I'd say his shocks are shot. I drive on country roads with no problem. His roads can't be worse that the gravel in rural TN unless he's driving through a field.

Start with looking up the stock ride height & comparing with what he has.

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

x2 on Vermont gravel roads.
I live on one and with 4 new Bilsteins and new stock Yoko treads, the body does sit about 1 inch higher and it rolls over washboard quite smoothly. I try to avoid the holes.

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1981 240D 143k 4 spd manual -SOLD

2004 VW Jetta TDI 5 speed 300k -still driven daily

I also would like to get my car to ride higher. Only the front needs it though as the back is fine. After swapping in the 617 it REALLY sat low. I have added the biggest spring shims and it helped but is still below spec. I am going to swap some 300D springs in as i heard they are rated for more weight than the 240 springs.

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1979 240D with a 617 turbo diesel.

i would like to thank eryone for all he info on this. didnt realize i was one of a ton of people wanting to ift there 240d. im going to put on 300d springs and switch to 205/70-14. if this gives me the clearance i want ill measure it and post it up along with a few pictures.

I put 240D springs under the frontend of my 85 300D after installing the 240D 4-spd. after the swap the front end had the nose stucking up in the air. made handling a litle squirley, front end wanted to wander.
the 4-spd manual weighs much less than the automatic. might throw off the geometry of the steering/suspention.

After the 240 springs were installed, nose came down, and handles pretty good. just a little soft going around sharp turn on mountain roads. I have a 300TD front sway bar to stiffen it up.

I think putting the 300D springs under your 240 will make the front sit too high. I have been wrong before, but this was my experience.
with your 4 cylinder eng and 4-spd box, they weigh less than a 5 cyl turbo with 4-spd. (assuming you don`t have an auto)

Charlie

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there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works