As I was driving up the Altamont pass in northern California that's riddled with pot holes, cracks, etc, my van momentarily became airborne. Kids probably love it! I started thinking "this is not good!" Seriously, it bordered on dangerous.

If you are a Bilstein fan (like JWA) what shock would you suggest? I drive a lot of mountain roads with this van as it's our camping machine. I leave Friday morning for an epic 7000 mile trip across the USA.

I tried KYB gas adjust on my old E150 and was not impressed. Replaced them with Monroe and it was about the same.

If I install these myself, are you able to compress them in get them in the shock tower before it travels back to the home position?

I want to order the front shocks today.

 

Your airborne excursion notwithstanding and as expected I recommend only Bilstein, price never an issue with me. If you can wait until Monday morning call Bilstein directly to get their best recommendation. Definitely relate your recent experience and where you drive, how often, how loaded you are typically are----all the usual stuff.

(BTW don't let the terms "comfort" or "heavy duty" lead you astray---they've highly misleading and about as inaccurate as any "rating" I've ever seen.)

I've found them at eShocks.com for a good price, especially considering what so many other sellers offer.

IIRC your existing springs both front and rear are new or excellent shape? While talking with Bilstein I'd ask them for a front spring rate recommendation to compliment whatever shock they recommend. Moog from Amazon is my go-to source, paid less than $100 delivered for new Mood E250/350 set.

Like any new shock hand compressing it for installation is/can be a challenge especially if done in a driveway. Fortunately fronts are much easier than the rears main reason being how close to the ground the lower mounting studs are (rears).

As you probably already know the top front mounting nuts are a HUGE challenge assuming the existing shocks don't have the large wrench flats where the upper stud sits tight against the shock tower. I don't have any recommendation there using nothing but hand tools, other than persevere.

HTH? Let us know your progress CoolFeet!

 

compress the shock and use cordage or ty-wraps to keep it compressed.
Cut it off after you bolt it in

Sawsall or a torch works pretty quickly

Been there, done that

 

Correct---IF the new shocks come packaged that way! My last three sets of unopened Bilstein's didn't have those bands so it was tough it out however. I was surprised and dismayed but WTH?!

 

I'be never got any compressed in the box
I just compress them myself and tie them up

 

And you've done this how many times on the E-Series?

 

I will call Bilstein. I am in a time crunch as I leave Friday for our family camping trip. Maybe I will pay someone $50 for the install as I wasted a lot of time yesterday.

I spent the entire day yesterday with a good friend getting my van ready for the cross country trip. We connected 160 w solar panel on the roof, wired the 3rd battery to Ford's auxiliary battery charging circuit. Found out this circuit is hot when key is off. I have an isolator so no worries.

He was going to pump down and refill my AC. He bought a used German vacuum pump and it did not come with a power cord. Engineer Dan was determined to build his own. German's do some funky things and Dan was perplexed. His wife was super PO as he spent most of the day drawing schematics and trying to figure out how to wire the plug as it came with dual voltage. He never got the power connected.

He installed the new drier accumulator. This guy is amazing and I was shocked that he could not get the power to the pump.

I was more or less held hostage as I waited until 5 PM to have engineer Dan solder the connection for my 3rd battery. We left the house and bought a torch to solder. Wife was calling me and happy to have an entire day without the kids.

At 5:30 as I was ready to leave he said that if he did not flush his tranny, his wife would really be mad. The fluid was so black that I thought I drained the oil line from a front oil cooler. It took 21.5 gallons of ATF to finally have the fluid flow translucent pink! After flushing 5 gallons of mostly black crap, we ran out of Mercon V. Walmart did not stock it. We drove around town wasting more time.

We arrived back at his house and wife is even more pissed! He left the kids with his 13 year old daughter. They have 9 kids. Add my 2 boys to the mess and you have trouble. Eleven kids and no adults. We were going to be back in 10 minutes.

Dan will never father a child again after this mess!

 

OMG that's hilarious ONLY because I don't have any kids--can NOT imagine what chaos all that was. I'm sure the kids enjoyed themselves---overwhelmed the unfortunate older daughter. It was good all survived that trying day.

Okay so you flushed 21.5 GALLONS of ATF---is that a typo or you got something I've never seen or heard of here?

BTW paying someone $50 to install the fronts is money well spent. Remind them to NOT over-tighten the lower mounting stud through the radius arms---those are a chore to repair/replace.

Been there, done THAT too Vettex2! (Me that is!)

 

Once and many many times for other trucks and cars.

Why? You think I've never compressed a shock before?

 

It was only 25 quarts. Typo on my part.

It was wild with the kids running around. Next door neighbors have 12 kids and it was quiet because both parents were home.

 

I must have missed the boat, my shocks came from the local heavy truck parts place. gas charged commercial duty, Monroes, good for life. how much do bilsteens cost? I've never even seen a listing here for them.


trailer hauling, gravel and offroad as well as highway use.

 

No, compressing shocks wasn't my question---I'm sure most of us have done that at one time or another, equally sure you've done this a few times for certain.

My question was more related to removing front shocks on the E-Series especially using a reciprocating saw. With the shock stem being so close to the spring perch its nearly impossible fitting the saw into that space.

Searching YouTube I find one video where using a saw is mentioned but never shown in action. In this video at about 4:25 in it's mentioned but we never see the saw in action:
I'd like to see a saw in action for this task.

BTW all E-Series shocks I've changed so far have been the OEM types where wrench flats weren't part of the stem, those with the metal shell covering the shock stem and body.

Bilstein's aren't about lowest cost and granted they're not for those looking for least expensive. I want good quality regardless the guarantee since changing them isn't something I look forward to doing very often. They're rebuildable for life so they too have the forever warranty. (Of course what to drive while they're in transit for the rebuild? IIRC last time I bought they were just under $100 each.

For me they've always been quick to respond when needed, don't give any sort of harsh or stiff ride while keeping the chassis well behaved, very flat in turns, stable when braking. Some might not feel the difference, others might not care about such things but we all drive differently, no such thing as the one and only in selecting shocks.

 

Is it more difficult to install the front shocks on the E350 than the E150?

I am getting good at the E150

 

I don't have a vid but I was referring to this, not a full size one. Perhaps I used the wrong term.

 

Do share your secrets! The E150's and E350's are pretty similar so if you've mastered the one others will be cake too.

That's a cool saw for certain, I'm sure at some point we'll see how to remove the front shocks without so much aggravation.