Shock replacement headache on my 03' Quigley - Does yours look like this?

[azncarjunkie]

I'm at least the 3rd owner of this 03 7.3L quigley that has a 5 or 6" lift. Have taken it up to the mountains several times where the 4wd has been awesome! I've been going through adding some sound dampening and some captains chairs. Decided I'd upgrade the shocks after hearing such great reviews through here.

Now my current problem:

I decided to get some new shocks, ordered a set of bilsteins that both quigley and bilstein recommended ( bilstein part numbers front: 33-017204, rear: 33-176840). The shop that I take it to calls and says that the shocks I bought won't fit the front because the front has two "eye" mounts vs. the shocks that I bought that have one eye and one post. I have them swap out the rears and plan to do the fronts after doing some investigating with bilstein and quigley.

When I take the van back, I notice that the rear shocks that they replaced were the bilstein shocks meant for the front end (which I'm told is a stock E150 rear end). After telling the shop that they used the wrong shocks on the rear, they're telling me that the 'other' set of shocks that bilstein/quigley recommended are significantly larger (about 5" longer) than the OEM shocks and that I'd risk bottoming the shocks out if I install them.

AHH!!

I've sent some pictures to quigley who seems to think that this isn't their stock front end due to the way the shocks mount (they were shocked by the first pictures I sent) and I'm waiting to hear back from them. Waiting to hear back from Bilstein now.

Since there are so many knowledgeable tinkering-type people on here, I thought it the perfect place to check if anyone has some insight as to what's going on and what I can/should do. Do I have some sort of weird modification post quigley? What should/could I do to make sure i get the right shocks on here? Is there anything that I should be worried about?

These are the pictures that I sent to quigley. Can't believe that changing shocks has turned into such an ordeal

https://plus.google.com/photos/100717221881429887048/albums/5841230680657245697

 

[Jakey]

That's a cute rednecked shock mount on the front....
When it left Quigley, the front shocks were stem mounted at the top just like the factory suspension.
The front upper shock mount hole is behind the coil spring and just inboard of the hackjob mount.

 

[azncarjunkie]

arg....thanks . Any idea why this would have been done? Only thing I can think of is a lift beyond the original quigley?

 

[ujoint]

jakey is right. Someone has added a stud, probably to get a longer shock in there. You just need to measure eye to eye at ride height and get a standard 5100 series Bilstein. If you call them with the dimension they can get you a part #.

 

[azncarjunkie]

Thanks Jakey. The factory hole is indeed behind that mess of a weld and I 'think' I know why they added those ugly welds. I took the van to another shop who pointed out that the front shocks can be pretty awful to change due to the way Ford lowers the body onto the frame that it makes it really difficult to access the top of the shock mount (especially the driver side). He said there might be an access port from the inside of the cab that might make it easier which I'll have to check.

Anyone have any tricks up their sleeves for replacing the shocks on the front?

A pair of 5100's are already installed on the rears. Quigley and Bilstein both recommended a part number that I believe is a 4600 (yellow/blue). Bilstein ensured that it would be the proper application for what I needed.

I have to point out that I've been overwhelmingly surprised with how helpful Quigley and Bilstein were in supporting a 3rd generation quigley owner. Then add onto that how helpful the expo community and of course Chris from UJOINT. Makes me want to go out and support these companies even more .

 

[rebar]

I took the van to another shop who pointed out that the front shocks can be pretty awful to change due to the way Ford lowers the body onto the frame that it makes it really difficult to access the top of the shock mount (especially the driver side). He said there might be an access port from the inside of the cab that might make it easier which I'll have to check.

Anyone have any tricks up their sleeves for replacing the shocks on the front?

.

Did you get the shocks in? Is this typical for all e350's?