I have lowered my van three times. I never liked dealing with the stock rear axle, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. Initially, I removed leaves to get the van low enough in the rear, then added air shocks to pump it back up. It was fine at 30 psi, but never handled wellas it just didn’t have enough spring under it after I took so much out.
I wanted bigger brakes in the front and better suspension all around. I contacted Rich Bryant and after a few email conversations we devised a plan to add a full set of BC Coilovers. After I received them I began to install. On the front I had to do a little strut tower modification. I did the BC’s in the front at the same time I added ’93 Caravan spindles and brakes. This gave me more rotor diameter, bolt-in hub, and the big bolt pattern. I ordered some cheap aluminum wheels from Summit (four 15 x 8’s for the front, two 15 x 4’s for the back, a set of M&H drag radials for the front, a set of M&H drag radials for the back, and two M&H slicks for the front).
In the rear, I removed the coil springs from the BC shocks. I never put the BC Coilovers (shocks) on the stock axle (which was already lowered). At first, I was going to add back the leaves I took out, add the BC’s in the back, and use the “drop plate” method to lower everything. But because the rear wheels stuck out too far once I put them on (I hadn’t even added the ½” plates yet which would have made the track another inch wider), I decided to junk the stock axle and build my own.
I used 2” x 3” x 3/16” square tubing with ½” plates for the spindles and 3/8” steel plate for the u-bolt flanges. I used 2” x 2” x 1/8” angle to make my shock mounts. There was a little trimming here and there on stock brackets, but I think it came out okay.
In the end I narrowed the stock rear track width by 2 ½”. The wheel/tire combo fits like it should now,plus I was able to lower it a bit without feeling like everything in the rear was too low. I refreshed the brakes in the back while I was at it.
Next up: fuel cell and nitrous.
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