Hello all,
I have recently been doing a lot of catching up on repairs and maintenance on my 99 e-350 conversion box-truck with a 5.4
I do everything myself and sometimes its scarey how much it still costs lol. Plus i never trusted anyone working on any of my vehicles soo.. I recently re-did the rear suspension. I pulled the leafs out myself and took them into a truck spring shop to have them re-formed and an additional leaf added as well. Years ago I added 2 leafs to each side so just to be clear there are 3 additional leafs per set now. I also changed the shackles and all new u-bolts and remaining hardware. The shocks were also changed.
So my issue is, the truck is off balance now. I need to lift the front to make up the difference. The coils in the front are also about 5 years old and might be worn a bit. I added the 'air lift' air springs inside the coils because the manufacture suggested they could add up to 1 1/2" to the ride height. It only added 3/8" because of the weight of the vehicle. Does anyone have any experience with these maxx-lift spacers? It was mentioned on another thread but nothing into depth about them. I contacted the manufacturer and they said its compatible with my vehicle and it can handle my weight. Also they are made of delrin and not steel or cast aluminum. I figured it would be best to ask here before i order and intall. Im concerned with safety and or mechanical failure. I understand i may have to extend the sway-bar down to allow for the 2" increase of height. I plan on doing the ball-joints at the same time and will bring it in to be aligned afterwards. I carry a lot of weight in this truck. More than its really rated for. Just alone with my equipment, im at 14,000 lbs and with materials could be as much as 19,000 lbs.
thank you

 

Forget the spacers. With that kind of weight you need these:
TTC2814

 

Almost ALL front springs made for E-series vans are made by raybestos/delco and rebranded and resold. They are not like leaf springs where anyone can assemble a pack.

The spacers will trash your front alignment (camber) so bad that not even custom bushings will correct it. Dont do it. If you want, I have a set sitting here that are 100% useless unless you want to eat front tires down to the pile in ~800 miles. A local shop offered to bend the beams, which would work, but i didn't like the idea.

If you want to lift the nose a bit, get TT2814. It picks up the nose about an inch and some change, but it WILL require custom bushings to align, even if you are running fairly heavy. They are rated 3935lb. I had a 4x4 converted ambulance body van with these on them and they did lift it enough to put 32s on. Some metalwork required

Consider a set of 880SD/880HD springs. I put them in the front of my 7.3 e350 box for the farm and we almost took back out, too damn stiff. They are rated to over 4050lbs EACH, which is 1000lbs over the strongest stock ford springs. They aligned correctly on the diesel, using stock available bushings.

You are going to be maxing out the GVWR of your E350 cutaway by, well, ~2500lbs in your 'empty' state. If you are 19k loaded, then you are 5000 over the GVWR of an E-SuperDuty. You would actually be at the limit of the 99 F550, which is Fords largest light truck. You are also going to eat front suspension and steering components. You will have a hard time finding springs that will fit, and are rated for that much load. Since no one makes custom coils, you might have to get the biggest coils you can, and redistribute the load. Most of the E350s GVWR stems from the load capacity of its rear axle. Get your van weighed, front and rear axle. Load the rear axle to its GAWR and see where that leaves you. Custom springs for the rear (custom leaf springs are made by LOTS of shops) will help you keep the truck stable and more level. By shuffling around some of your installed tools/load, and putting more over the rear, you might be able to get away with custom rear axle springs and some strong front springs/airbags. Of course, you would then need F or G rated tires to handle the weight (you do now, honestly.)

All that said, you may wish to plan for (someday in the future where money falls from the sky) transferring your box to a medium duty truck. You will be much happier with it in the end. A nice 2001 International 4xxx series without a box on it, in decent running shape, can be had around here for 10-12k, and for our farm use it was a massive relief. Under 26,000GVWR and no special license required. Proper brakes, proper chassis, powerful engine with a 5 speed Eaton automatic and it still gets 11.3 mpg depending on how its driven.

Edit: Your front swaybar might be restricting your airbags. I would temporarily disconnect it and measure the bumpstops to see if they came up some...

Edit Edit: I cant believe I forgot this. Delrin expands when exposed to moisture. Unless its specially chemically modified, delrin also degrades when exposed to UV light. I used it to make some solar panel mounts for my RV, and in about 8 months they had degraded to crumbling. Delrin expands and contracts quite a bit based on temps. A bushing i made for a PTO shaft on the tractor worked fine in winter (~50F) but failed miserably in summer, locking up so tight i had to cut it off.

 

Im passing on the spacers. I wasnt sure about that delrin material anyway plus they dont list any weight ratings or nothing. Thanks for the great info. The springs that you mentioned, (TT2814) i actually was considering those on rock auto. It specifies that its 1 1/2" over new stock height so maybe thats gonna be it. Plus i think it will improve my handling as far as body roll. So with the 1 1/2" from the springs and maybe 3/8" with the airbags, i will be close to the 2 mark with that alone. Plus im sure my current springs are worn. Whatever it is, it will be higher than it is now and closer to leveling out the truck. I know the ride will be a lot rougher but thats no problem with for me. I know the truck is over-weight and has been for the 10 years ive been driving it. I did account for the additional weight in the rear and anytime i have those extra few thousand pounds in materials, i keep it close to the back of the truck.
Currently i have E-rated 235/85/16 on all 6 tires.
Thank you

 

The TTC2814 is made by Otto Max in Surrey BC. I've been to their shop. Alignment was a snap and the net result on my RB 12 passenger was 1-5/8" lift.

The Maxx Lift spacers have been used by several people on this forum without issue and alignment required nothing more than off the shelf bushings.

I only suggested the coils because of the weight the OP is carrying in the vehicle.

 

I am unsure if TTC2814 is different from the TT2814's i have. They carry the mark of Landrum Foundry on the end of the coil, and were sold as Raybestos. It required custom machined bushings to get everything perfect, but an aftermarket 3 degree would have gotten it close enough for offroad use.

My personal experience is different, but the target vehicle is quite different as well. On the ambulance bodied van, the spacers blew out the alignment so bad it couldn't be fixed without bending the beams.

I fully agree though. Just putting in spacers would be a band-aid on a vehicle that may have springs that need replacement/uprating.

 

It could be that Landrum Foundry made the steel. These are advertised as being made from US steel.