Quote:
Originally Posted by northern piper
I've always been of the impression that if you can't swear for 15 minutes straight without repeating yourself then you shouldn't be doing auto repairs...
glad you got it done!
|
The upgrade yielded interesting results. Visually the most obvious change is that the front of the van now rides a full 5 inches higher than it used to and the vehicle is now perfectly horizontal. Goodbye low-rider and good riddance Since the strut assembly is the same height as the old one I can only surmise that the front springs on the old ones were terminally sagging under load. Another major improvement: that annoying camber is also gone, front wheels are now perfectly vertical. This is a widespread issue with 99-03 Winnies and now I'm convinced that the culprits are the lower arm assembly and more specifically the ball joint, both of mine were shot
Road test #1 was dissapointing, as soon as I hit about 10 mph a horrible grinding noise emanating from the right front wheel became apparent (the whole street could hear it). Back to my driveway, jack up the passenger corner, put the van in neutral, spinned the wheel by hand and sure enough chirp....chirp....chirp every second or so. Turns out the soft metal rotor shield had been slightly bent at the bottom during my project and was dragging against the rotor's edge. Pushed the shield back with a screwdriver, problem gone.
Road test #2 was much better. Just saying that the van handles better would be quite an understatement. I would say the handling is what Ford meant it to be when they redesigned the platform in '99 around a light truck frame instead of a car like the 95-98 models were. The result not surprisingly is that it handles like a mid-size SUV. You sit higher and the suspension is a bit on the firm side (when compared with a car or first-generation Winnie) but very stable on bumpy roads.
Gone are the metal clunks so now at last I can hear the mysterious muffled thuds many minivan owners complain about regardless of which brand/model they are driving. I am 99% convinced these come from the strut mount bushings and that the reason we minivan owners complain more about it is because we are almost sitting on the dang front wheels and there is not enough distance between the strut tower and the passenger cabin to dampen them properly. This low-level noise is not accompanied by any harshness so most people don't noticed them anymore, but me' I now hear them in almost any car I happen to be riding in.