17' Series Replacing or upgrading suspension on the Panda

[Brougham]

Ours is a 2011 so has the usual old twin axles and roller leaf springs. I want to lift it up (already flipped axles) to get more clearance and ideally lose the axles.

Has anyone looked at fitting something like the cruiseMaster independent system or equivalent after market suspension?

Or if not feasible can I replace the leaf springs with heavier ones to lift the van up? For comparison our OB is roughly 150-170mm lower than my brothers 2017 OB with the JTech. Quite a bit of clearance and we’re planning some bigger trips from next year (GRR and the red centre)

 

[Drover]

You can get springs that have a better set with slightly longer hangers which would lift it a bit more, go to wider tyres with a higher profile thats usually good for another 25mm, addinga J Tek or similar suspension is feasable if you have the $$$ to throw around but the loss in actual load capacity may be a shock, a J tek is 400kg ............... If you have an OB with springs they are more than adequate for boonie roads, just may not look as trend

 

[Brougham]

Cheers. Yeah not fussed in the look or bragging rights, just want more body clearance.

I’ve also got offset axles. Is fitting straight axles an option? That’s raise it up probably 100mm on its own.

 

[rags]

We have a 12ft 6” outback running on a single axle which I had Vehicle Components assess to fit up Cruisemaster suspension. It was doable but would require a fair bit of additional work as the water tanks would need relocating. Anyway the estimate was in the realms of $5 to $6 grand drive in drive out. Obviously with a double axle this price would also increase.They did mention that they are weary of doing some conversions to pop tops as there is some concerns around the sidewalls on the door side suffering cracking due to not much wall material around door heads and window heads.

Not sure if a similar posting was done on this site but over on Myswag you will see a posting re a similar conversion on a double axle jayco
http://www.myswag.org/index.php?topic=40044.0

 

[Drover]

Cheers. Yeah not fussed in the look or bragging rights, just want more body clearance.

I’ve also got offset axles. Is fitting straight axles an option? That’s raise it up probably 100mm on its own.

If you moved the axle stub from above the spring to below the spring it wouldn't matter if its an off set or not, as the axle is the same size either way......the off set would mean the middle bit of the axle would have better ground clearance.
Usually it seemed the difference between an OB suspension (spring) and a tourer was the OB suspension had a 50 or 60mm rail welded to the chassis which the springs hung off while the tourer just hung from the chassis, if yours hasn't got the 50mm rail off the chassis then that would be a way to do it.
You also need to measure your hitch to see it would still line up for certain lift heights especially on the tug or you could be in for a bigger headache.

I do think you will find the OB height is more than adequate for obstacles, the tug is normally lower.

If you want to go the bigger rim/tyre scenario, it could give you a modest lift, I went that path once and found the larger wheel/tyre did improve handling as well. check this link, fill in the boxes and it should show if they will fit the spot....it takes out a lot of guess work.

https://www.wheel-size.com/calc/

PS: What size wheels on it ??? also Jayco alloy rims are crap .

 

[Brougham]

Currently the axles offset up (axle is low). Was wondering if I flipped the axle so the offset dropped down, that would give me about 100mm which would be great.

Is that doable? Or can those offset axles only be drop down?

 

[Drover]

Currently the axles offset up (axle is low). Was wondering if I flipped the axle so the offset dropped down, that would give me about 100mm which would be great.

Is that doable? Or can those offset axles only be drop down?

Off set axles seem to send me dyslexic for some reason, throw some pics up, have a read of this thread also where @Boots in Action and @mikerezny have put some pics of their bent axle set up, I think the situation where the main axle is under the spring pack and the stub even lower is not really an ideal situation, just seems to me the loadings on the fittings would be too much...
Going to straight axles would give you probably 50mm more than the best position for the off set, contrary to my earlier post.
Axles can be sourced from most trailer spare shops, stay away from caravan yards.....

https://www.expandasdownunder.com/threads/off-set-axle-banter-thread.10975/page-1

 

[Brougham]

Here you go. No additional piece on my chassis rail, just the chunkier chassis that the outback got. It’s a 2011 so maybe before that started happening.

 

[Drover]

Thats great, the pics tell the whole story, I'm amazed as thats another version of the drop set up, I haven't seen an axle with such a large spacer before, looks like they were trying for every inch.
I reckon if you ran a 50mm bit of square along the chassis and mounted the springs off that like they do on later models and replace the off set with a straight you would get your bit of extra height, possible 80 to 90mm, depending if that bent axle is 40 or 50mm, have a look around at other rocker spring set ups. Just remember to apply a possible lift to your hitch or you will end up with a can of worms.
You would have to find a metal basher that could do the job and engineer it all and have the approval before the job.

When you replace those tyres get a set of AT's, the chunky treads are useless on a van and give bugger all traction in the wet when they really need some.