Death Wobble/Squishy Quigley Front End ?

[Bellpilot]

I had John at Agile install the RIP Kit on my E350 2007 Quigley RB50. The kit I had installed replaced the shocks with Fox Shock, front coils, lowered the front sway bar and add a leaf to the rear end. When I arrived at Agile John asked the weight and if I would be adding any additional weight, then he went out on a drive with the van. On his return he measured all the four corners for heights then started the project and changed out kit parts as needed to match the van. I truly cannot say enough on how much this changed the handing of the van. I am so glad I did not buy the stock kit and installed it myself because John changed the kit parts up to match the van perfectly.

[theshwed]

Thanks @REF. I have the helper springs from Agile as part of the kit. My next step is to get a custom leaf pack, as suggested. Mostly I want to eliminate the lift block and get a little rake back into the stance of the van. Any handling improvements will be a bonus at this point.

[dpekin]

Hello,

I have a 2005 E-350 EB w/ Quigly 4x4 done by Sportsmobile. It has Emu shocks on it and 40K miles on the van. They are probably original since I haven't done anything to the suspension in the 4 or 5 years I've owned it. I just got back from a 3K trip up to Glacier NP, Tetons, and back to San Diego.

Twice on this trip I had a disconcerting wobble or front end bouncing experience. It only happened when I was going down hill (50-65mph) and applied brakes. It felt like the front end was oscillating - right bounce then left bound then right... I'm not sure if that was what was actually happening since I couldn't really see it. The more I pressed the brakes the more it wanted to shake. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

The van drives straight and doesn't pull or wobble if I'm braking on level ground. It doesn't shudder like warped rotors either. It's just a downhill and braking phenomenon right now. If I release the brakes, the bouncing stops, so I was using the engine to control my downhill speed rather than braking most of the time. That's not a permanent solution obviously.

My first attempt to remedy the situation would be to put new shocks all around thinking that the current one's aren't giving sufficient damping. I haven't really looked into the Agine RIP package but that sounds a bit spendy if shocks would do the trick.

Anyone have this experience and find a good solution?

Thanks,

Dave

[Lilnuts2]

Dave, could it be your front brake rotors have a slight heat related warp to them (very common with today's cheaper rotors)? This would magnify any other wear in your front end.
Your shocks can't tell if your going downhill or flat. If it were shocks I would think you would have problem all the time.
Since you don't have wobble or wander it's probably not wheel bearings or steering or tires.

[Kibo]

Have you checked your ball joints for wear? Wobbling under heavy braking (as you would be downhill) is often a symptom of worn ball joints. I've known for some time that we have a worn ball joint on our van, but haven't had a chance to replace it. At the end of the ski season it was getting worse, and developed symptoms just like you've described. Our van drives straight, doesn't pull or wobble on level ground, no brake shudder--but when braking coming down a relatively steep hill at the local ski resort, it would wobble only while braking. I'm replacing the ball joints (and a whole lot of while-you're-in-there) right now.

To check your ball joints, it's best to jack up the axle until the wheel is off the ground and then use a pry bar (or long metal pole, etc.) to lever the wheel up and down. If it moves and/or you feel knocking, your ball joint(s) are shot. Be sure to check both sides. If either side is bad, I recommend replacing all the ball joints at once.