lowering PB

[claytspb]

Hi Guys, This is my first thread and I hope it all makes sense.
I have a 2012 PB RWD and I tow a Van. Here is my problem. The rear is too high for both the Hayman Reece HD Hitch and my after market adjustable height one. The gap between tyre and inner arch is huge. It could easily take a drop in height.
Has anyone chopped the coil springs by 1 or 2 inches ?

What effect will that have on other suspension settings?

I have to tow with the front of the van a little too high which is not helping with stability.

I have just fitted a Scangauge and set the Trans Temp in memory so I will be watching that with interest.

Any feed back would be great.

[old Jack]

Welcome, and your first post makes sense.

Challengers do have a lot of "space" between the top of the tyre and the wheel arch.



1. It is illegal to chop coils and it is not even possible because of the wind pitch forming closed end coils at both ends.


2. Check your ride heights before doing anything, measure centre of hub to under wheel arch in a vertical line. Factory spec it 552mm +/- 20mm. May be you have HD aftermarket coils fitted already, are you the first owner of the car? here is a large range of aftermarket coils of different heights and spring rates so there will be replacement coil availble if you are too high. Factory coils are very soft, thin 14.7mm wire diameter and 5.25 turns, black in colour and usual have a white or yellow paint dot on the coil.



3. Minimum legal ride height at the rear is 512mm so you need to be careful you do not go below this when you are full loaded otherwise there are insurance implications if you have an accident and if you are tail low then this could attract the attention from the police as it looks as if you are overloaded.


4. What you may need is a drop tongue so the van drawbar is level as the HR towbar does sit quite high. I have a selection of tongues I use including an adjustable one as I have a 50mm lift and often the drawbars on most non off-road trailers are low, ski boats are the worse!


OJ.

[bigdave]

Good point from OJ re drop tongues. I have a couple - one fixed and one adjustable.

Just be careful if you tow a van with heavy ball weight - a lot of the adjustable ones you get on ebay that have big drops (up to 240mm) are only rated to 220kg towball download which is well below the ball weight limit you can sling on the back of the Challenger. Know your weights :-)

[geopaj]

4. What you may need is a drop tongue so the van drawbar is level as the HR towbar does sit quite high. I have a selection of tongues I use including an adjustable one as I have a 50mm lift and often the drawbars on most non off-road trailers are low, ski boats are the worse!

This is how I’d fix the issue.

[claytspb]

Ride height

Hi Guys, Great feedback and thanks for that.

OJ , thanks for the measurements. I now have a reference point. I have just measured it and I have 575mm, hub centre to painted arch directly above. That suggests previous owner has raised it.
I have a HM drop hitch and that is too high still.

I will when I can, be advertising for someone with unwanted stock coils that will sell them to me.


bigdave, Thanks for reminding me of the weight on the tow ball. I don't know what the Jayco is and I know someone with a gauge so I will do that asap.


geopaj, Thanks for your feedback. I spoke to couple spring makers in Melbourne who will reset springs but I maybe don't need that yet.


Regards Kerry

[old Jack]

Hi Kerry,

The coils could be factory coils that are at the tall end of the spec range. Only way to tell is to measure the wire diameter and count the number of turns.

When you hook the van up how much does the rear ride height drop down, measured from centre hub to under wheel arch.

Do you know what your towball download weight is?

OJ.

[claytspb]

tow hitch

Hi OJ, thanks for input. The car drops 25mm at the rear and only raises 5mm at the front.
My nephew has an Engineering workshop so I took challenger around there and he is making me a adjustable drop hitch 3 holes lower than the HR one which will fix the problem.
I have appointment tomorrow with a well regarded suspension place in Ballarat as he wants to see problem. As we are shopping there tomorrow anyway it wont hurt to hear his recommendations.

I have yet to weigh van towball weight so that should not be trouble. Its been too flaming cold to slide underneath car in the carport recently so I will measure and count coils soon.

Regards Kerry

[claytspb]

Lower suspension

Hi Kerry,

The coils could be factory coils that are at the tall end of the spec range. Only way to tell is to measure the wire diameter and count the number of turns.

When you hook the van up how much does the rear ride height drop down, measured from centre hub to under wheel arch.

Do you know what your towball download weight is?

OJ.

Hi OJ, I took car to suspension specialist who was amazed at the height but said it has standard springs but as you said at the top end of spec. He could only advise to get them reset and realigned and quoted $500 all up. I think that is reasonable but as we are going on a caravan holiday in three weeks I wont look at doing it until we come back. He didn't think it would be too hard a ride with 30mm reset.
The challenger is already on the stiff bouncy style of ride but if it bangs and crashes over bumps then I will revert to after market standard ones.
Cheers