I need to change the front springs on my 97 E-150 and I am looking information on the springs and how to change them myself. i will be putting in new shocks.

I was going to take the tag on the shock to the Ford dealer and hopefully get matched up with a similar one. Any other suggestions? Replace the rubber pads?

What is the procedure for removing and replacing the front springs? Looking at it I just cut out the shocks and drop out the spring slowly with a jack, am I missing something? Ball joints?

Thanks in Advance!

 

The Dealer will charge you OUT THE *** for springs. They want ~300 bucks.

I just installed some MOOG CC876, cost 80 bucks. They picked the front of the van up about an inch, and are for vans with 7000 GVWR or the tow package. They feel fine to me.

To remove the front springs, lift the van by the frame until both front tires are off the ground. This unloads the suspension (both sides must be off the ground at the same time.) Use your jack to lift the axle you are working on by half an inch to unload the shock (it is what limits the spring.) Just take a sawzall with a metal blade and cut the front shocks under the upper mount, but through the bushing. This will take about 90 seconds and its a hell of a lot better than 20 minutes of fighting with the upper mount. Remove/lower the jack holding the axle/beam, and undo the upper bolt on the spring. You may need to use a prybar to get the top of the spring out a bit, but they came out easy for me. The lower end will come out if you rotate the spring while angling it out. No need to undo that big-*** bolt (which holds the axle and arm together too!)

Putting the spring back in is the opposite, you may need to compress the spring a bit with a prybar to get it back in. Attach the lower sock mount on your new shock, and use the jack to help guide the upper part in. Easy task overall, not much harder than brakes, and way easier than balljoints.

 

Thanks!

Would a spring compressor help or is the pry bar good enough. I have a 5 fool Johnson bar I use to move equipment, so I think I have that covered.

 

I didnt use a spring compressor. The springs are not under tension once the shock is disconnected. I just used a 24 inch prybar to help me slide it in and out. It only needed to compress about 1/4th of an inch to seat properly.

 

Great! Thanks!!!!

 

I had to compress the spring on mine, it was more than 1/4" I had to compress.

 

I thought that was the case on mine too, but once I lifted the whole front end off the ground and undid both shocks it was obvious i didn't need to compress the springs. The shocks are what keep the springs from overextending in day to day operation. They are the limiters.

The left and right are connected via the sway bar. This creates another constraint, much like the shocks. Part of how the swaybar does its job (all of it really) is to keep one side from getting too far up or down from the other. By lifting the whole front by the frame you bypass this mechanism. If one tire was still on the ground, it would hold the opposite side spring under compression, even if you lifted that side of the van by the frame.

 

Ya my sway bar was still connected but that was all, I had my radius arms disconnected also since I did those bushings at the same time. My Moog spring on the driver's side almost hits the sway bar when jacked up with all the weight of the wheels. Both springs are identical and there's only one way they sit. I though that was rather odd but my old springs were constant rate and a little different.