Quigley Ride Height and Suspension Travel

[Steve_382]

I went to the Supersprings website and looked around for coil springs. Since my van weighs just under 4,000 on the front axle, the SSC-30 rated at 3935 lbs sounds just about right. The 1 1/2" of lift sounds nice also. Hmm, be nice to know how much that increases the likelyhood of a rollover in an emergency. Also be nice to know whether it screws up anything else on the front end.

http://www.supersprings.com/sc_product.asp

MANUFACTURER YEAR PART# CAPACITY RIDE HEIGHT MSRP (Price/pair)

E250/350/450 1992-2009 OEM 3150 lbs STOCK
SSC-30 3935 lbs plus 1 1/2" $ 343.00
SSC-31 5000 lbs plus 1 5/8" $ 343.00

[j.whitbread]

Funny how Quigley knows and recommends shock upgrades without including it on the vehicle just because it's better! I guess even BMW uses less than the best shocks on their cars. If motocross bikes were designed with the same enthusiasm, people would be riding air cooled two strokes. Probably that competition thing.

Manufacturers are cautious by nature. There's no doubt the vans have been engineered on the safe side, like any vehicle with a warranty.

I could easily go an inch and a half and not feel like I was jeopardizing anything but my wallet. 3 inches would be about the same price.

A rear leaf spring designed properly for the height is better than blocks on stock springs to level it. Yes custom springs use blocks, but not 4" blocks. That in itself is a handling improvement.

[MtnVan]

In an effort to increase the front up-travel on my 2000 SMB with the Quigley suspension, I picked up the SSC-30 springs. I was concerned about getting too much lft, but gave it shot. Results: about 3/8" increase in ride height. That's it. braely noticeable. Maybe I should've put the SSC-31 rated to 5000lbs since it's a diesel. Not sure. A little firmer ride. So, if you're looking for a real increase, better chance to go with the SSC-31 version for a diesel Quigley.

[Ford_6L_E350]

Does Quigley use the Ford lower spring mount on the axle? Salem-Kroger uses it, and it is a simple fix to add a spacer under the mount to raise the front end. You do have to get longer metric bolts to bolt the spring mount and spacer back onto the axle.

I think the bolts are 14 x 2 mm and the length will vary depending on how much spacer you use. I have about 2 1/2" of spacer and I don't know how long the bolt is. Sorry, I'm not going to pull it apart and check.

You might be able find the length of the bolt from Quigley, and then add the additional length for the spacers you add (+25mm/inch of spacer).

I got my bolts from:

http://www.mrmetric.com/

The are in San Jose, CA, and had a wonderful selection of longer 14 mm bolts.

A quick search online only turned up one source of metric bolts 14 x 2 longer than 100mm:

http://www.aaronsmetricscrews.com/MetricCapScrews.htm

Mike

[SMBDAD]

Originally Posted by MtnVan

In an effort to increase the front up-travel on my 2000 SMB with the Quigley suspension, I picked up the SSC-30 springs. I was concerned about getting too much lft, but gave it shot. Results: about 3/8" increase in ride height. That's it. braely noticeable. Maybe I should've put the SSC-31 rated to 5000lbs since it's a diesel. Not sure. A little firmer ride. So, if you're looking for a real increase, better chance to go with the SSC-31 version for a diesel Quigley.

Does the quigley conversion use a ford spring?

[j.whitbread]

When ordering a new van through Ford, using the ship-through code "31k", which signifies a 4x4 conversion at Quigley, the Ford option, "one-up front springs" is added. The diesel comes with it by default.

"One-up front springs" means one higher than what's on it, which varies from, E150, E250, E350....

So the answer is yes, they use a Ford spring. A spring one step higher capacity. Not a taller spring.

[MtnVan]

Quigley Spring follow-up:

I now have all new springs on my 2000 Quigley 4x4 EB50 PSD. I put the Super Spring 30's up front and a custom leaf stack from Deaver. After 2000 miles and a road trip to St George/Zion/Gooseberry Mesa, I can reports this:
Super Spring 30's - not much different from the Quigley 1-up springs (1/2" extra lift, similar ride). I wouldn't buy these again. Maybe the 31's would be more improvement. My front axle weight is 4400 #'s

Deaver custom rear leaf springs - WOW!! These were not cheap and required some modification of the 4" exhaust, but the ride difference is worth it! My wife now enjoys the van ride while sitting in the back. My rear axle weight is 5800#'s and the ride used to be harsh. It's now very driveable - slow speed rock crawling has much less upper body sway, freeway driving is smoother (especially over big dips), speed bumps are much easier and driveway entrances don't bounce the van around. I can really feel the shocks doing their job now. I also had Deaver give me a little extra ride height (now settled at 1" over the old height at the axle).

I highly recommend the Deavers with the Fox shocks. Up front, just put a spacer under the Quigley springs to get a little extra up-travel or consider the SC31 coils over the SC30. If you run the Fox 2.0 shocks - make sure you weigh your van axles to ensure you get the correct valving (rebound valving is key).

Cheers,
Marc
2000 EB50 Q4x4, PSD, MTN VAN

[blupaddler]

A little bringing an old thread back to life...


Maybe this has been covered elsewhere, but is there a reason we cannot put lift springs from a F350 or F450 in a Quigley converted van?


And Marc, do you happen to know the Fox shock part numbers for the front/rear? Did you have to modify or get rid of the upper stem mount for the Quigley based front end?






And one more stupid question... I lost the front drivers shock on a recent trip to Baja, the nut backed off the stem. I lost the nut and didn't have the correct replacement. So I removed the entire shock for the trip home. When I removed the lower shock nut, I noticed that it didn't the little metal sleeve that goes inside of the bushings in the lower shock mount. Is this normal? Or because of the Quigley conversion do the lower shocks not have the metal sleeves inside the bushings?

Thanks!

[SheepShagger]

Originally Posted by blupaddler

A little bringing an old thread back to life...
Maybe this has been covered elsewhere, but is there a reason we cannot put lift springs from a F350 or F450 in a Quigley converted van?

And Marc, do you happen to know the Fox shock part numbers for the front/rear? Did you have to modify or get rid of the upper stem mount for the Quigley based front end?

And one more stupid question... I lost the front drivers shock on a recent trip to Baja, the nut backed off the stem. I lost the nut and didn't have the correct replacement. So I removed the entire shock for the trip home. When I removed the lower shock nut, I noticed that it didn't the little metal sleeve that goes inside of the bushings in the lower shock mount. Is this normal? Or because of the Quigley conversion do the lower shocks not have the metal sleeves inside the bushings?

Thanks!

F-truck use a different length & shape spring. I'm sure with enough force (& heat?) you could bend a truck spring into submission since it's longer than the van spring, or maybe change the van shackle to a longer one. But it's not a direct bolt-on.

On the shock, if you mean the bushing that goes over the bolt / in-between the bolt and rubber. That's a shock manufacturer thing, just depends on the shocks. Nothing much to worry about.

[blupaddler]

Not too sure if I should post this here, elsewhere or start a new thread...

I am having issues trying to fit the correct front replacement shock on my Quigley van.

I installed front Bilstein shocks today.
My van is a 1995 Quigley Sportsmobile.

I contacted Quigley and they gave me the same part number which people had referenced here for replacement shocks. They said this shock was/is intended for a stock E350 set-up, but works.

F4-B46-1720-H1
33-017204
*Same shock, just labeled as two different numbers. The lower number worked for my local 4Wheel Parts guy

I also contacted Bilstein and they said this shock should work.


However the problem began when I had to bring the shock back and have the bushing in the eye portion of the shock pressed out and have a 5/8" hourglass bushing installed instead. No biggie, just time spent. But, now that the front shocks are installed they are almost fully compressed. There is only about 1", maybe 2" top of compression left in the shock.



Is this correct/normal? Is this is what is to be expected from Quigley suspension?
It drives ok. Way better than driving with just one shock like I was since returning home from Baja.

I appreciate the advice.






edit: added crapy cell phone picture