I went with Timberline stuff, again for my own specific reasons. Personally i think U-Joint is the most complete and well thought out kit on the market today and he offers full support after the sale.
If you use Timberline or MG and some others, you "must" utilize the 2005+ dana60 front axle. This axle measures considerably wider from wheel mount surface on one side to the wheel mount surface on the opposite side than your existing ford van suspension. The brakes are also considerably larger diameter and your existing 16" inch wheels will not work. That means you have to buy new 17" wheels with appropriate backspacing to compensate for the wider axle or else your tires will be sticking out beyond your fenders and look freakish.
I am currently converting a 2005 E-350 van. The van suspension measures 77.75" inches from WMS to WMS, its a dually truck. The 2006 Dana60 F-350 dually pickup axle i just bought measures 79.75" inches WMS to WMS. Thats including the dually adapters.
My existing 16" Alcoa wheels have 8.39" inch backspacing on a 6" wide wheel with 5.40" offset. The F-350 Dually wheels have a 125.3mm offset on a 6.5" wide wheel, which equates to 8.68" inches of backspacing. However from research i have done so far the rear inner steel dually wheels are 6.5" wide and appear to have 141.2mm offset which equates to 9.31" inches of backspace, which is a huge difference from the Vans existing wheels.
But i have to run the ford F350 wheels because my truck is a dually and the new axle has an 8x200mm lug pattern. That means not only will i have to change front wheels and dually adapters on the front to bring the wheels 2" closer together, i will also have to have new custom forged steel rear dually bearing hubs machined to compensate for the 6.5" wide wheel and deeper backspacing, otherwise the inner dually wheel will be hitting my leaf springs. They must also be machined utilizing the larger 8x200mm lug pattern. I suppose some folks would just slap a spacer/adapter back there but i dont do things that way.
Ujoint on the other hand utilizes the earlier model dana60 axles which used leaf springs up front. Those axles have the smaller brakes and narrower track width than the 05+ axles, but they also utilize an 8x170mm lug pattern. That said you still have to buy new wheels to match the 8x170mm lug pattern, unless you opt to spend another $2000 to have a spyntec or dynatrac freespin kit installed with the vans 8x6.5" lug pattern so that you can retain your existing 16" wheels.
Not certain if Ujoints kit also works with the older kingpin style axles or not.
Hope this helps you to understand how expensive it can get if you decide to go with a kit that utilizes a late model 05+ axle. Granted yours are not dually cab chassis trucks but its more involved than just bolting an axle and suspension under the front of the truck. What i just described to you are just a few of the issues that never seem to be disclosed at the point of sale when you buy one of these kits that utilize the late model 05+ axles. If your mechanic doesnt have the ability to think all of these issues threw in advance of tearing the van apart, you could be in for extended wait periods while he sits down to figure out what his next step is going to be in resolving issues as they make themselves known to him.
That said, if someone with little mechanical ability asked me what kit they should purchase, i would direct them to Chris at Ujoint simply because the kit can be tailored to your specific needs and the after sale support is there.
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