My suspension work on my van is complete and I have to say I am very happy with the results. Its is a 2004 Chevy Express 3500 Roadtrek 190 Popular.
Wheels are measured from the top of the wheel wheel to the ground going straight through the center of the wheel. The “dump” measurement was from the bottom of the ground effects at the dump valve to the ground. This point is more-or-less level of the bottom of the plumbing and easy to measure. It is the area most prone to scraping.
Vastly improved. I went over several steep driveways at local businesses without incident. This includes ones where other vehicles had left a large number of scars on the pavement. I did not use the trick of going at the entrance at an angle to reduce scraping, I went straight in. I was unable to find a driveway that produced any scraping at all. This was my primary reason for doing the upgrade and I would rate this as an unqualified success.
Very substantially improved. There is a bump I travel over regularly at an angle. This bump would cause the vehicle to lurch violently. I can now take it at a moderate speed without problems. Also the motion is “once and done”. This is true of all suspension movements. If it moves, it moves only once.
Much nicer. I had some minor wandering at highway speeds, it felt a little “drifty.” This seems to be gone. The van feels lot more “planted” on the road. More under control. I would suspect that this is because the suspension is keeping the van level. Before it would lean to the outside of turns but it no longer does this. Some people have worried that raising the center of gravity of the van would make it feel like it was tipping over but with the reduced tendency of the van to lean to the outside of turns it actually feels more stable.
Somewhat better. You still feel every bump in the road. The bumps lack a lot of the jarring quality that they had before. It’s like getting hit with a rubber hammer instead of a ball peen hammer. I don’t think that 10 miles of washboard road would be very pleasant. It rides like what it is, a work truck. I think that the harshness is better but since I am focusing so much on the bumps it’s really hard to say. I would like to get more “cush” in the front, I am hoping that as the springs settle things will be less harsh.
Many thanks to all for the excellent information.
I know the shocks are a little high but but I liked the price on the air bags and they confirmed with me over the phone that they had the shocks in stock and could ship right away. No one else seemed to actually have them. Well they didn’t have them either — nobody that I could find actually had them — and it was 20 days between ordering and the arrival of the shocks.
I had a mechanic neighbor who owed me some favors so I got him to help me do the airbags, compressor and rear shocks . The coil springs, front shock install and the alignment came to $330.
The coil springs, front shock install and the alignment came to $330.
I did the springs and shock myself. Alignment is usually about $100. Shocks are easy. But I would gladly pay $230 for the spring install. I'm fairly handy but those heavy springs were kinda scary to install.
Fantastic to see another happy camper from the modifications for height!
It appears that the current list of parts and specs is working well, with good results, so the changes are getting to be much more common.
The heights listed for after lifting are right at what we would expect to see.
See my post in "Tweaks, Mods & Projects"
This photo is taken from the passenger side. The compressor is mounted inboard on one of the driver’s side rails. In the photo the front of the van is to your right.
I drew a red line in the photo. It marks the front of the fiberglass drain pan where it meets the cab section.
We were unable to figure a way to mount the bags as delivered. There were welded in place. In other photos I have seen a bracket but we did not have one.
The backup schrader valves were mounted inside the shower compartment. The tees in the air lines that go to the compressor are right behind the shower compartment. This arrangement let us get it done without needing additional air tubing.
I have a 3500 Expressed based Roadtrek and a Sprinter-Based van. My wife rides in the back on the couch and always complained about being thrown around. The fix in the Sprinter was easy: we installed VBAir's air suspension system. I have not seen anything for the 3500. How bumpy is it in the back for someone riding on the sofa after your upgrades? Thanks in advance!
Others can speak for their impressions, as all of this is very much an individual perception.
We have had 3 different variations of the rear suspension in our 07 Roadtrek 190.
All stock gave the ride everyone sees, not too bad on small bumps, but punishing and noisy on big bumps.
All stock but with the addition of air bags to lift the rear a bit off the huge overload spring leafs. Decent on the small and up into most of the normal bumps, but still harsh and noisy on the bigger bumps.
Non stock in that we removed the overload leafs from the rear springs to keep them from hitting on big bumps, and changed the airbags to ones that have an internal urethane bump stop in them. This change smoothed out all bumps quite well for us, and we are quite happy with it. The disclaimer is that we are the only ones that have done this change to date, so unproven in the mainstream.