rear suspension - again!

djunjon · Post by **djunjon** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 6:02 pm

Hi Folks

I've been doing some searching around the subject and the instances of bottoming rear suspension are quite frequent.

Mine also does this but the many posts all seem to have different cures, from new springs, shock, doughnuts and the like through to air assisted levelling devices.

If I have a bit of luggage (say 50-75kg) and 3 or 4 passengers, it doesn't take much of a road undulation to bottom out - we're not just talking speed bumps where it only needs a driver and a bit too much enthusiasm....

The ride height looks OK, so I don't see springs as the problem. The garage say the bushes look OK.

Has anyone cured the problem? Mine's done 80K miles so it could be shocks - one of their functions is to progressively transfer force to the chassis so hitting the bump stops could mean it's not doing that properly.

Any answers greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Djunjon

dandywarhol · Post by **dandywarhol** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 6:31 pm

I regularly dangle a small motorbike fron the towbar - I use towsure's spring assisters - no probs

PS.......around 75k on mine too

jimsmimm · Post by **jimsmimm** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 7:14 pm

I take it thats the honda not tedium

your refering to dandy

rwill19050 · Post by **rwill19050** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 8:27 pm

dandywarhol wrote:I regularly dangle a small motorbike fron the towbar - I use towsure's spring assisters - no probs

PS.......around 75k on mine too

dandywarhol, do you remember, what size assister's did you get for your Bongo ?

I looked at their site and got confused by the choice

Old age and all that stuff

Thanks in advance

Richard

dandywarhol · Post by **dandywarhol** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 8:29 pm

You take it right jim, I think it'd be dragging its arse with a 210kg TeDiuM on the back

I'm sure they're AS4 Richard...........best to double check by measuring between the coils.

Note the new addition to the flock below.

jimsmimm · Post by **jimsmimm** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 8:51 pm

your garage must be as bad as mine dandy........aint no cure for this addiction

djunjon · Post by **djunjon** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 12:08 pm

Errrr.... Ummmm. Could we get back to soggy suspension for a minute.... Please?

Thanks for that dandy - looks like a cheap solution!

I was investigating this site further and came across the bump stop thread where one vehicle had (roughly) 1 inch deep stops. Mine (as with another poster) has about four inch bump stops. It's no wonder they get clobbered all the time!

Does anyone have an explanation on this??

Cheers

Jon

Colin Lambert · Post by **Colin Lambert** » Sun Feb 18, 2007 11:42 am

I must admit, I now will have to climb under and have a look at my bump stops.
I went into a dip in the road with only myself and 1 passenger and NOTHING in the back and there was a helluva bang as we came out of the hole. I wondered then how on earth It is meant to carry 8 peeps if it bangs with only 2 aboard and it has only done 26k miles so it should not be knackered. It is a '99 2WD Bongalow, does anyone think that may make a difference?

djunjon · Post by **djunjon** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 11:27 am

Colin

This is a common problem. Dandywarhol's solution seems cheap and easy but it's working around the issue.

It can't be worn out dampers at 27K miles so it could just be the whole thing is a bit soggy to get a better ride. The suspension doesn't seem van-derived or else it would take a load better. I did once have 8 adults for a trip and it spent a lot of time bouncing off the stops!!!

It would be nice to get a fix for every-day motoring but I have a longer camping trip later in the year and I don't want to be feeling that bump-stop every few miles.

Dandy, what sort of bump stops do you have? Also, what weight (roughly) is the bike you hang on the back??

Anyone else sorted this problem?

Cheers

Jon

bigdaddycain · Post by **bigdaddycain** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 1:50 pm

Do all the bongo's that suffer from this problem seem to be the later versions? I noticed that colin lamberts is a very late model, i,d be suprised if a lightly used relatively new vehicle could have any major suspension problems. I have noticed this subject posted in the past, so the last time i had six passengers ( some of whom were quite big, like me) i tried to get my bongo to bottom out, to no avail. I'm wondering if the earlier models (mine's a1995) were considered to have too hard a ride? Perhaps an effort on mazda's part to soften the suspension has had this adverse bottoming out effect on later versions? ...just a thought...

djunjon · Post by **djunjon** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 10:47 am

It's not just newer models.

Mine's a '97, old shape. My mate has a '95 which suffers the same.

Bigdaddy, check out your bump stops, how long are they?

I should say again that we're not talking speed humps for a bump, just bigger road undulations will do it!

Jon

dandywarhol · Post by **dandywarhol** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 8:28 pm

Checked my '95 bump stops today - virtually non existant, just a rubber recess at the very top of the spring seat.
I didn't have any crashing out problems, I just wanted to give the springs less of a hard time with the bike on the back - it weighs around 110 kg

earhook · Post by **earhook** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 5:36 pm

Had 20 bags of stones for my drive in the back of mine and whilst it did not bottom out, the handling went completely to pieces. Kept it under 50 and crept around corners to get back home.
The steering felt 'over' responsive,... oversteery, so to speak.
Has any one else encountered this?

ferdyb · Post by **ferdyb** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 7:30 pm

no bumpstops in or around the springs on our '95 AFT, but big ones just above the actual axle, fairly solid and about three inches long, with about four inches of travel to the axle, i.e. axle is free to move upward four inches before it encounters the rubber. I can't say I've ever noticed any contact and there are no witness marks on the axle or rubber.

Wonder if the bongolow has different set-up from the AFT ?

Earhook, was your stones evenly distributed ? what was the actual weight ? you have got 215s on the back I presume ?

ferdy

djunjon · Post by **djunjon** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 1:14 pm

My bump stops are like ferdy's, not in the springs, and also 3-4" long.

If you look at this old thread...

http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... bump+stops

it shows stops about an inch long....

It also shows the spring assisters as mentioned by dandy earlier in this thread.

There seems to be a huge difference, not only in bump stops but also in experiencing bottoming out.

HELP........

Jon

PS - what's an AFT? If it's Auto Free Top, me too....