Rear suspension springs

[Alphie]

Hi. The ride height / ground clearance of my conversion (with no extra load added) has always been quite poor, causing regular grounding in camping fields. I have noticed (at the club meet) that it sits a good inch or two lower than most other vans. My question is, has anyone sought to improve a situation like this with new or uprated rear springs? Thanks Chris.

[Picasso]

Hello Chris do you know if your van has been lowered such as has it got coil overs 

[Alphie]

2 hours ago, Picasso said:

Hello Chris do you know if your van has been lowered such as has it got coil overs 

It seems to have original looking plain (single) coil springs (i don't know what 'coil overs' are however) and I know it hasn't been lowered since import and conversion (4 years ago). I've always just accepted that its down to the extra weight of conversion but now I've seen other camper versions I can see there is a difference. thanks for your reply Lee.

[Picasso]

Well the option is to go for heavy duty springs these are standard height to the originals but give a harder ride so for you these should alter hight and carry the extra weight better 

[Mick Mc]

hi there how did you get on with getting new springs I want to uprate the ones on my vellfire camper if I can find the size and dimensions of them I might be able to use helper springs (springs that go inside the original ) to make them stiffer but at the moment the company doesn’t do them but they might have them just made for a different model of car 

[Alphie]

Well I still haven't got around to changing them but have decided on these https://www.autojapspares.co.uk/toyota-alphard-heavy-duty-20-rear-coil-springs--rear-gas-shock-absorbers-35792-p.asp from Auto Jap Spares for when I do. They are heavy duty & so should recover the ride height I seem to have lost due to the extra weight of the campervan conversion.

[Mick Mc]

thanks Alfie I’m doing this my self next month and when I get the old springs out I will know the size to fit helper springs or air bags to get extra gross weight should I need as I’m not sure a 20-25 percent increase will be enough as I’m close to the gross now with out passengers and there luggage  I’ll get back to you with a update in a month or so 

[smurf]

23 hours ago, Alphie said:

Well I still haven't got around to changing them but have decided on these https://www.autojapspares.co.uk/toyota-alphard-heavy-duty-20-rear-coil-springs--rear-gas-shock-absorbers-35792-p.asp from Auto Jap Spares for when I do. They are heavy duty & so should recover the ride height I seem to have lost due to the extra weight of the campervan conversion.

I wouldn't bother with buying and changing the shock absorbers unless you feel the need to as they have no affect on the ride height. You could remove them totally and the car will sit at the same height.

[Alphie]

Good luck Mick, wish I had the compressors/facilities to do it my self. Point taken Richard, I just think, they do wear out, part of the MOT, no idea when they were last changed & its a good opportunity with the springs out. Downside is the extra cost of course.

[smurf]

The springs and shock absorbers aren't arranged in a strut, they are separately mounted and changing one doesn't involve the other, but obviously it will do no harm to change them.

[Chris S]

After a bit of advice on springs too. replaced the rear springs with heavy duty ones to help with sag in a camper conversion and after fitting the van now sits even lower at the rear when unloaded. I’m wondering if the springs I have ordered are not quite right.  

It’s a 2006 e four hybrid

Anyone else had this issue?

 

Thanks a lot

[Mick Mc]

O Chris that doesn’t sound good they haven’t sent you lowering springs have they?

mines booked in for the 4th of June to have the 25% stronger ones from auto jap spares fitted I’ll let you know if I have the same issue 

where did you get yours from ? 
also do you have old springs still ? if so you could get the measurements from them and possibly the fit helper springs but I’m not sure if that would help if you have fitted the lowering springs as they are designed to assist the springs with the heavy weight to stop it lowering the ride hide not increase existing ride height the ride height 

[Picasso]

hello chris where did you buy your springs from

[Chris S]

Thanks both- good thought that I could have been sent lowered springs. Ground clearance is  more limited now so not a desired outcome. 
 

Got them from jdm car  parts - seem to do a fair amount of Alphard spares. I’m waiting their response. I’m interested to know how you get on too!

[Mick Mc]

Just a update I’ve had the coil springs changed with the 25% stringer ones ( https://ebay.us/m/m1UJ0I ) fortunately the shocks are fine and didn’t need replacing 

it’s raised the height of the body above the rear wheels by 35mm (not sure if that’s back to original as I didn’t measure prior to the conversion ) with no noticeable difference to the ride so hopefully I should be fine when it’s fully loaded for trips away 

[smurf]

On 5/14/2025 at 11:25 PM, Chris S said:

After a bit of advice on springs too. replaced the rear springs with heavy duty ones to help with sag in a camper conversion and after fitting the van now sits even lower at the rear when unloaded. I’m wondering if the springs I have ordered are not quite right.  

It’s a 2006 e four hybrid

Anyone else had this issue?

 

Thanks a lot

Hi Chris. Did you ever get to the bottom of sorting this? I was about to get some 20% uprated springs fitted but I have since found out that the hybrid rear springs are a different part number to the rest of range, and the most likely reason is that they are uprated over standard because of the extra 200kg the car carries. As such, it probably means the 20% uprated springs are underrated on a hybrid 😫.

[Chris S]

Thanks - so as with quite a lot of things in life what I thought was a simple thing turned out to be more complex to sort out. In the end I have got upgraded springs and they do make a difference. The hybrid version is trickier to get springs and spacers to fit, as space is more limited it seems..Also  the initial springs I was sent were 20 mm too short. After re-measuring JDM have sourced and sent springs that are the correct length. I would recommend these. From the project I do have some springs and spacers that are now surplus to requirements if anyone is interested.

[Picasso]

On 6/27/2025 at 7:39 AM, Mick Mc said:

 

Just a update I’ve had the coil springs changed with the 25% stringer ones ( https://ebay.us/m/m1UJ0I ) fortunately the shocks are fine and didn’t need replacing 

it’s raised the height of the body above the rear wheels by 35mm (not sure if that’s back to original as I didn’t measure prior to the conversion ) with no noticeable difference to the ride so hopefully I should be fine when it’s fully loaded for trips away 

 

[Picasso]

Hello mick is that eBay link correct as the link is for 08 -15 Alphard Vellfire springs your Alphard is 02 -08 so the Vellfire springs should not fit your year 

[Mick Mc]

hi yes that’s the ones I purchased (I’ve doubled checked on my eBay purchase history to confirm ) I contacted them prior to purchasing and they confirmed that they was correct for my vellfire I’ve still no complaints with them and have driving with 4 adults and our golf clubs in a few times with no issues 

mick

[smurf]

I've been doing a bit more investigating on this and I have been down a rabbit hole of spring rate calculations. This led me to taking some measurements and I've found the wire diameter of the springs fitted to my car is 16.5mm (presumably OEM springs). The uprated springs I bought via eBay have a wire diameter of 16.1mm. They appear to have the same number of coils, so if I had fitted those springs it would be sitting lower afterwards. 

[Mick Mc]

my new ones  are 17.1 mm diameter 

hope that helps 

Mick 

[smurf]

Thanks Mick, that is interesting info. Yours are for a Gen 2 and from a little bit of googling it appears the kerb weight of the gen 2s are little bit higher than gen 1 so the springs were possibly bigger from the factory. If so, uprated springs will be bigger again. 

[Picasso]

mick bit confused as those springs should not fit could you possibily pm me your vin no. reason for asking is your profile says you have early alphard 

[smurf]

Mick said he has a Vellfire so I assumed he had just set up his profile incorrectly.