Hello all,

Long time reader, wondering if anyone can suggest how to resolve this...

I have a 1999 Dodge Van "Incomplete Chassis" that says B1500 on the side... converted by a company named Glaval long since out of business.

Here's the issue I was trying to solve, even though this is a 7 passenger van with room for luggage... if I put 7 people plus luggage the rear suspension really sags... a trip a few years back I ended up having to help a guy pull his jeep out as his own truck was kaput so I put his car trailer on my van ( I added a Class IV received years back ) - and same issue - major rear end sag, as shown:



Over the years the rear end also squeaked more and more, but each time I'd taken it to a repair shop I got told the rear springs were some custom deal and they could not replace the bushings they'd have to replace the entire leaf spring assembly as they had no idea where to get octagon shaped rubber bushings??

Anyway... I finally just couldn't take it anymore... I found that SD Truck Springs listed replacement leaf springs my B1500 (if that is what it is) and found they had a 4/1 replacement rated at 2100 lbs... But they also had a 5/1 rated at 2750lbs and even a 6/1 rated at 3950lbs??? wow!

Deciding not to go too crazy, since I was only trying to fix the "7 people plus luggage" issue - I picked the 5/1 leaf ( originally the springs that Glaval put on were 4/1 ), my assumption being I was adding about 650lbs * 2 = 1300lbs of capacity to the rear.

WELL... the ride is GREAT! I put 7 people in had some gear in the back, and love the ride...

HOWEVER... As shown... now the ride HEIGHT is an issue.



I ended up going from 30" from ground to wheel well, to 33.5" inches!! (front is 30") i.e. I got a 3.5" lift on the rear... which is causing huge over-steer as well as a whole new set of groans and moans from the front suspension.




My local installer shop is at a loss... they are saying maybe they should make me a new custom longer shackle? They said they wanted to replace my 4" shackle with a 6" version? to drop the height by 2"? is that a good idea?



Anyway...

Can anyone suggest what the proper method is, to reduce the rear ride height back down a bit? I really love the fact that the rear suspension is holding the weight properly now... but... the extra height in the rear is annoying.

I did see another thread - and they were talking about a "leaf spring flip kit" but I can't find any information on one for this van. Or is what my local installer shop said about making a custom longer shackle going to be the right way to do this?


Also... the front suspension is now bottoming out - likely due the hot rod deal of the backend being up too high - does anyone know where to get replacement front coil springs for this van? I can't find them anywhere... I really don't want a 3.5" overall lift on this van... but if I can get the rear down to perhaps only 1.5-2" of lift... and then also lift the front by 2" that would be ok.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

And if this has been already answered bunches of times, I apologize but I can't seem to find any solid information.

-Michael

 

Hello,
Have you checked to make sure you do not have broken coils up front?

I would not worry about the look on its own. Being jacked up looks better than the newer Ford F350s that drag their rear ends when they have a load in them because they come from the factory "leveled".
Steve

 

Excessive rear ride height can stress out the U joints more causing them to wear faster.

Longer Shackles will lower the rear and Lower the Cg making it safer.

Raising the front end will reduce handling as is raises the CG over the greatest mass of the vehicle

If you drive at night regularly, be sure to readjust the headlamps.

I replaced my Moog equivalent 7270 springs with 7272 which are thicker.

I did Not gain any ride height, but it no longer bottoms out and handles turns better, flatter, but rides rougher.

I'd replace the front springs with 7270 diameter springs to keep it from bottoming out and have longer shackles made to keep the original ride height.

I put firestone ride rite airbags on my tired leaf springs and adjust the ride height depending on the weight I carry.

100 PSI raises the rear over 4 inches compares to 5 psi.

 

Steve,

Thanks for the reply... Actually I have no idea if 30" from ground to wheel wheel as measured in my picture above is normal or not on the front, do you know? Maybe the front has sagged... I do know it's the same height it has been since 2005 when I bought this 1999 Van.

As for leaving the rear end in the air 3.5" - my 96 year old grandma that travels with me all the time wouldn't like it much! Plus, I'm a tall guy, and now I have to crouch down in the seat to see if the light is red or green now - since the rake of the van is so high in the rear... very annoying. So I need to figure out either how to lower the rear back to 30" - or raise the front and then buy grandma an extra step!!

-Michael

 

I'm relatively sure that is one of the new "moans" or "groans" I am hearing now, after the new rear leafs, it kinda sounds like the driveshaft is making noise - worse when on throttle. Although I just had the rear end bearings re-lubed so could be something else causing that noise.


My preference would be to just get the rear end back down to "normal" height which for my van appears to be 30" from ground to wheel well as shown in my picture above. Any idea if 30" is normal for you or anyone else? :-)

That said... looking at the rear shackles - currently 4" long as shown in my above picture, I don't think my shop can get anything more than a 5.5" to 6" long shackle in there before I hit the bottom of the van interior floor. Or am I not thinking about this correctly and would this not be a 1" to 1" ratio change?

Anyway - I'll tell my shop to go ahead with custom shackles then; we'll see how much closer to original height I can get.


Completely agree, my goal would be to figure out how to get rid of the extra 3.5" in the rear... but... if I can only get rid of 1.5 or 2" in the rear - then my next step would be to try and level the van by raising the front.

Good point, although I hope to resolve the issue, not live with it.

Any idea how heavy your Van is? Mine is 6050lbs with no one in it - per the local lumber yard scales. I'm curious how much weight you have on those new springs. As I've always found getting the spring capacity that gets close the actual weight + cargo = good ride. I see the 7272 shows capacity of 2569lbs per spring vs. the 7270 shows capacity of 2264lbs per spring; so it looks like you now have at extra 610lbs of capacity up front.

Yeah, if I didn't have deteriorating rubber grommets that no one in the world seemed to be able to figure out how to get replacements for... then I likely would not have changed out the rear springs. I was TRYING to make my life more simple - by getting rid of the "custom rear springs" and going back to the dodge OEM springs... sigh. How I ended up with a 3.5" lift by going to springs that were listed as 0.25" taller than stock B1500 leafs I have no idea.

Anyway - if I do have any further problems with 7 passengers, luggage, + towing - then air helpers are on my list of upgrades.

Thanks for the help! I'm really glad I posted my question here.

Anyone have any thoughts on the "flip the leaf kit" concept on this van? I'm just trying to think ahead - if the "longer shackles" aren't enough.

-Michael

 

Surprised Rockauto does not list coil springs for a '99. They do for my 89, they do for a 95. They do list the coil spring isolators, which if you do replace the springs, you should use, as the original isolators are junk. They migrate to the middle. Mine had metal on metal contact in the spring pocket.

Not sure why they do not list a coil spring for ' 95 and above

I know they moved the engine farther forward somewhere around 95 or 97, but the control arms and ball joints and shocks are the same. So I will *** u me the springs are the same but perhaps Alloro will jump in and tell me why I am an ***.

I do not know how much my van weighs. it is on the to do list.

I will guess i have added 1000 LBS with my tools and interior Mods. I have a 6400 GVRW.

Your springs might sag with some time so the longer shackles might be enough.

Don't know about the axle flip kit. Thought that was for low ryders.


With my tired 7270 diameter original springs, my drivers side sat at 29 inches to the wheel well, the passenger side 30.25"

After new 7272's installed it sat at 30" DS and 30.25" PS

That was with 235/75/15 tires.

I have 30x9.5x15 tires now.

 

I suppose you could remove a leaf or two to lower the van and let it sag a bit more. Another option would be to re-install the rear axle on top of the springs but you may get too much drop from that.
Calling a 1500 a 7-passenger van is a bit misleading as the weight capacity is not there. The manufacturer should have used a 2500 chassis.
Regards, Steve

 

Well removing a leaf - would defeat the purpose of getting the extra capacity so the rear end doesn't sag. So that's not an option.

Do you have any information on an axle flip kit for the Dodge B1500 vans?

-Michael

 

I haven't done it myself but the place that installed your new springs could do it fairly quickly. I suspect you will get a drop about equal to the thickness of the springs plus the diameter of your axle tubes. I am guessing that would be a 6" drop or more.
Steve

 

In case anyone is curious - don't bother with custom rear shackles. SIGH.

I paid a fair amount of $$ to have these made.


However these custom 6 inch shackles (stock is 4 inches) only lowered the ride height of the rear by 1/2" on the passenger side and 1" on the drivers side. Sigh.

I'm going to try removing 1 leaf and go back to stock 4 inch shackles and see how it goes.

-Michael