Overlooking a Critical Issue With Our New Tires

[LostInTransit]

We both were so excited to have finally found the correct wheel and tires for the van, that we over looked one small detail.. Our 2 ton floor jack will not extend up enough to lift the van off the ground in order to remove a flat tire. We tested this last weekend, only to learn that even at it's highest lift, the tire still wasn't off the ground high enough. I was considering a new 4 ton jack but thought, this is too larger and heavy for me to carry around in the small van. I had to come up with a plan. I took two of my old metal barbells and had the shop weld these up. Doing so created a box that the 2 ton jack can fit into and because the barbells have stop sign shaped weight heads.. the jack was very secure. Adding those barbells to the floor jack finally allowed the 2 ton jack to lift the van completely off the ground in order to extract the front wheels for cleaning or rotation. But we still have the same issue with the rear wheel setup. Hoping that the 40mm lowering springs will bring the van down some so that we can access the rear tires.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Confused.. Are you saying that the jack which comes with the van is insufficient?

 

[BISCUT]

Pics warranted here....

 

[LostInTransit]

BMWTurboDzl Correct the scissor jack that came with the van is not sufficient enough to lift the van. Nor is the 2 ton floor jack purchased at an earlier date would not lift eh van. Mind you we went from the stock 16'' wheels w/ 215/55/R16 to 19'' wheels w/ 245/40/R19 tires.

BISCUT Pictures at a later date.

 

[kschachn]

BMWTurboDzl Correct the scissor jack that came with the van is not sufficient enough to lift the van. Nor is the 2 ton floor jack purchased at an earlier date would not lift eh van. Mind you we went from the stock 16'' wheels w/ 215/55/R16 to 19'' wheels w/ 245/40/R19 tires.

BISCUT Pictures at a later date.

Perhaps this contributed to the problem.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Tires are 1.3'' taller, so maybe a bit over 1/2'' of ground clearance greater. I can't imagine that's enough to max out the jack. If it is, a bigger scissor jack or a piece of 2x6 ,2x8 would work to get the jack to the right spot.

 

[4WD]

I make jack spacers with glued & screwed 3/4” solid oak … this can avoid over extension, normalize an imperfect surface, or give the base more footprint … Made a couple even thicker for the Jeep … these are pine+oak …

 

[LostInTransit]

More details:

Adding the Bilstein B6 struts with the factory coil springs, lowered the front end by 3/4 or 19mm, Then adding the 19'' wheels w/ 245/40/R19 tires, There's only a two finger gap between the tire and fender edge. So yes, adding the 19''s did lift the van up but lowered the wheel well closer to the tire etc. The 2 ton floor jack is not able to extend out beyond 13.9 inches and we needed roughly 14.9-15.0 before the tire was actually off the ground. Adding the barbell trick added that extra height to the floor jack.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I make jack spacers with glued & screwed 3/4” solid oak … this can avoid over extension, normalize an imperfect surface, or give the base more footprint … Made a couple even thicker for the Jeep … these are pine+oak …

I think the JK and JL come with scissor jacks from the factory? I've converted a lot of locals to TJ/XJ factory jacks. They work great with a 6x6 block!

 

[4WD]

I think the JK and JL come with scissor jacks from the factory? I've converted a lot of locals to TJ/XJ factory jacks. They work great with a 6x6 block!

They do - I carry a 10 ton bottle jack and 36” high lift jack plus a piece of 2x6 capped with oak …
In the shop I have a 4x6 block also capped with oak - it works well with an AC Delco scissor jack in the rear - and Big Red gets the front up easily … alternative is also grab a 3 ton floor jack …

 

[4WD]

More details:

Adding the Bilstein B6 struts with the factory coil springs, lowered the front end by 3/4 or 19mm, Then adding the 19'' wheels w/ 245/40/R19 tires, There's only a two finger gap between the tire and fender edge. So yes, adding the 19''s did lift the van up but lowered the wheel well closer to the tire etc. The 2 ton floor jack is not able to extend out beyond 13.9 inches and we needed roughly 14.9-15.0 before the tire was actually off the ground. Adding the barbell trick added that extra height to the floor jack.

View attachment 147261

Sharp !

 

[LostInTransit]

@4WD Might look sharp on the front, but the rear of the van is ass high.. Need to lower it a bit with the 40mm lowering springs. At least the Connect doesn't look like the Nissan NV anymore. Small ass toy wheels.. these 19's fill out the wheel well and just look proportioned correctly.

BTW, thats the spray stuff purchase from Walmart to gloss coat the tires. it's getting harder to find now that spring is here.

 

[UG_Passat]

Buy a Jack that has a higher rise height

 

[LostInTransit]

Things are looking up for our jerry rigged 2 ton jack. we picked up a nail a few days and on the passenger side rear. This gave us an opportunity to test the gig on the newly lowered rear end. Worked like a charm. Without lowering the rear of the van is would be impossible to left the rear of the van and we would have had to call triple A So the van went from 101mm..

Down to 40mm..

..and for the last 2 weeks the van has settled even more. We both like this stance and I never thought I'd say that my wife likes this stance. The old 2 ton will be replaces at some point.

 

[AZjeff]

I always thought 40mm lowering springs lowered something 40mm. You say it dropped 60mm? Looks good, how about a full side view?

 

[John105]

More details:

Adding the Bilstein B6 struts with the factory coil springs, lowered the front end by 3/4 or 19mm, Then adding the 19'' wheels w/ 245/40/R19 tires, There's only a two finger gap between the tire and fender edge. So yes, adding the 19''s did lift the van up but lowered the wheel well closer to the tire etc. The 2 ton floor jack is not able to extend out beyond 13.9 inches and we needed roughly 14.9-15.0 before the tire was actually off the ground. Adding the barbell trick added that extra height to the floor jack.

View attachment 147261

My wife's SUV has Bilstein B6's and the ride height didn't change since the factory springs were reinstalled. Are you sure the struts were properly installed, or maybe they are worn? 3/4" difference? Who did the work?

 

[Eddie]

Use an additional 4-inch block on top of the jack.

 

[AZjeff]

Ignore

 

[LostInTransit]

@John105 There some debate as to what the 40mm means on the springs some say it's the amount that been taken off stock springs (40mm shorter than stock spring height) while other say it's the amount you'll end up with. In this case, we ended up with less than 40mm at the rear. Also, it's my understanding that the Bilstein b6 have "tear" or steps that allow the spring to sit in multiple positions on the struts. Meaning there are three tears or step ups on these struts as to allow for adjustments when the coil has been tightened onto the strut. The tech selected the lowest setting or tear thus ending up with a reduced height. So it's our assumption that by cutting off 5mm-8mm worth of coil that sets into the lowest tear, it should level the van out.

What are you working on today?

@D60 I think it's more commonly referred to as a tinker. Plus it helps when you have a few oddball parts lying around. But I'm not a hoarder. Struggling with a bad balljoint in the head of this tripod thing. The Allen bolt wont move, so I'll have to run to the shop this weekend.

bobistheoilguy.com

@AZjeff This a snip for a video we did as I sent this to Cobra Coil, Netherlands to show them after adding the rear coil springs it lowered the rear of the van more then we expected, thus shifting the weight towards the back and raising up the front slightly. I was afraid it would look like we're dragging our ass.. Granted there's not much difference between the gap at the front and the gap at the rear, maybe 8mm-10mm if that. But we don;t like how this looks. Again, the only front lowering springs Cobra ca offer is is 20mm and that's too much with these Bilstein struts.

 

[MSCH]

ever heard of wood blocks made from 1x4, 2x4 or 4x4?