Jaleo 2- Building a 2012 E-350 4x4-Third time is the charm

Trip to Moab and then Colorado.

We started doing the Rim Rocker. The Main trail is not difficult at all, but we decided to take a detour. The trail to the Big Johnson Mine (I think that's the name) proved to be a challenge. One trailer flipped, and since there was no way to make a U-turn, we had to move a couple of huge rocks with the winch and bottle jacks. Even after moving the rocks, it was a tight squeeze for the van.

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Big rock on the other side. Rim got a bit of "curve rash."

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This was the first time I was able to enjoy Moab with the van at 100%. It was nice. The most memorable trail was the Fins and Things. It's rated as difficult. I have no issues doing it, even though my e-locker was not working. I discovered weeks later that the ground wire for the e-locker was corroded. I had no locker for months. I guess the front Torsen LSD really does its job.

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After a few days in Moab, I grew tired of the desert landscape and left on my own for higher ground. I went to Ouray and went to Yankee Boy Basin. Spend the night at 12,000 ft and climb a fourteener (Mount Sneffels) the next morning. That was beautiful.

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Front Coils and Shock absorbers.

Another front set of shock absorbers has blown out. I do not have a lot of flex, and travel is quite bad. The shock absorbers are working as limiting device on the down travel, and that's not helping. I spend a lot of time on three wheels.
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I have the MG Metalworks kit, and it includes a spring and shock spacer. It's a nice spacer, but I think it's overengineered and not necessary. It provides retention at the bottom of the spring. That's something that Ford does not provide. I may work something around it, but in the meantime, the limiting straps will take care of it.

I spend a lot of time learning about the options for van spring (cc880s, CC860s, ...) Now I needed ot investigate longer springs. I went with Skyjacker 184s. That is a 4' lift on a F350. Once installed is less than 1" shorter than the CC880S with the spacer.

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Shock absorbers were Bilstein 24-186018 (2" lift) , and the new ones are 24-186681 (6" lift). Maybe be I should have gone with the 4" lift. Time will tell.

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Installation was pretty straightforward except for the top nut on the driver side. Whoever was the engineer who designed these pointy screws (there are two of them) deserves a special place in hell. I was able to cut one, and it made a huge difference.

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As a reminder, you will need to remove the grommet on the driver's footwell to be able to use an allen wrench to lock the shock shaft from spinning.

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And this is how the new setup looks, compared with the old one.

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I should have a more effective spring travel, a positive travel stop, and more shock absorver travel. So far, I've only done a couple of trips around the block, but I like how it rides.
 
I’ve been using your coil spring info as the guide for my build. It’s super helpful that you shared this. Thank you.
 
Looks good! I have a brand new set of C880's to go with my MGM kit so I expect I'll stick with them but good to know there are options. It looks like you have a 4 link kit to replace the OEM radius arms. How's that working out?
 

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