Quote:
Originally Posted by gongeuzler
Quote:
Originally Posted by carringb
Ford made some changes in '97 that make for a more car-like feel in the vans. The older ones aren't bad, just a little more truck-like in the ride and steering department.
If you will doing 4x4, then it probably doesn't matter since everything will be changed out anyways, except the steering box (which is over-boosted in earlier models) and that could be swapped out too.
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Do you know what kind of changes they made? Been looking for a couple months now, only 7.3L I can find within a 1000mi's is a 96 with 100k on it.
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I'm not sure exactly. Many of the steering linkages have different part numbers. They all look the same, but I suspect maybe slightly different measurements, maybe better hardware at the joints. The big difference is the steering box though. Boost was reduced in '97, so they require a little more steering effort. They did this again in '08.
As older van is going to need front end work, just due to age. One thing you can do easily is drop a new take-off axle under an old van. It gives you much better brakes, better ball joints, more capacity, better sway bar setup, and much better radius arm design, and it'll cost you less than a brake job and ball joints on the original axle.