It sounds like a lot of expensive work even if you do it on the cheap, and with a van as old as yours, I would not load it up with more bucks than you need to in order to get it solid. The maintenance items are great. For suspension, why do you need new springs?

I would make sure your ball joints and tie rod ends, etc are tight, get new shocks. Bilsteins are great--does KYB make an app for that van? They are solid as well. I had Sears put on a set of Monroe Reflexes onto my van when they had a free labor deal (and with the difficulty the guy had with the right rear shock, made me glad I caught that deal). Not sure if they make Monroes for E350's though; mine is a 150. Sway bar bushings yes.

What is a Roadmaster suspension and why do you need it?

Good luck; I have had big vans continuously since 1986 (at times as my main commuter but not any longer) and they are wonderful. However, my wife has a knee problem and cannot spend much time in the passenger seat because of the engine cover. About a 200 mile day is all she can do.

And frankly I end up with knee probs myself sitting there. Maybe before you commit to the van, do the minimum to it to make it safe and take some short-medium road trips and make sure it's gonna work for you.

Good luck,
George

 

Hi George,

The list was just everything I saw reading through the threads. Not sure if all is needed yet. But I agree... maybe getting out of hand if all is done. For the springs, do they have go bad and need to be re-arched or anything? I saw the Roadmaster Active Suspension mentioned on a couple threads on here.

I guess my approach was to make as much right as I could afford for now before taking her on a road trip. But yeh, I guess in looking at the cost of these, I need to take into account the cost of the labor to put them in as well since I dont think these are all simple mods. One is always anxious to get his toys in tip top shape once he gets it.

Thanks,
John

 

My approach is to not invest a whole bunch of irrecoverable money into a used car until it has passed a probationary period. I will do the fluid/filter stuff, make sure the suspension, brakes, and tires work, and drive it for a while.

Are the springs sagging? If you just plan to carry people and luggage, an E350 is way overkill and you will not tax the suspension at all. I prefer E150's for ride comfort but if you need the load capacity, you need the load capacity.

Good luck,
George

 

Just for the Halibut I looked thru all the pics. Didn't realize there were so many. Seller did a really good job w/camera.

Unfortunately the closer look revealed more rust & wear.

Leaf springs do look kind of flat, like they're sagging & seem pretty rusty in pic underneath. Usually EZ to ID an E350 just by its height, which is not obvious in the pics.

Also noticed diffy looks like its been wet a long time.

Would table any "mods" at least until after basic safety stuff is completed. Examine brake lines very carefully for rust, also fuel & coolant/AC lines are vulnerable to corrosion.

Repairing the rust perforated rocker panels may not be economically practical, unless you're dedicated to DIY. Even then may be hard to do well & quite time consuming.

 

Club Wagon,

May just drive it on my rhino ramps and will try to shoot some pictures tomorrow to show the undercarriage better. Would be great with the discriminating eyes you guys have, to give me an idea as best that pics can tell, whether or not alot need to be replaced due to rust or not.

Also, would like to know more about the differential being wet. What is that a symptom of and what would be a good idea to do having seen that it is wet.

-John

 

Diff front seal is probably leaking. Have that changed and then refill the differential. Looking at the photos, the van looks pretty well used, so I would not invest a ton in it. If you are in California, you can probably get away with a bondo/screen/spray can rust fix and it won't come back annually like it does in Michigan where repairing rust is futile...

 

By "wet a long time" I refer to an apparent differential oil leak.

As suggested, may be "Diff front seal" or over the years somebody may have put a jack under the pumpkin & bent the diffy cover, or worse.

EZ way to check leaf springs yourself is to just compare to other E350's. They normally sit quite high. You can see it in wheel wells, or look underneath & see the arch in springs.

If your springs are flat & sagging it suggests that E350 has done a lot of serious hauling. Because of age & general condition I'd consider good used springs before looking into getting them "re-arched" or replacing with new.

 

Thanks for the help guys.

Thought about what you guys said last night and going to tone it down. Going to try to tackle the important things first. I agree, shes not in the best shape but I want to slowly get here to a good place. I think the rust repair will be the big cost prohibitive item though.

I shot some pics of the undercarriage this morning. Of what my rookie eye can tell, the components underneath have not been replaced in some time.

https://plus.google.com/photos/11825...CK_0pfiK69eBdg

Does the steering stabilizer boot being the way it is an issue?

In regards to the rear leaf springs, just so I can get an idea on cost, what brand/model would be a good solid new replacement?

-John

 

Is it possible that someone pulled a leaf out of the rear spring packs given the space in the spring clamp? I am guessing they tried to get a decent passenger ride quality out of a buckboard E350....which explains the lower stance. A lower center of gravity is not a bad thing to avoid flipping it over so long as you don't load it heavily. Will you be pulling a trailer or carrying heavy stuff, or just a few people and luggage?

If the van is level, I would work with shocks and bushings first, make sure the brakes and lines are OK, etc. More research on the springs...can you talk to the former owner and ask? And seek out used springs if you do need to replace them--but first make sure you need to replace them. If you get rear springs that jack up the rear end, you would probably want to get into front springs as well, etc. etc.

Nice looking tires

George

 

Interesting that you have a steering stabilizer. I thought they only came stock on ambulances, not regular e-vans. Maybe the Chateau package added it?

Where are you located? I have a complete OEM front end from my 98 E250 (same as your 99 E250) that I took off when I upgraded to the 2012 front end (I-beams, radius arms, spindles and hubs, etc.). Parts are in VGC and have little to no rust. If you are near Philadelphia you can have them for free.

 

Good and smart idea to pull it back just a bit for now John--first things first!

Beautiful tires indeed---YoGeorge and I are big fans of Michelin LTX's!

You have a decent van for what I'm assuming cost you a fair price, at least one you were willing to pay. View it as a nice van for now but maybe keep it in the back of your mind to start saving funds to replace it on your schedule. A bit of pre-planning here makes this task a lot easier.

Not bashing the van but don't rely on it to return a significant amount if/when you sell or trade it in towards something else. It is what it is, a good vehicle for your current needs.

As for the latest round of photos..........

The rust you see on the underside is more a product of sitting more than being driven. Since the typical heat and motion from running can't drive accumulated moisture away the rust shows up on those surfaces not protected as well as could be. That's typical, for the most part nothing to be concerned about.

If you look at the "ribs" that mount the entire body to the frame where they join the floor and inner rocker panels you'll see very little rust forming on those or where they attach to the body; images 11, 18, 25, 26 show the areas I'd first look if contemplating buying a used van. Good signs there too with a minor exception to #11; rust on the bottom surface should be cleaned and treated with something like POR-15 etc. Any other area similarly affected should also be treated as well. Overall its pretty sound looking under there.

Your shocks are trashed---Bilsteins are a great addition and I get mine here: Bilstein Shocks, KW Suspensions and much more: eShocks.com Best prices I've ever found, fast shipping/delivery too. Buy all four and shipping is FREE---always a good thing!

Steering damper boot looks messy and in a perfect world it would be replaced with something similar but more substantial material. Prothane and/or Energy Suspension Systems are a few vendors to check.

Once your ball joint and remaining steering components are in top shape consider urethane bushings for the front sway bar, radius arms and if really motivated the axle pivot bushings as well. With your heavy duty E350 chassis these would be as replacements since most likely your existing bushings are probably degraded enough to warrant renewal.

Adding almost any rear sway bar will significantly improve these vans handling. Having driven the same van without a rear sway bar then a Hellwig then without again (over 5 years) the difference is well worth the money. A junk yard find would be ideal dollar-wise even if its just a stock OEM.

Rear springs definitely have missing leaf or two----can't really suggest anything from experience but replacing them probably as a complete set would be less expensive than fiddling with the existing set. Find a big truck shop in your area as they tend to be the least expensive and have thorough knowledge of what to best provide if you have an idea going in. Call a few shops, compare prices and maybe visit one or two so your van can be inspected by them.

Front coils might be okay but visual inspections via photos can't replace an experienced eye trained on them. They're not broken or sagging so significantly to cause any concern that I can see, take that FWIW!

Everything else underneath looks okay for now.

When you get time snap a few photos of the rockers from under the van looking outward, let us see them from wheel-to-wheel. Next is the rear lower body, the view your spare tire would see. That'll be helpful towards advice on the outer rocker panel issues that might be present.

If I've not addressed something of concern let me or us know----glad to help!

 

George - My answer as of now is that I will probably never load anything heavy in there. I may want to pull a trailer at a later point but that is years away even if it happens. So the current lower center of gravity and a little bit softer ride for passengers is welcome. The previous owners do not know much, even though they had it for 6 years. They are organic farm growers that did routine maintenance on it but not anything with the suspension. They bought the van themselves on eBay from MA. Might try to take it a friends that has a Toyota FJ40 that has leaf springs as well and maybe he has some experience in assessing the condition. So long as the van is safe right now for road trips, I'm ok living with it for the time being until I see deals pop up (which was my question in regards to finding out a brand and model to look at and start to track pricing). For bushings, do they sell kits to completely replace?

Brian - I'm not sure about the steering stabilizer. But if I were to replace, I was going to see if I should do this: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ering-fix.html

And I live in San Jose, CA. However, I will be in your neck of the woods in about a month. Taking my mom to pay homage to my grandfather who is buried in Pittsburgh. Will PM you to discuss further. Me likes free!

JWA - No worries on the bashing. I like it straight to know what I need to have on my road map on getting fixed/addressed so thank you for that. And I actually looked around and eshocks does seem to be the cheapest for the Bilteins. For steering stabilizer, is Andrew's mod a good thing to do? Unfortunately, you guys weren't able to calm me down from buying before I looked at some items to buy, purchasing sway bars leaked through. I found a random 20% coupon code that worked when ordering them and so I am trying to see if the order actually gets fulfilled. If it does, hopefully the front and rear Hellwig sway bars will have new bushings and the install won't be too hard to do. If the deal is cancelled, no big deal and I will probably just do the Bilstein upgrade. As far as pictures, might ask a friend to see if I can bring the van to his shop that he just opened and put it on a lift to take pics. Unfortunately, he works primarily on Hondas and Toyotas so I don't think he knows the nuances that may come with these vehicles as much as you guys would.

Again, can't state it enough, thanks again for your time in helping me diagnose the van.

 

Good luck with it. For what it sounds like you need the van for, you may get by OK with the E150ish springs (I have a 150) and the sway bars and good tires should help stabilize it as well. If it is severely out of level I would move the springs up the priority list a tad.

I had an FJ40 some years ago...talk about a buckboard (and I had it during my wife's pregnancy so she did not enjoy it at all). The leaf springs on those are hard enough that I remember jumping up and down on the bumper and got 1/4" of deflection--out of the tire sidewalls.

Make sure that sucker is tight and reliable before your big road trip...take it on a preliminary short trip or three to make sure it is OK. If you have any serious doubt as to safety and reliability for the trip, especially with elders on board, just fork over a few bucks and rent a minivan with unlimited mileage restrictions; they are great on the road for 4 people plus *stuff* with some room to shift around.

If the van has a serious breakdown far from home, it can make for BIG problems. This said by a guy who blew up a Chevy 305 motor in my old '86 GMC 2500 in 1990. (Fluke with the timing chain letting go.) In Cincinnati, about 250 miles from home. Thankfully, it got towed to the best GMC dealer in the world and they put a new Targetmaster engine in the van, and the svc manager called GM and got them to pay half (in the day of 12k warranties, with 42k miles on the van). He found my written record of 3k oil changes in the glovebox and knew I cared for the van by the condition. Still cost $1600 plus a rental car for 2 weeks to drive home to Detroit and drive back down when it was done. My son was 18 months old and he cried....but got a ride in a tow truck.

Good luck,
George

 

Wow... Yeh I might make some mini trips (2 hours long) to see how well she does. More often than not, she will be used to go down from San Jose to San Diego (7 hour drive) to visit the in laws.

In thinking about it now, maybe I jumped the gun in buying it. Unfortunately, I paid KBB fair pricing on it so it wasn't like it was a steal of a lifetime. Looked for about 2 months or so for a 7.3 diesel chateau. Only 2 popped up in all US Craigslist ads and so I thought they were pretty rare. I would have liked a 2003 7.3 but the first year 7.3 popped up. Ideally, was thinking about a 2006 Dodge Sprinter since I am 6'3" but those I think for how often we were going to use this, the cheaper van made more financial sense (nice 2006 passenger sprinters have run about $15k+). Hopefully I can get her in decent shape without too much more than what I already have in it.

 

Well, there is no going back, and I don't know what you paid, for for your use I might have recommended an E150 Chateau with the 4.6 or the 5.4. Or even a nice minivan...

My '02 E150 (4.6) has had a lifelong gas mileage average of 16.01 mpg for 114,500 miles. On trips if I keep it at 70, it will give me 17-18.5 mpg. I actually looked at Sprinters in '03 when I bought it (new old stock) but they cost a lot more and bumped and banged around.

But again, you have what you have. I would give it a probationary period but if it's mechanically solid you should get a few years out of it. In Michigan, the rust would overrun it in the next couple winters, but even a bondo/spray bomb repair should hold for a year or 2 in California.

Good luck, and may the van give you some memories. When my E150 was new in 2003, we took a week long trip to the Upper Penninsula of Michigan with my wife and son, her sis and son, and her late father who passed in 2006. Cherish the time with your parents for sure. And in my mom's last years (she passed in 1999) we had a '96 GMC Savana and with one of the captain's chairs out, we could hoist her up in her wheelchair and get her out of the house. More memories. I have friends who have boats; we have our "land yacht". I have had a big van in the family since 1986, and an F100 pickup before that which I bought new in 1978.

George