Wanna Talk About My Van (Again)

[VanFan]

The van has been feeling a little down lately.  It's springs are... settled, and it's time for a lift.  To save a few bucks, we've sourced the leaf and coil springs and will take them to the shop for installation once they arrive.  The van is now a "classic vehicle" at 25 years old.  It seems like yesterday.

 

[kklowell]

"Rear coil and leaf springs" ? Isn't it one or the other?

 

[user 423]

The van has been feeling a little down lately.  It's springs are... settled, and it's time for a lift. 

I'm in the same boat with my 29yo van. It sags a little more on one side at the rear.  I've been looking at Hellwig add-on leafs but probably won't mess with the front coils.

 

[landyachtman]

For the rear leaf springs, I've used add on coil assist kits like these.  They come in 750 LB,  1000 LB, and 1500 LB and don't take long to install.  Easy to do when you jack up the back end of the Van or Pickup. 

As for coils on the front,  you may as well replace the ball joints and at the same time replace the coil springs.  I purchased mine at J C Whitney, but Pep Boys carries them too.

[img=700x577]https://images.pepboys.com/fit-in/700x700/images/productImages/2717100/12-1600.jpg[/img]

 

[VanFan]

kklowell:  Leafs rear; coils front on this one.

slow2day:  Listing to one side from the rear was starting to bug me, although there are no handling issues.  Changing out the springs may not be necessary, but I'm going with it anyway.  Probably should have explored more options.  The mechanic says it is sitting about 6" low overall, and he wouldn't replace them unless I plan to keep it for a while.  I hope to!

landyachtman:  Had not considered ball joints.  Not a bad thought at all.  We no longer do our own work, so I depend on recommendations from the shop much more than in the past.

 

[bullfrog]

Most larger cities have a specialized spring shop. I can highly recommend the one in Grand Junction Colorado, I believe it is called "The Springworks". They rebuilt/remade my suspension on my old Jeep J10 truck after I added the camper. Previously I had taken it to a regular general repair garage that "guessed" a few different combinations of lift and overload springs would work. They didn't work and cost me. There is no substitute for someone with the experience most established spring shops have.

 

[kklowell]

 There is no substitute for someone with the experience most established spring shops have.

I agree completely. I had a slide-in in a pickup that caused the poor old thing to sag in the rear. I stopped in to the local spring shop and they fixed me right up, but did advise me that with the camper out it was going to ride hard, which it did. Was like a new truck though, and cost the same or less than messing around with helpers would have.