1989 e150 with 205,000

Wondering of anyone has put new springs (front and rear) in an older beat up van and if it’s helped improve the ride.

leafs are pretty much flat in the back and there’s only about 2 finger width between bump stop and my front axle, so I’m assuming my springs are shot.

Anyone have experience with these?

 

Gabriel is a fine brand. But that won't help your ride. You need to replace the worn out leafs. Get some Bilstein shocks. For a smooth ride capable of washboard roads. Those there are good if you haul a water tank like a carpet cleaning van would.

 

Ya I kinda figured, looks like I might be putting in springs all around. Got a 3000 mile road trip in May so I’m trying to button up everything I can before.

 

It’s a camper in the back so it def has some weight from the build

 

I would fire the old parts cannon at the suspension and steering. Hopefully you can get it all as a kit. New leafs. Possibly perches. And do the brakes if they need it. Maybe even carry some spare parts like a starter and alternator. I'm batting a 1000 buying cheap ones from Amazon.

The load carriers would make it stiff. But possibly airbags. Those feel OK. And you can load up way more weight and not sag.

 

I have been the past month- All new A/C parts, tie rods, links,, battery, new tires, etc that’s why this stings but it looks like I’ll keep going. It’s also my daily drive atm, but hope to get a truck soon. Alt and starter look pretty new from last owner but Mayb I’ll grab a spare starter for peace of mind. Might grab frame mounted fuel pump just in case only $40.

And yes rear brakes are getting done and probably the axle seal and diff fluid change. I really want to put Eaton Trac-Loc in this thing but the only thing stopping me at this point is money

 

They don't make better vans. Gotta keep the good stuff going.

 

I have had new coil springs installed and those coil over shocks in the front of my 89 with the inline 6 and it still has less than an inch of movement before hitting the bump stop, its a low rider, should have bought big block coils I guess.

 

Thank you for the input, really wanted to talk to someone who has done this on their van. Would you say it improved the ride? Would it be worth the $500 in springs to do it?
I have some other things I would like to do maybe push this off for another year or two. However if some people tell me it really helped I may go thru with it

 

This is how much room between my bump stops

 

I got less than that on my bump stops, no change on front coil overs or bags, they leak off, can't get them tight enough to stop the leak, bags go inside the coils, when aired up, rides rough, I had coil over rear shocks in my 73 Econoline, wheelchair lift was killing the leaf spring on the passenger side, independent air bag would correct it, BTW avoid air shocks, they use O-rings, leak off, blew the guts out of one with no load.
I know the later body style offered heavy duty coils lifting the vans, the 89 doesn't have them, as I said Autozone replacements for the 4.9 made no difference from the factory set, I thought were broken down, obviously weren't.

Had the frame blasted and coated after this, spent a fortune to fix rust.

 

The wheels only hit the inner fender well liner hard turning, I can fly around corners tho, 10" wide rims 275/60 R15.

 

Improve the ride in what way? Smoother? Less roll in corners? Less bounce?
The old 1/2 ton van was a poor platform for an RV conversion IMO as it is too easy to overload, but it has the nicest ride of all of them. You haven't seen a rough riding vehicle until you have driven an empty 3/4 ton cargo van, those things get air over every crack in the road.

Do your front wheels have negative camber all the time? If so then the springs are sagged or just fully loaded, so ideally you want higher rate springs to counteract that, New stock springs will put you back in the same situation pretty quickly. Same applies to the rear, you need some extra load capacity in the springs, I had a set of Helwig EZ990s in my last truck that I thought did a good job of adding that extra capacity without making the ride harsher. The TIB front suspension will never be plush riding like a car, it's biggest defect is that it has very little up stroke due to the desire to keep ride height reasonable. It's into the bump stops over just about any obstacle so the only real solution is a lift kit. Low profile tires are also a bad idea, the extra inch you might get from tall tires makes a big differnece as long as you stay with P rated tires, LT tires handle better but you give up a noticable amount of ride quality to get it.. even going from P rating(4 ply) to C load rating (6 Ply).
Taming bounce is all about the shocks, and roll in corners or sway on the highway is all about anti-sway bars. I never realized how much of a difference they make until a rear sway bar link broke on a trip one time, I had to slow down on a bad section of highway that was badly rutted as I couldn't keep it in my lane, the drive went from casual to butt puckering in an instant.

 

Too much necessary info missing to give any real helpful advice----as Conanski asks improve in what way?

 

The bump stop being so close will make for a harsh ride when it hits the beam on every bump in the road, and it appears its done on purpose from the factory as my camber is fine and its not even an inch gap, BTW I drove an E350 for 22 years, there is little difference between them since the front bottoms out.