Overlooking a Critical Issue With Our New Tires

[LostInTransit]

Any size "wooden" block was not secure enough to suit our needs.

 

[02zx9r rev2]

My 1.5 ton racing jack from HF works for my accord and her Altima, but I had to use wooden blocks for her daughters jeep and Crv.

Bought a 3 ton Pittsburg jack from HF, problem solved.

 

[OVERKILL]

View attachment 153565
@John105 There some debate as to what the 40mm means on the springs some say it's the amount that been taken off stock springs (40mm shorter than stock spring height) while other say it's the amount you'll end up with. In this case, we ended up with less than 40mm at the rear. Also, it's my understanding that the Bilstein b6 have "tear" or steps that allow the spring to sit in multiple positions on the struts. Meaning there are three tears or step ups on these struts as to allow for adjustments when the coil has been tightened onto the strut. The tech selected the lowest setting or tear thus ending up with a reduced height. So it's our assumption that by cutting off 5mm-8mm worth of coil that sets into the lowest tear, it should level the van out.

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/what-are-you-working-on-today.331303/page-228#post-6466890

@AZjeff This a snip for a video we did as I sent this to Cobra Coil, Netherlands to show them after adding the rear coil springs it lowered the rear of the van more then we expected, thus shifting the weight towards the back and raising up the front slightly. I was afraid it would look like we're dragging our ass.. Granted there's not much difference between the gap at the front and the gap at the rear, maybe 8mm-10mm if that. But we don;t like how this looks. Again, the only front lowering springs Cobra ca offer is is 20mm and that's too much with these Bilstein struts.

Wouldn't you just move the rear spring up to the next "step-up", since you said it's on the lowest one, to make it level? Certainly sounds favourable to cutting springs

 

[meep]

Looks really good, keep it up!

 

[LostInTransit]

@02zx9r rev2 going from a 2 ton to a 3 ton which weighs 40 lbs more is not an option. No room in the van, nor this old back of mine could not lift it.

 

[LostInTransit]

@OVERKILL the rear spring setup doesn't have the step up option, only the front struts have this option..

 

[MSCH]

sounds to me like Lostintransit is going to have to figure this one out on his own

 

[LostInTransit]

Using two old barbells and had the shop weld these up creating a gig for the 2 ton floor jack. Adding those barbells to the floor jack finally allowed the 2 ton jack to lift the van completely (front and rear) off the ground in order to extract the wheels for cleaning or rotation and peice of mind.

 

[02zx9r rev2]

@02zx9r rev2 going from a 2 ton to a 3 ton which weighs 40 lbs more is not an option. No room in the van, nor this old back of mine could not lift it.

I understand that completely. I keep mine in my shed so I can just roll them out when needed. If I had to go change a flat I would take the 1.5 ton, like you said, much lighter.

I just wanted the bigger jack so I could get the extra clearance to not have to use the blocks

 

[OVERKILL]

@OVERKILL the rear spring setup doesn't have the step up option, only the front struts have this option..

Oh lovely, that seems like a bit of an oversight then eh?

 

[LostInTransit]

it's been awhile since we last spoke.. I wanted to share something that's made my life easier on the van. Over the last few years, the Cobra suspension rear coil springs started failing going from 40mm down to 38mm and this placed the tires extremely close to the fender edge so close that the fenders have cut away some of the tire's outer edge. The culprit wasn't so much that the springs were failing, but the OE shocks had too much up travel which cause me to buy a new floor jack. Now we can lift the van up off the ground without placing any added spacer under the jack.. But again.. thes springs failed and so it was time to do something about it.

Contacted CSS out of KS who I asked to design a set of front and rear springs that are 20% stiffer than OE and 2'' shorter than the rear OE springs. Known as leveling springs.. I still view these as lowering springs. With the stiffer springs on front and back, we then developed another issue.. If we hit a bump or the van is placed on a lift, the rear springs would fall out. Again this meant that the OE shocks have too much up travel. 1 month without driving the van lead me to search for a cure to this.

The cure came about when I located a shock list which had all the specs needed to locate a shock which would work on keeping the springs in the upper and lower seats. The man thing that hindered my search is that I did not know how much more up travel the OE shocks were. A clue came when GAZ shocks out of UK contacted me saying they created a set of shocks for a 2014 TC and based on their numbers.. that van needed 16.25 or 16.50 as it was unclear because the numbers were scribbled on the spec sheet.

At least I had some numbers to work from.. We concluded that the OE shocks were around 18.09 inches and we needed shocks with about 16.5 to 16.80 to retain the springs in their respective positions. Oddly there wasn't anything on the "car" market that would work for the van. This meant I would have to have a set of shocks made for the van and I was given two offered to do so. GAZ and A1 shocks.. However I wasn't willing to spend a lot of money on this. I knew about GAZ but didn't know about this A1 company.

Taking what numbers I could gather.. I contacted several shock manufactures.. One being Monroe. I thought I'd never hear back from anyone of these companies.. but Monroe contacted me saying I needed to goto my closest fleetpride store and meet their tech as they had something for me. Arriving at the fleetpride, I was met buy the store tech and a couple of Monroe techs to work on finding out what shocks would work best on the van. Mind you Ford list the van as a truck..

With that in mind the tech grabbed a set of their Monroe magnum 66608 shocks and handed them to me. I wasn't sure what to expect. But according to the paperwork, the 66608 have a limited up travel of 16.88. But would this be too much. There was one small issues, I had to have a set of sleeves and bushing created in order to make these 66608's fit the van. We calculator this all up order the cold rolled steel sleeve with an out diameter of 3/4'' and an inner diameter of 1/2'' then added some thick washer style spacers to keep the shock centered within the "U" bracket mount. This would be the last time the coil springs would fall out.

The van was placed on the lift and the springs fell out. Replacing the springs, we used a lift to support the dead axle, then mounted the shocks at the top. things went together like clockwork.. when it came time to installed the shocks on the lower mount.. we have to lift the dead axle approx 1'' just so the shocks bolt would like up with the shock and support the springs. 40 mins later.. we removed all the supports and lowered the van to the garage floor then abruptly raise it back up just to see if anything changed.. it did.. the springs held in place with these new class 3-6 truck shocks..

Soe have said thie would be a hard ride.. but we really can't tell a difference. As for adding a boosted spacers to the floor jack.. not needed now as we're able to lift the van with 2 1/2 ton floor jack without any sort of spacer or without having the springs fall out.

We found our shocks in the most unliking place as a truck parts supply retailer.

 

[LostInTransit]

After 4 years of on and off again working on the van or searching for parts, here's the final results as to what suspension has been installed on our 2020 Connect:

▶ ‪MevotechParts‬ Over Engineered (greaseable) Control Arms x2
▶ MevotechParts⁩ Over Engineered (greaseable) Tie Rod Ends x2
▶ NAPA (greaseable) 11.00 inch Sway Bar End Links x2
▶ ‪Hardrace‬ 28mm Sway Bar Designed for a Ford Kuga/Escape (4mm increase over stock)
▶‪ Energy Suspension‬ 28mm Red Poly Sway bar Bushings x2
▶ Monroe Suspension Front Struts x2
▶ Custom Standard Ride Height 20% stiffer Front Coil Springs x2
▶ Custom 2'' (50.8mm) Shorter/Lowered 20% stiffer Rear Coil Springs x2
▶ Monroe Suspension 66608 Heavy Duty Truck Shocks x2
▶ Hardrace⁩ 1° Negative Rear Camber Plates (Designed for the Focus Sedan) x2
▶ Brake Performance Dimpled/Slotted Rotors
▶ Powerstop Carbon Fiber/Ceramic Pads (2 pair)
▶ New Lower Trans Mounts x2
▶ 3rd set of 245/40/r19 Nokian G4 tires

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Boy that sounds wallet emptying!

 

[LostInTransit]

JohnnyJohnson​

Excluding labor cost, but including parts we purchased that didn't fit and couldn't be returned or parts we thought would fit but failed soon after, lost money on a few purchase. Not to mention the 6 different brands of end links that didn't work on the van.. The NAPA brand links seem to be holding up longer than expected. All totaled, roughly 10K worth of new suspension parts and yet this is not the "best" stuff we could install on the van. Things like Eibach springs or coilovers even airbags systems all were avoided. Yet we'll have to replace the Bilstein B6 again, as they tend not to last beyond 2 years.. The 2 main accomplishments, was the Hardrace 28mm sway bar designed for the Ford Kuga/Escape which uses the same engine cradle as the Connect and the custom 20% stiffer same ride height front, 20% stiffer 2'' inches shorter than OE rear coil springs.

 

[chris719]

If anything, Bilstein B6 raises ride height a small
amount on most applications since it has very high internal gas pressure.

 

[LostInTransit]

chris719​

Oddly, when we installed the Bilstein B6 on the van, it lowered the front end by 3/4''. because Maryland/BGE has taken it upon themselves to replace ever gas line in maryland, they've tore up the roads these pothole dips and bumpy roads have torn up 3 set of shock and struts on the van. the first OE struts went out after only the first 2 years of driving the van. Bilstein has not convinced me that these are good shocks or struts. Seems I'll have been luck with either KYB or Monroe. which will be one of the next things we install on the van. I'm impressed with the new Monroe 66608's on the rear of the van.

I wasn't thrilled with the all black shocks, so I wrapped them but later changed my mind and actually ended up painting them.

 

[meep]

I really liked the Monroe reflex in truck or van application. I’m not sure if they are around now, and how they might compare to the magnum, but they were reasonably tight until there was a big hit, and then they’d let the suspension flex until it settled. Not a sports car ride, but I used them in a minivan and a grand Cherokee and liked them a lot.

I have respect for the bilstein 4600 but do not like the valving for 5100s for on road use. I prefer a linear shock over bilsteins valving. The reflex is still a little bilstein-like but not as tight.