We have a Hall of Shame... But nothing for Fame? Helper Spring talk too !

[SparkandFire]

I'm not big on reviewing things I purchase. My wife is. She writes Amazon reviews left and right for everything from hand soap to bed sheets...

Back story is this - I picked up this E250 van a year ago, or so. It's always had ass end sag pretty bad. Ford gave the E250 series vans a MUCH lighter rear spring pack than the F250's got. They figured in a van, more weight would be carried by the front axle. They also tossed in a semi floating under-rated Dana 60 as well.

My van is not overweight, but the rear springs really sagged, so much that when I put a hitch mounted bike rack on the van, I would drag it over every sidewalk and dip I drove through... I could push a pack of cigarettes around in reverse with the bike rack.

To wrap this long story up, I decided that rather than drop $500 on new springs for an axle I am looking to replace soon, I would throw a set of helper springs in. I went with the Hellwig LP-25 springs. I got them installed a couple weeks ago and they work GREAT! Picked the rear bumper up a good solid 2.5" and improved the ride dramatically.

I got these from sdtrucksprings.com - I ordered the wrong install kit originally, I wrote them an email and asked if I could exchange it. They sent me the correct kit, got it in the next day, before I even had a chance to ship the incorrect kit back to them. They were very responsive on taking care of my order. Would gladly do business with them again.

 

[riotwarrior]

Hall of Fame a good idea...I think we should!..Mods????

 

[Mulochico]

Hall of Fame a good idea...I think we should!..Mods????

X2

 

[92F350CC]

There could be an issue with the rules as this could be construed as advertising.

 

[rhkcommander]

There could be an issue with the rules as this could be construed as advertising.

Perhaps, but it wouldn't be much different than the recommendations we already do in all of the threads where people look for parts

 

['94IDITurbo7.3]

i too like the idea of a hall of fame, but if there is one reason we do not get one it will be b/c of the advertising issue.

 

[90ididoorguy]

But it might give these places a reason to actually follow thru on promises

 

[RLDSL]

Regarding your suspension issues, all of the manufacturers, rate vans differently than pickups. They rate the pickups considering the predominant load on the rear axle in teh bed and the vans sharing the load so a 1/2 ton van actually has 1/4 ton suspension and axles , a 3/4 ton van gets 1/2 ton suspension and axles, 1 ton van gets 3/4 ton suspension and axles
It's pretty bad that the conversion van builders somehow havent caught on to this after all these years, but they continue to build on 1/2 ton light duty vans with semi and non floater rear axles and folks end up travelling around with a LOT of weight hanging off the tail end of those things . I've had a few come to me in shambles, but I had one that was a miricle, it was a customer who had moved halfway across country and was travelling through and he just stopped by to say hi and asked me to look it over for the heck of it, I found the only thing holding the rear wheel on his dodge van was th brake shoes when teh seal went it oiled them up enough to keep it rolling on the drum without it sheering Truely amazed he made it there alive , he should have spit that axle at least 200 miles earlier

Overloads are nice but if you are going to use them , you might want to consider poking a heavier axle in there too, or learn to load the van the way it was intended which is nose heavy