Newbie Van Build - 1997 E150 - MG Radius Setup

[Redemption Road]

Holidays are over, time to move into "Stage 2" of my build...and of course I have some questions for the Guru's.

Fuel tank options? I would really like to a keep 35+ gallon capacity. Googled till my eyes hurt on options....inconclusive. Advice/options from past experience?
Shackle flip. I've browsed Sky's a bit, read some build threads (jsweezy) and have a question. Do you flip the rear, front or both?

Once I nail these items down or have a direction I would like to set pinion angle an get my perches welded so I can at least use the van. Does anyone have advice on rear pinion angles?

 

[turbodiesel]

I don't have any firm answers yet, but should have both done in the coming weeks.

It's just flipping just the rear mounts of the leaf springs. That'll give you the lift you need, plus tilt the axle slightly up at the correct angle. I already have the Sky kit and am about to do the flip in the next couple weeks.I don't have the pinion angle yet, or have the spring perches remounted. Which spring perches did you get? or did you just reuse?

On tank I went with MTS 37 gallon tank. That's also waiting in the wings to be installed. Awaiting a used diesel sending unit as the new ones are a ridiculous $500

 

[Redemption Road]

Thanks Turbo! I look forward to hearing how it goes/went with flip. For the Sky kit 4" is what you went with? Seems that is the way most go.

37g perfect! Going to look into that in detail later.

Existing perches came off cleanly so re-used them. I'd really like to bop around in 2wd while the remainder of parts come in. Just don't really want to weld perches, then cut to re-weld with adjusted angle, maybe I'm just being lazy.

 

[svo_jon]

For what ist worth, I ran my van without the 4x4 trans and tcase for maybe a year. After converting the trans and adding the tcase I had to drop the trans 3 inches. Between this and the shorter drive shaft now the angle aren't right and I have a drive shaft vibration.

Jonathan

 

[turbodiesel]

For what ist worth, I ran my van without the 4x4 trans and tcase for maybe a year. After converting the trans and adding the tcase I had to drop the trans 3 inches. Between this and the shorter drive shaft now the angle aren't right and I have a drive shaft vibration.

Jonathan

You mean drop the transmission cross mount right? Timberline suggests a 2.5" drop, it used to be 3" but they found 2.5" to be a better fit.

Couple questions: Who what where did you get your driveshaft? Did you angle the rear at all on springs? What rear end do you have? (F250/350, E150 w/ spacers?)

 

[svo_jon]

You mean drop the transmission cross mount right? Timberline suggests a 2.5" drop, it used to be 3" but they found 2.5" to be a better fit.

Couple questions: Who what where did you get your driveshaft? Did you angle the rear at all on springs? What rear end do you have? (F250/350, E150 w/ spacers?)

Yes, the trans cross member. i don't remember why I did 3 inches. It may have been what I needed or I read it somewhere and just went for it.

I had a local shop build my rear shaft using some parts from an extra shaft I had lying around.

Rear is a '96 10.25 sterling from an f350 srw, so yes I relocated the spring perches and reangled the pinion.

Jonathan

 

[Redemption Road]

Think you may be a candidate for angle correcting shims, or cut and re-weld perches, which is what I'm trying to avoid.

After droppong x-member do you know what the angle turned out to be on the trans side of things?

Guess I could drop the x-member now and set angles? Pinion and output shaft angles will remain the same after tcase added, only change will be driveshaft angle (due to length). From what I understand the angles at the ends of the shaft are important while the actual shaft angle has some range (I mean less the better buy you end up with what you end up with)

 

[svo_jon]

I Dont know what the output shaft angle is. Yes, I plan to cut the perches and re weld them.

After you commented that 2.5 inches drop on the crossmember will work I looked at my clearances and I think 2.5 would be fine. I think I have at least an inch and probably more room. May have to raise my crossmember before I redo pinion angle.

I guess you could drop the crossmember now. I dont see what that would hurt?

Jonathan

 

[Redemption Road]

Huge giant thanks to MG for setting me up with the correctly indexed pitman arm to match the new Red Head steering gear. (Dropping the return later or tomorrow to head back to you)

For those interested, alignment was completed today (mostly). Have a slightly worn upper/lower LH ball joint so camber adjustments were not made but all-in-all was within specified ranges. Plenty of caster (Zone Arms) and other than setting toe from my eyeballed setting in the shop, settings looked good. Woulda coulda shoulda popped in new ball joints and u-joints when it was on jacks, but didn't really see/feel any play in them at the time.

 

[Raul]

Good work and good progress. If you get the shackle flip, keep in mind that the one for the F350 is intended for a 3" leaves. Yours are 2.5. You'll will have to shim the difference and try to keep the leaves aligned with the front hanger.

 

[Redemption Road]

Thanks Raul, you have either crossed that bridge or are a mind reader. I see there is 1/2" to make up so 1/4 on each should keep it centered up. Kit is on the short list as the rear is sitting low even with 3" blocks and is empty minus the Explorer conversion pieces.

Chicken and the egg here as my mind goes keep CC880 (as MG designed) or throw the CC660 at it and see? Its a 5.4 so a tad lighter up front. (you have had good reviews on them)

I nerded out on some thread posts yesterday and it looks like you swapped out the OEM bumper for a step hitch steel one? I was leaning toward that as it seems like a great starting point to mount stuff to it. After shopping for bumper styles, it seems that after you bolt on all the goodies that the goodies become the bumper, so not really interested in a $2000 bumper just top bolt stuff to it when that OEM step steel looks like a great starting place and readily available for the taking.

Will all have to wait until after inaugural trip to Yosemite, down to AZ and up Idaho next week, maybe springs will settle in a bit, hopefully.

 

[Redemption Road]

Has anyone looked at the stock spring shackle bracket and flipped the stock one? The riveted pattern looks to be square so it might be an easy flip. Load on the bracket would be reversed and not sure if that has an impact. After looking it seems it could be boxed/braced to add strength and may yield 3-4" of gain in lift.

Some basic specs from SD.

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[RVflyfish]

Is this what you have in mind?

https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/ford-e-series-rear-shackle-flip.194724/

 

[Redemption Road]

Yes, but using the stock bracket rather than Skys. I've read through that post several times and was crawling around under the van and thought, hey, why not just flip this one. Provided the bracket isn't damaged while removing rivets. Looking at how the spring is positioned and mirroring that location, it looks like it would yield the needed lift to level out, for me anyway.

Nothing against Skys or any other supplier, just seems like an easy tweak with whats already there. I was inquiring because I haven't seen it done anywhere and maybe there was a reason why, too much load on bracket in that configuration or something else. I guess I can try it and report back.

 

[CaulkinsCo.]

I made the same suggestion to someone with a 06 f350. Looked like you flip them and swap sides. Grind the heads off and you can knock the rivets out. Air chisel or a roto hammer set to not spin works good.