LIFT!!

[chip grimes]

looking to lift a 2018 transit connect 1" - 3" to mount  larger wheels with a/t tires any one know of companies producing after market kits yet ??

[OLDSCHOOLFOOL]

Make sure to post some pics. I'd be interested in seeing how you accomplish it.

[Mike Chell]

I just typed "Transit Connect Lift Kit" in a search engine, and got about a dozen companies.

[Gideon]

I'd like to add coil spring spacers [kind that go on top or bottom - NOT between coils] all around to get 1-1 1/2 inch extra ground clearance.

Not for off-road but to avoid trouble on campground paths & snow-covered roads.  Seems as it should be possible & not expensive.

Edited October 5, 2018 by Gideon
correction

[mountainman]

On 5/21/2018 at 5:33 PM, Mike Chell said:

I just typed "Transit Connect Lift Kit" in a search engine, and got about a dozen companies.

I think these kits are for the Transit, not the Transit Connect. There is a handful of airlift kits, but these are more intended for towing.

 

I've spent some time looking into this. The problem is the TC isn't derived from a truck, unlike the Transit and E series vans, so you can't use a kit for a truck, and there isn't enough of a TC enthusiast market for manufactures to justify the R&D necessary to bring TC specific kits to market, unlike for Sprinters. This limits our options to longer/stiffer coils + possibly longer struts or using coil spacers. I wouldn't mess with the longer struts since you can already squeeze an inch or so out of the stock struts and anything more will negatively effect the vehicles geometry.

 

So yeah, spaces or coils. Your call. There was a guy who posted in the forum about this years ago. He put some bigger tires on his TC and then lifted it with spacers, which he made himself for some reason. It looks like he eventually ordered new coils but he never followed up on how it turned out... Keep us posted!

 

 

[desert_connect]

I plan to use these spacers to lift my van. Probably two spacers (1") and one size up on the tires (Sumitomo HTR XL 215/60-16 = +.8"). About 1 3/8" lift overall. 

 

SPACCER^® offers the following benefits:

Increased clearance - 12 mm, 24 mm, 36 mm or 48 mm (.47 in, .94 in, 1.42 in or 1.89 in)

https://www.spaccer.com/en_US/makes-and-models/ford/transit-connect.html

[Fifty150]

Coil spring spacers will change more than just your height.  Alignment.  Steering.  Ride comfort.......

 

I tried coil spring spacers on pickup trucks.  I did not care for how it changed the angles on the suspension and drivetrain components.  With pickup trucks, the better solution was a lift kit engineered to be vehicle specific. 

 

Since you are doing it, don't leave anything on the table.  Go with a 48 mm lift.  

[Fifty150]

23 hours ago, mountainman said:

 and there isn't enough of a TC enthusiast market for manufactures to justify the R&D necessary to bring TC specific kits to market

 

 

 

Not just lift kits.  You can't get an exhaust kit either.

[mountainman]

On 10/6/2018 at 9:58 AM, Fifty150 said:

Not just lift kits.  You can't get an exhaust kit either.

That's surprising with how popular these vans are in the UK.

[Fifty150]

Yeah.....but not popular with the performance crowd.  Transit Connect is everywhere in major metropolitan locations.  Every large city is crowded with Transit Connects - all driven by employees.  Most of these vans are bought by businesses.  Also consider that there is no way possible to make this a fast car.  So why even try?  If you just want to make the van sound different, you could easily raise the van on a lift, cut out the OEM exhaust system from the catalytic converter on back, then install a glasspack muffler and add a shiny exhaust tip for bling.  The Transit Connects equipped with wheel chair ramps have that big muffler in the rear removed.  You get a little more sound.  

[DonShockley]

Although this video is for a full size Transit van and not a Connect, it's still one of my favorite car show segments. If I win the lottery I want to do something similar with an old beat up Connect. The ultimate sleeper.

 

[Fifty150]

It is slightly turbo charged........

[jrm223]

On 10/9/2018 at 9:47 PM, Fifty150 said:

Yeah.....but not popular with the performance crowd.  

 

Haven't heard of M-Sport, yet? Granted, it's Euro, so we don't get it on this side of the big pond, lol. It also doesn't help with a lift, since most people lower these vans. Who knew that a cargo van could look so hot? haha - http://www.m-sport.co.uk/m-sport-news/dovenby-hall/revealing-the-m-sport-ford-connect 

There's also a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Msportconnect/ 

 

On the topic of larger A/T tires, I'm running General Grabber AT2 215/65R16 on my stock steel wheels. I haven't had any rubbing issues, the tires give me about 1/2" more ground clearance which is basically nothing. They do fling gravel like an SOB (I have gravel driveway and live in a rural town that has gravel roads except for the main roads being paved) and of course the speedo is off a bit because of the taller profile - 66 indicated is actually 70MPH road speed.

[jrm223]

Edit: Somehow got a double-post

Edited October 15, 2018 by jrm223
Double-post

[Fifty150]

For whatever reason, different cars are popular in different parts of the world.  The USA may be the only market on earth with as many pickup trucks sold.  Pickup trucks, especially 1/2 ton, 3/4 ton, and 1 ton trucks just aren't privately operated in most of the world.  Who would buy a big truck like that in Tokyo, Hong Kong, or Saigon?  Same way the mini-van is the pimp mobile in Asia, where every gangster movie shows an entire mob pouring out of a mini-van for the climactic machete fight scene.  

[mountainman]

On 10/15/2018 at 9:14 AM, jrm223 said:

On the topic of larger A/T tires, I'm running General Grabber AT2 215/65R16 on my stock steel wheels.

Cool! I'm planning on getting tires with a bigger sidewall as well. Would you mind uploading a picture so we can see how it looks?

[Fifty150]

I would use larger tires, if there were a way to reprogram the speedometer to read correctly.

[jrm223]

On 10/16/2018 at 1:17 PM, mountainman said:

Cool! I'm planning on getting tires with a bigger sidewall as well. Would you mind uploading a picture so we can see how it looks?

 

The first pic is from a thread I made and the second pic is just last night after I rotated tires & got my new lug nuts on, haha. Maybe someday I'll have some better looking wheels to go with the spikes.  The thread has some more pics of tire clearance since I'm on stock suspension, they've never rubbed for me.

 

 

 

[mountainman]

3 hours ago, jrm223 said:

 

The first pic is from a thread I made and the second pic is just last night after I rotated tires & got my new lug nuts on, haha. Maybe someday I'll have some better looking wheels to go with the spikes.  The thread has some more pics of tire clearance since I'm on stock suspension, they've never rubbed for me.

Thanks for sharing! It looks like if you went any bigger then the tires wouldn't fit, at least in the front.

[Fifty150]

You could fill up the wheel wells with bigger tires in the back.  But it wouldn't help you with performance in any way.  More aggressive tread in the front may help, if you can find it.  You could try calculating different rim & tire size combinations to see what would work.  Ideally, you want to stay close to OEM specs so that you are not too far from what the computer's revolutions per mile are.  With the 2.5 liter engine, you're not going to be able to add any power.  But better tread could give better traction, and better stopping.  But if you are only doing it because you like the way it looks, then make yourself happy.  For me, the math is not in my favor.

[OLDSCHOOLFOOL]

I have been wondering if anyone with the Gen I version had modified the wheel well trim in order to get taller tires on it? It appears to me that you could easily enough trim away some of the plastic around the wheel wells. I haven't found any pics of someone doing such. The Gen II doesn't offer the same possibility.

[jrm223]

On 10/18/2018 at 4:37 PM, Fifty150 said:

You could fill up the wheel wells with bigger tires in the back.  But it wouldn't help you with performance in any way.  More aggressive tread in the front may help, if you can find it.  You could try calculating different rim & tire size combinations to see what would work.  Ideally, you want to stay close to OEM specs so that you are not too far from what the computer's revolutions per mile are.  With the 2.5 liter engine, you're not going to be able to add any power.  But better tread could give better traction, and better stopping.  But if you are only doing it because you like the way it looks, then make yourself happy.  For me, the math is not in my favor.

 

These are the smallest 'aggressive' tread tires (all-terrain) that I could find, and for relatively cheap - about $110/ea through Walmart. 215/55R16 stock vs my 215/65R16, 5.9% larger via GPS calculated - an 83.9 mile drive showed 79.2 miles on trip-odometer after I upgraded. The only way I found to get more aggressive tread in a short tire is by using ATV/SxS tires and there's still only a handful for a 16" rim, haha. Van weight & PSI would both be a big problem on those tires, too.

[Gideon]

Do the larger tires affect the turn radius ?    Myself, I've got 215/60r16 winter tires [on steel rims - others are on mags].  Here in Quebec & Ontario winter tires are required by law [and needed by weather].

[Fifty150]

4 hours ago, jrm223 said:

 

215/55R16 stock vs my 215/65R16, 5.9% larger via GPS calculated - an 83.9 mile drive showed 79.2 miles on trip-odometer 

 

 

It doesn't look like it is enough of a difference to do anything bad that will effect driveability.  The real difference is in being stuck, and not being stuck.  Have you actually found yourself in a spot where you knew OEM would not have worked?  Did you ever get stuck anywhere with OEM tires?

[Fifty150]

1 hour ago, Gideon said:

Do the larger tires affect the turn radius ?    Myself, I've got 215/60r16 winter tires [on steel rims - others are on mags].  Here in Quebec & Ontario winter tires are required by law [and needed by weather].

4 hours ago, jrm223 said:

 

215/55R16 stock vs my 215/65R16, 5.9% larger via GPS calculated - an 83.9 mile drive showed 79.2 miles on trip-odometer 

 

 

 

The bigger the tire, the wider the turn radius.  35" tires really messed up my truck's turn radius.  I can't make u-turns anywhere in The City.

 

Can't wait to hear how well your tires do in snow.  In my part of the country, there is no snow.  And when I drive up to snow, there is always a requirement for traction control devices.  I know the difference between snow chains, and no chains.  But I've never bought snow tires, since the police will still require chains on 2WD.  With my limited snow driving experience, it feels like chains on handled better than AWD with M+S tires.