The Ford Super Club Wagon is built on the one ton E-350
chassis. The suspension is tuned for carrying passengers.
Therefore, primary use as a tow vehicle may cause you to modify the
suspension. The softer suspension of the stock Super Club Wagon,
combined with the large flat side profile, results in cross winds and trucks
rocking the vehicle. ipd has the solution to this problem.
Shocks and Sway Bars
To tighten the suspension, ipd offers a replacement front
sway bar (larger diameter), a rear sway bar (the stock Super Club Wagon does
not have a rear sway bar at all), polyurethane bushings and Bilstein shocks
with stiffer valving than the Ford shocks. The change in handling and
towing is remarkable. The Ford goes through corners with no noticeable
body lean and the van/trailer combination begins to act as a single
unit. Cross winds and passing 18 wheelers have little impact on the
van resulting in an easier vehicle to drive. The van will go through
corners noticeably faster than before. ipd makes suspension kits for
other vans and motorhomes.
What do you give up? $1,000 for the parts plus
several hundred dollars for installation. Additionally, the stiffer
ride really shows itself in crossing speed bumps and other major
irregularities in the road such as drive entrances with significant
elevation changes. You will find that you drive across speed bumps
slowly or get quite a jar. You will also find that washboard roads are
VERY rough. On reasonably smooth roads, most passengers will either
not notice any change or will comment that the van doesn't lean as much on
curves.
The driver will appreciate the handling improvements from
the ipd setup, especially when towing a heavy trailer. For more
information visit the ipd
USA website.
Air Springs
To resolve the rough ride, I installed Firestone Sport-Rite
air springs on the rear of the van. The difference in ride is
amazing. Installation is not for the faint of heart as it requires
removing the shortest, stiffest leaf spring from the spring bundle. It
is not really difficult but it is time consuming and the springs are under
pressure so they must be clamped securely before removing the U-bolts
holding the springs to the axle. Professional installation costs about
$300 but might be worth it to those concerned with the idea of removing a
spring. After installation, it takes about 25 pounds of air pressure
to return the van to empty ride height with several hundred pounds of
"stuff" in the back of the van. When hooking up to the
trailer, up to 100 pounds of air pressure can be applied to lift the van
rear end. This allows the van to sit level even with 1200 pounds of
tongue weight on the hitch.
With the air springs, the van rides better than it did
when the van was new. Oh, did I mention that I LOVE the air
springs. Some air springs, such as Air Lift, just add on to the
original springs rather than replacing any of them. I would suspect
that the ride improvement would be significantly less without removal of a
spring. The Firestone Sport-Rite air springs are about $200-$250
depending on where you buy them (I got mine from www.macsspring.com
for $200). Although you can fill the air springs independently, I used
a T fitting and a single fill point. I placed the air fill valve on
the top of the rear bumper on the passenger side to keep it out of the way
of damage and to easy the filling process.
I would make air springs my first purchase on a new tow
vehicle. They make that much difference.
