B190 Enthusiasts

Hi - I recently purchased a 97 B190 that has 5 inch skid wheels mounted in the back to protect the tanks. They frequently drag when i enter or leave a parking lot with a slight rise. I wonder if my springs are sagging or if installing air shocks might help. There are many rough dirt road "primative" camping areas in New Mexico the we like to use. Any suggestions? Are the skid wheels a stock item or an add on?

Those wheels were added by a previous owner...

Most likely the springs have sagged a bit over the years....

Two options in-my-opinion, neither would include air-shocks as when they are inflated to provide you the amount of rear lift that you need, they also change the way the vehicle will ride, it stiffens it significantly

Rebuilding the springs would be a consideration and perhaps adding one leaf...again, adding a leaf will stiffen the ride

What I have done, 3 rigs now...spacers between the spring and the axle housing...with the original U-bolts there is enough extra thread to add a 7/8" spacer.

I have used 1" spacers, 1 1/2" spacers and 2" spacers...all require new slightly longer U-bolts

I had the u-bolts made locally....(4 required)

The 1" spacers I made from aluminum plate....the 1 1/2" & 2" spacers I made from rectangular steel tubing.

One thing about the spacers is they have no affect on the ride and they raise the back of the rig up.

Maybe I should be making kits....?

I'll toss in some pictures....stay tuned

This is a 2-inch riser kit...

Here is a 96 I put a 2" kit in as the bottom of the hitch was dragging on pretty much everything....

Note the distance between the top of the rear tire and the wheel well opening



These pictures below are the same rig.....and yes, thats Alaska dirt

I got that rig from one of our members in Florida about 5 years ago now, for a friend in Alaska pictured below..

She is 83 this year and her and her B190 are a real team...she uses it/lives in it, spring-summer-fall in Alaska and then puts in storage in Anchorage and now winters in Pheonix

She has put 50k miles on it since I got it....and, she keeps it in very good condition

Will we all still be venturing out like she does at age 83...?

These spacers can actually be purchased from Ford, at great cost no doubt...they came on the F350 4x4 pickups

Part # E3T-5A99-EA and are 2" tall...these are cast steel and the "wings" you see in these pictures has to be cut off for our application

The wings are part of the over-load stops, they come in contact with rubber bumpers on the trucks chassis

The round center-pins are index pins...they fit into the brackets on the rear axle housing to keep everything in alignment...and the springs have a similar pin the fits into the hole in the bottom of the spacers

Thanks for all the great info. I found a 2 inch kit for $75 at

http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/sku/U ... ering#desc

Dale

Dale....good job on your search, but a couple things

Doesn't tell the width of the blocks and NO U-bolts

I suspect they are 2" wide.

They don't look wide enough for the E350 springs...and the data there doesn't provide dimensions

They need to be a full 3 inches wide..and the u-bolts need to be made from 9/16" or 5/8" diameter material as that is what the original u-bolts for the E350 are....they have 5/8 fine-thread nuts on them with thick hardened washers

Those Ford castings in the pictures about are 2 3/4" wide...and Ford spring is 3" wide..

If you only do this on the rear, doesn't it make leveling a bit harder? (i.e., you always would have to put blocks under the front wheels?)

Not really...its been my experience that all these rigs at this point are sitting lower in the rear than when new.

Putting 2" risers in Diane's 1996 rig got it back to being pretty close to level

Alaskan wrote:What I have done, 3 rigs now...spacers between the spring and the axle housing...with the original U-bolts there is enough extra thread to add a 7/8" spacer.

I have used 1" spacers, 1 1/2" spacers and 2" spacers...all require new slightly longer U-bolts

...

Maybe I should be making kits....?

I'd like to order a 2" kit

ok....I have a set of blocks made up but I don't have a set of U-bolt.

I'll get a couple sets made up...

I would like to order a set as well.
Dale

Dale....

I just ordered up some sets of u-bolts made today so I have enough parts currently for you and Eli

Dave...

Dave

Hello I was wondering if you are going to be making up anymore kits? I would love to obtain one.

Clint