E350 front springs

alaskantinbender

Adventurer
Finally made the time to replace the front springs on my van. Dansvan supplied the springs last fall
from a pre 1991 diesel Ford E350. (Thanks Dan)
WOW what a change. No more riding the bump stops with every little bump in the road and the front end is much tighter. The clearance from the axel to the bump stops went from a dismal 1" to a respectable 4 1/2". Too bad the Quigley Company didn’t do this in the 1st place.:safari-rig:


Regards,

Jim
 
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Gravity

Observer
did you have to make an other modifications? How difficult was the install?

I have been thinking about upgrading the front springs on my 01 Quigley equipped Sportsmobile. The stock springs are definitely lacking...

thanks

-d
 

ujoint

Supporting Sponsor
That's a big difference!! Did the caster angle change at all? Drive any different? Or were your old springs just wasted that bad..
 

alaskantinbender

Adventurer
The van is a 2003 with a V10, the stock front springs where too soft and didn’t support the front end weight from day one.
Driving it home from the dealer I realized it was going to need some changes.
I talked to quigly but they where unresponsive and like Grandma used to say
"if you want it done right, you have to do it your self" :Mechanic:

It took about 5 hours to install the springs working in my ice covered driveway. The stock shocks are about 1/2 inch too short at max suspension travel. However the top mounting stud on the shock is long enough to install a spacer to get the length back. I haven’t reinstalled the front sway brace yet. It needs two lowering brackets of about 3 inches, easily fabricated from some 3" channel stock. It doesn’t appear to need the brace in corners and driving around with the heavy duty diesel springs. I do plan a roof rack and more weight on top so I will be putting it back on soon. The front suspension feels much better in the bumpy washboard and no more bottoming out with expensive sounding thumps. The steering wheel needs to be adjusted, easily done buy changing the steering arm a tooth or two. The brake lines are plenty long enough and the axel angle seems nearly unchanged with the Quigley linkage keeping it level.
The rear now remains to be raised about the same 3" or so. I haven’t decided yet if I will do a shackle flip giving it about 4 1/5" and needing a shorter spring block or using an “add a leaf “to the spring pack. Part or the decision is the addition of a winch and bumper to the front end probably lowering it an additional 1" or so.

It drives and handles much better with the stiffer springs. The problem is now I have to keep myself from hitting all the bumps at ramming speed..... :rally_guys:

Hope this all helps.

Regards,

Jim
 
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ujoint

Supporting Sponsor
If you clock the pitman arm a tooth or two, the steering will turn further one way that the other. Try to straighten the wheel via the drag link adjuster so you don't loose your turning radius.
 

alaskantinbender

Adventurer
ujointclothing said:
If you clock the pitman arm a tooth or two, the steering will turn further one way that the other. Try to straighten the wheel via the drag link adjuster so you don't loose your turning radius.

Great info, I hadn’t thought it thru. It sure would have been noticed it on the trail...... :xxrotflma

Thanx

Jim
 

alaskantinbender

Adventurer
Front spring update

We drove to Anchorage yesterday and had a wobble problem in the front end.
At 65 Mph upon hitting a good bump going on to the Knik river bridge the front wheels began to shake. Slowing down to about 35MPH stoped it, and then hit the bump again leaving the bridge made it happened all over again. Looks like the lift caused a change in the front end geometry so I need an alignment and probably a double steering damper.
But over all still a tremendous improvement in the ride of the truck.


Regards,

Jim
 
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ujoint

Supporting Sponsor
Ah, the Quigley death wobble.... Many people have had that issue. Hopefully the alignment solves the problem and it can be adjusted out. I'm willing to bet you castor angle is off a few degrees.
 

dansvan

Observer
Lets get the bumper on and the rear up in the air. Then go after any remaining DW issues. I have a set of new poly track bar bushings for it if you want them. I'm sure castor changed some, but not as much as a radius arm set up would. We put close to 10k (Anch to Moab and back) miles on those springs in that set up with no DW issues. I did replace the steering stabilizer on mine though.

My dad was hoping you were there to trade vans with him Jim...
 

alaskantinbender

Adventurer
Update on the death wobble issue

The wobble is gone....:wings:
Unfortunately I don't know what made it go away because I changed two things at once.

See this thread for more details :http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14005

We lifted the rear with a shackle flip and installed new mudstar tires. I did however note that the tire pressure on the old front tires was down to 32 PSI instead of the 55 I normally run. If I had to guess it was old tires in need of balancing and low air pressure.

Regards,

Jim
 
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