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Looking at getting a maxi.

3K views 13 replies 5 participants last post by  Jonathan Air-LiftUK 
#1 ·
Ladies and gents,

I'm seriously considering the option of selling/swapping my T4 airbus for a LWB caddy. Looking for something with a row of seats in the back but still enough room for biking equipment as well as camping out.

Questions:

Does anyone have one that they'd be interested in swapping for my t4 bus?
Does anyone have the pop top options on there van and how useable are they?
Would I miss the t4?
Would my khyam classic motor dome fit on the side of a caddy?

That's about it so far everyone. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated and given now in advance. :ILU:
 
#2 ·
I've both a t4 and a caddy maxi kombi the later is a far more modern feeling van it's like driving a useful car the double sliding doors are good with kids and we often fit 4 bikes in which are 3 full size and a 20inch with plenty of space and still seating for 4
The caddies are getting cooler and in my option better value as more for your money
Mine is a ex bg van bought at 5000 miles in the baby blue yeh I've spent quite a bit now but I love driving it and very useful
I'm probably going to fit the pop top next year to allow a big bed in roof I'm not going to fit bottom bed just a kitchen pod and maybe side rail for awning
Si
 
#6 ·
Here I am pulling a Caddy apart and I just spotted this :) Albeit this one's not a Maxi, they're cool vans, front end and drivetrain from a Mk5 Golf but with leaf springs on the rear, and far, far simpler to put on air than a T4! As has been said it's far more modern and it's far more like a car to drive.

Smaller inside but I'm sure you'd be able to make it work as a camper with a bit of ingenuity, it's not a bad option all round mate T:
 
#11 ·
That's pretty much the best route in my eyes Chezzy T: There's no room for a panhard rod without moving the fuel tank. You could technically have one from the other side but as we're effectively stripping back the entire rear suspension to nothing and starting from scratch anyway, a Watt's linkage is a much nicer way to go. That also makes the Caddy really good fun to work with for me from an engineering standpoint, it's rare to be able to design so much of the suspension from the ground up! We're not doing it exactly like that for a number of reasons as it doesn't look very well set up in my eyes (I mean no offence to whoever did the work as it looks very neat bar a few iffy bits, but it's obviously not finished so maybe it all got sorted), I also don't like to cut or weld to the standard vehicle unless it's completely necessary.

There is of course an easier way around it which is to raise the axle on shackle plates then use a bag to raise it back up, pretty much the same as the Load Lifter kits which are designed for load support. But this isn't a great idea as far as ride quality is concerned, so it tends to be something people do when they just want to get it slammed without regard for handling or completely changing the back end around. We briefly experimented with the idea of mounting a Mk5 subframe but it wouldn't have worked without major surgery.

As a side note the weird part is the standard shock mounting gets raised with the axle, personally if I were to be lowering a Caddy in the traditional way on it's leaf springs I'd look to relocate the lower shock mounts to reclaim some of the angle. At stock height the shock is sitting at around 45 degrees, but when lowered in the normal way by flipped shackle plates it's closer to 60 degrees off vertical. I've not had the opportunity to dyno any aftermarket shocks and I assume they've been valved to compensate for the new angle but there's nowhere near as much movement as there could be.
 
#14 ·
Sorry missed this before. Yep pretty much bolt in aside from some drilling, we're looking at about 10 holes in total. I'll have more info on it once the first one's finished (which should be by the end of the week, but don't hold me to it!). It won't be cheap by the look of things, mostly because of the sheer number of parts involved and we've gone a bit mad with the spec of the components like bearings etc, but I'm really happy with how it's looking so far.

Only thing I'm not 100% on yet is this van has no spare wheel and a Milltek exhaust so the clearances may be a little different on some vans.
 
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