1992 vs 1996 e150 rear suspension differences? Sumospring?
#1
08-18-2018, 12:22 AM
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1992 vs 1996 e150 rear suspension differences? Sumospring?
Hey all, I was looking at buying rear air bags or sumospr for my 1992 e150, but most places don’t make or stock a kit for em (Firestone made a kit but I can’t find it anywhere.). I’m thinking about just buying a kit for a different year (go down to a 91 or go up to a 96). How are these three years systems different? and is there any hope with some additional fabrication that I could mount the helper bags? I was pretty shocked to learn that my van didn’t have any of these systems available for it. I would love to know why. If you know, I’m looking forward to being schooled.
#3
08-18-2018, 08:13 PM
How much additional weight are you looking to carry ? The 8.8 rear end's axles are also the inner race for the axle bearings, so you really don't want to overload them. They only last about 100-150K miles to start with . Once the bearing wears through the hardened part of the axle, it'll quickly eat right through the axle, when that happens the end result ain't pretty or safe. I replaced the axles on my current 96 E150 at 97K, one of the replacements wasn't heat treated properly and lasted a year. My previous 95 wore the axles at 130K, and that was with a lot of long distance towing, mostly with a small pop up camper, and one 500 mile trip with a car trailer loaded with a 64 Merc Monterey.
#4
08-19-2018, 12:08 AM
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Good advice. A) thanks for finding the kit B) my issues is that it has about a 1 inch lean due to the weight distribution of my camps van conversion (changes when loaded and unloaded etc). Wanted to try to level it out a bit. But that’s good advice. I want to change the gearing to be better in the mountains. So when I take it apart I’ll look at those bearings and prolly get new axels.
#5
08-19-2018, 09:17 PM
#6
08-19-2018, 09:56 PM
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I gotcha. They talk abut this in the diff rebuild walkthroughs. I’m not leaking oil yet, but I plan on getting in there before the next 10k miles. Now I know to save some extra bones for the axels too. After that I’m pretty sure I can travel back in time and work the factory line. Thanks man.
#7
08-20-2018, 07:30 PM
Just hope the replacement axles have been heat treated. One I bought wasn't and lasted less than a year. I don't recall the brand though. I wish someone had come up with a fix for this abortion other than having to weld new 9" bearing housings on an 8.8. I looked last year and tried to find a sealed roller bearing to replace the stock bearings in my 8.8 but nobody makes them
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