotation end as the other end had a small rotation pig tail.
Later we get word that a prototype set of new rear coil springs have bene completed and was shipped to our location. The boxed springs arrived a few days afterward and I wasn't expecting that the box was heavier than the first box containing the Cobra springs. As agreed, these custom springs form CSS were 2'' shorter and 20% stiffer than the factory springs. The following Sat we test fitted the springs on the van. This meant having to remove the failing Cobra springs and installed the newly designed rear lowering springs by CSS.
The tech was not complaining, but did say that the new springs were very difficult to install and it took two techs with pry bars to get these springs in place. With the confirmation these springs fit, we had the tech remove the springs and reinstall the Cobra lowering springs. We did this because I wasn't pleased with the black powder coating as done by a third party. We drove 1 hour to western Maryland to our powder coaters where they would handle the recoat of the springs in a more desirable color. I informed our powder coaters that we did not need these springs until Dec 9th. But 3 days later they called us saying the springs were ready for pick up.
We drove to the shop after picking up the springs in order to let them know we got the springs in early. All of the techs and the shop manager wanted to see this. According to the shop, They have several cars ahead of mine but would try to installed this this Sat. If that falls through, we're looking at next Sat at the latest.
This topic will be updated when the new springs have been installed.
