Harold:

Thanks for sticking your neck out :~).  I am very interested in where
you
put the front spacers you made.  Could you briefly describe where/how
and
how thick.  Does the front end dive less as a result?  Doesn't the whole
van feel/perform better with balanced suspension?

It sounds to me like you have in fact pre-loaded your springs.  Did you
just pull out the rear donut and put your spacer behind it?  If so, same
thing.  You thus made that spring a litter stiffer doing that.  Even
1/16
of an inch will make a difference (on my bike, the adjustment is made in
2mm or .08" increments).
TIA
steve
harald.nancy wrote:

> To stick my nose in the hornets nest:
>
> Remember the leaning Vanagon?
> It was a thread about straightening out the westy's.
> Since all the furniture and water tanks etc. are on the left side
> in the westfalias, they tend to lean to the left. Exchanging the rear
> springs did not help enough.
> After installing a 1/2 " washer between the left rear "doughnut"
> and the frame, the car rides straight.
> The 1/2 inch washer did raise the left side the same amount.
> Could be that the spring compressed maybe 1/16  inch or less,
>  but the amount is not noticeable.
> The left rear spring does not feel any different than it did before
> I installed the washer. The only difference, the car rides level.
>
> The effect is much better than using spring spacers. They do,
> in effect, reduce the effectiveness of the coils.
>
> You can fabricate the washers easily from a 1/2 inch semi-soft
> vinyl cutting board. Goes well with the "doughnuts."
>  All you need is a jigsaw and a very thin
> fine toothed blade. Use the "doughnut" as a pattern.
>  Also can be shaped with a belt sander.
> I also raised the front 1/4 inch that way.
>  In 2 years of use, the washers have not compressed a bit.
> Harald
> 90 westy  2 wd.