2005 Ducato air springs - alternative s??

[danielf]

Hi all,

Following on from my post here :

https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/posts/3256652/

Where I bought a set of air bags for rear of my van as the rear gets very low and woolly... Even when weighed not overweight.

The kit won't fit my camper on the right hand side due to seat belt mountings almost butting up to bumpstop :

When I ordered I looked at left as right was up against a wall in corner and though oh yeah it will be ok....

I'm trying now to find an alternative. Any ideas ?

My ideas so far :

Cut a chunk off seat belt mount off to fit airbags and brackets. Not sure about that one.
Coil spring assistance. But the ones I've seen so far need extra brackets
New leaf springs .upgraded Ducato 18 one with two leaves

Plus clean underside again.....

Help ! Any ideas ?

Daniel.

 

[Mikeco]

I would take off the seat belt mount, fit the suspension and then look at how to refit the seatbelt mount. This may just need a different piece of metal but as long as it’s bolted to the chassis it will be okay. I went down to my MOT garage and explained what I was going to do before I did it.

 

[busbuddy]

what does the bag mounting plate look like?

 

[gus-lopez]

Cut a chunk off seat belt mount off to fit airbags and brackets. Not sure about that one.

Yes.

 

[Boringfrog]

what does the bag mounting plate look like?

This is what mine looked like, the air bag is a lot wider than the bumpstop too.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Minxy]

Just go along to an engineering place and see if they can alter the seat belt mount for you so you can fit the suspension kit, if needs be they can beef it up in another area to make up for the removed chunk.

 

[danielf]

Thanks all for replies

The seat belt mount goes the full width of the van , and wraps around each chassis rail into the wheel arch.

I've asked my regular garage about their opinion of slicing a bit off but it is a shaped piece and 5mm thick. So massively over engineered but apparently crash tested.

Picture :

They were not sure , as there is no easy way of replacing what is cut out. Likely hood is it would be fine .... But it must be shaped like that for a reason , damn Germans making things safe ..... And to fit the brackets for airbags and to give clearance, at least half of what you see next to bump stop needs cutting off in triangle shape. And the down turn.

This the kit I have :


I'll see if I can get a picture of the brackets overlapping.

I tried putting brackets on at an angle but that didn't work as the seat belt brackets still are in way of air bags

Daniel.

 

[danielf]

So got a better view. Not the easiest thing to photograph with cannon the air.

You can see the black lines I drew showing minimum that would have to be cut off.

I've given up on airbags as my garage looked and said not sure , as it gets closer to mounting bolts and to be honest I'm not that happy as one of the reasons I bought this van was the rear seat safety.

I'm now looking at alternatives if anyone has any ideas .

New stronger springs

Coil assistors like mad springs , grayston etc. If anyone has any experience of those would be grateful

Daniel

 

[Boringfrog]

So got a better view. Not the easiest thing to photograph with cannon the air.

You can see the black lines I drew showing minimum that would have to be cut off.

View attachment 290872

I've given up on airbags as my garage looked and said not sure , as it gets closer to mounting bolts and to be honest I'm not that happy as one of the reasons I bought this van was the rear seat safety.

I'm now looking at alternatives if anyone has any ideas .

New stronger springs

Coil assistors like mad springs , grayston etc. If anyone has any experience of those would be grateful

Daniel

Given that your springs are 14 years old I would replace with the same but maybe slightly stronger. I worked at a motorfactors and was going to get new leaf springs for my old van, the spring manufacturers would do whatever you asked, uprated, or twin leaf.

 

[Deneb]

Have a look at Monroe air shocks. I don't know if they make them for the Ducato/ProMaster/Boxer/Relay vans, but they are an air adjustable set of dampers that work in a similar way to the air spring assisters.

I used to fit them on my tow cars when I towed a caravan, and our Range Rover accident tenders all had them to beef up the rear suspension due to the weight we carried. As they are a much lower profile air bag which encloses the damper, they have a smaller footprint than the bump stop replacement type bags. They won't be as "soft" as the larger bags, but they work well to both stiffen the rear suspension and raise the ride height.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[busbuddy]

You can see the black lines I drew showing minimum that would have to be cut off.

the down edge is well past where the metal appears to be bolted to the van, i 'personally' would chop the minimum of that edge off then get a spacer the same thickness (5mm?) as the remaining piece still bolted to the van.... this would then enable the bag mount to be flat and clamp over the seat belt mount metal as well

if you wanted you could make the spacer, then take the seat belt mount off the vehicle and weld the spacer onto the clean edge where you cut the down edge off
the bag mount would then bolt through the new part of the seatbelt mount into the old bumpstop thread

if any of that makes sense, hard to describe

 

[TheBig1]

cut the belt mount off square the remove the bump stop. weld an extension to the belt mount of the same thickness with the end turned down for strength allowing the bag to fit. obviously drill the extension plate and install the airbag as designed but on top of the extended seat belt reinforcement

 

[Landy Andy]

Have you looked in to all systems?

Some may fit with your setup, and there are many different systems from what I’ve seen

 

[Landy Andy]

These look like a possible fit for yours?

 

[danielf]

View attachment 291115 Have you looked in to all systems?

Some may fit with your setup, and there are many different systems from what I’ve seen

Thanks for these I came across the lower one but not the gold one. Ill have a look. Just need to know the dims to make sure it clears .


My other alternative currently is leave the seat belt frame alone and add a spacer which I can make.

The seller won't take the kit back as I've opened it ! So if o buy an alternative I will sell it on

Thanks all for the replies

Daniel

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[berni109]

Since you have it go with your idea of a spacer. As long as u engineer it properly and it looks part of the kit who's to know or care.
I remember when I fitted mine even with the bellows compressed I had a jack between chassis and spring to fit it.
Good luck.

 

[Terry]

Hi I simply fitted twin leaf springs to my van. Improved ride and handling, along side raising ride height by about 3 ins - cost £350

 

[danielf]

Hi all,

I've given up.on the kit I have to make them fit , would require too many compromises , so the kit I have is up for sale in the classifieds.

The search is still on for alternatives.... But requests to suppliers about dimensions are not forthcoming.


Thanks all

Daniel