Well,,, I did the 'easy' half today. Put on the rear shocks (Bilstein 33-187-570 Heavy Duty). (Fronts are 33-176-857.)
Surely do wish ford engineers had to pull wrenches on their own designs! Exhaust is PITA to work around, and it would have been nice if a wrench would have fit on the bottom one. Had to use a Cresent wrench, because the plating on the nut was uneven. One pair of flats fit but not the other two pairs, and that was true of both lower nuts. Since the nut and bolt is a reuse,,,, oh well. Not Totally unexpected, since I used to pull wrenches for a living, 45 years ago. LOL
I want to thank ya'll for the advice and sourcing for them.
Not cheap, but they are certainly top drawer compared to the original shocks... Cheap tin with no boots. Pretty much used up at 23K miles. I was surprised at how rough they operated, with lowered resistance. Felt like there was gravel involved in the seals! Good stuff Ferd!
Took it around the block and there is a definite improvement... YES!... We'll give it a proper run, after Labor Day. Probably won't do the front shocks until we get back.
Hoppe
2011 Dodge 1500 C'boy Caddy
2000 Jayco C 28' Ford chassis w V-10 E450
Doghouse 36' or so Trophy Classic TT
W4MBG wrote: i would go with softer shocks and stiffer anti-sway bar.
I went with the stiffer shocks. We'll see what they do. Since I'll probably get to do this again in 30K miles, I can use the Comforts then.
If it's still doing the bob and weave I can add the heavier sway bars any time. The bars on it now eyeball at 1 1/8" on the rear. Didn't measure the front bar. Nor did I dig out the calipers to measure them. Yeah, I know,,, I'm pretty much useless.
I do anticipate wanting/needing to bring in a set of new bushings for the sway bars, as well. The ones on the rear bar were not built to impress.
I put HD Bilstein shocks on my E450 chassis 31' motorhome a couple years ago. Improved the handling but the ride is punishing over bumpy pavement or expansion cracks. Very jarring at times. Recently traded it in for a new class A.
Camper Ken wrote: I put HD Bilstein shocks on my E450 chassis 31' motorhome a couple years ago. Improved the handling but the ride is punishing over bumpy pavement or expansion cracks. Very jarring at times. Recently traded it in for a new class A.
Congrats on the 'A', Ken; have thought of doing that as well, but the $s are just not in the budget for that.
Just got back from putting a couple hundred miles on mine. With just the rears replaced, you wouldn't recognize it as the same coach. Now I can definitely feel the road in the steering wheel, so I know the fronts will be a big improvement as well. Noise and vibration are about half what they were before I changed the rear shocks. AND the big rigs passing me don't whip it around nearly as bad.
The cross winds are still PITA. I'm still scratching my head about new heavy duty sway bars, or just replacing the bushings with new neoprene ones.????? Wondering,,, how much larger/stronger are the Helwigs, compared to OEMs?
Do the sway bars. You will be surprised on how much differance it will make. SDTrucksprings.com has the best price for Hellwig sway bars. They are a true bolt on bar.
RedRollingRoadblock wrote: Do the sway bars. You will be surprised on how much differance it will make. SDTrucksprings.com has the best price for Hellwig sway bars. They are a true bolt on bar.
I'd be surprised if they didn't. I went to SDtrucksprings,,, the rear Helwigs for mine are 1 1/2", while my eyeball and tape tell me that the OEMs are 1 1/16 or 1 1/8". They should hold it like a rock. About $400 for both front and back though. "The money pit calls." LOL
Put the front shocks on this morning. PITA!!!!!!!!!!!!! but I got it done. My shoulders are burning tonight though.
Took it for a 4-5 mile loop, with a couple of miles of E470 included. caught a cross wind and even the 'buffedting', is improved. Not perfect but WAY BETTER. So much for factory junk shocks. They only had 21-22K miles on them and they were toast. Of course they probably were no miracle out of the box anyway.
Sway bars on hold for now.
Thanks for the help on the project..... Sure glad it's done.
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