Front End Upgrade (many pictures)

Eight years ago, against better judgement, we bought a VW Vanagon, our first real RV. Because it was a Vanagon, it almost immediately needed significant maintenance. I had barely a clue what I was doing but with the help of my on-line Vanagon forum, I was able to not only fix my brakes but eventually I rebuilt the entire vehicle including a custom engine that I made with my own two hands.

I hope this post contributes a little bit to my new Good Sam community and reciprocate the kindness and knowledge some of you have shared with me.

On to the task at hand!

I decided to swap the front end of my 2008 Fleetwood Jamboree 26J (the chassis is a 2007) to the redesigned 2014 front end. The post-2007 front-end has bigger brakes and pads, a redesigned radius arm and a new axle and new sway-links. The setup is rated with an additional 500 pounds of capacity, too. I like the idea of having an extra margin of safety. Also, I am adding in a Hellwig swaybar, Firestone airbags, Koni FSD shocks and Ingall's Engineering caster bushings.

I purchased the parts from Quigley Engineering in Pennsylvania. The process took forever but they were always friendly and professional. I used uShip to handle transporting the 450-pounds of parts to my home in Austin, Texas.

Below I've outlined my disassembly procedure. I'm not suggesting this is the only way to do it or even the best way. It's just what I ended up doing. Your mileage may vary, as they say.

I hope that maybe anyone reading this might be encouraged to try something like this themselves. Use this information at your own risk and don't assume I have any idea what I'm talking about. I'm sure many of you will have much, much better and smarter ways of doing this but be gentle and try not to humiliate me too badly. :-)

001

I only lifted the vehicle up enough to make it easier to access a little easier, rather than raising it up "tires-off". The frame is resting on two six-ton jack stands with two additional ones added for safety and peace-of-mind. I had an acquaintance die when a brand-new jack stand cracked, so I tend to be very, very careful about this issue. Both rear wheels were chocked as well.

Once the camper was on the stands, I rolled a hydraulic jack underneath the axles and used a battery-powered impact wrench to remove the lug-nuts. Once the tires were off, I let the axles hang.

002

Sometimes one of the scariest things about tackling a big mechanical project is being comfortable with a strange new environment. There's all these odd, rusty, greasy bits going every which way and that can be intimidating. To help me ease in to a job, I always take as many pictures as I possibly can from every conceivable angle. I even shoot video as well. That way I can be pretty sure even if my memory fails me, the photos won't.

003

The ABS sensor connector has a little tab that locks the two sections together. Press the tab and wiggle the connector out of the lower socket. The socket is clipped to the frame by a nylon tab. I think it's supposed to slide off the frame but I just pried it off with a screwdriver.

004

The brake-lines are removed at the caliper using a short breaker. Fluid will leak out so be prepared with a couple of buckets or something absorbent. I was not prepared and I got a hell of a lot of brake fluid all over my driveway. Oops.

For the time being, keep the brake lines attached to the frame to help minimize the chance of getting any debris in the brake system. I didn't save the copper crush-washers. They're a one-time use thing and besides, the 2014 brake uses an entirely different brake line.

005

Remove the caliper bolts. I used a long-handled 1/2" ratchet because these are some pretty stubborn bolts with a lot of torque applied to them. Ford also applied blue thread-locker to the bolts so don't be surprised if you encounter some real resistance. There is a bolt on the top and bottom of the caliper. Once the bolts are removed, you should be able to lift the caliper right off. If the pads are biting down on the the disc, rock the caliper back and forth until it comes off. Be mindful of the fact that the caliper is full of brake fluid. It can slosh.

006

Using a pair of vice-grips opened all the way, get a good hold of the grease cup. A couple of yanks should free it up.

007

Using either your fingers, a flat screwdriver or long-nose pliers (or a combination of all three), bend the cotter pin straight and remove it. Pull the nut-retainer out and set it aside.

008

The spindle nut is literally what is holding the wheel to the axle and yet you'll probably be able to take it off with just your fingers! Once the nut is removed, pull the entire hub/disk out just a bit. The outer bearing and retaining washer will probably just fall out. Save the nut and washer. Obviously, save the bearing as well if you plan on reusing it. I purchased new bearings.

009

The hub will come right off now. I've done brake jobs on my VW and my Honda but nothing I'd done before prepared me for the sheer WEIGHT of the E450 hub! So be very careful you don't smash your foot or fingers!

010

The 2007-era swaybar is held on by just four bolts which came right out using my crappy impact wrench. A ratchet would work just as well but the bolts are really long, so you'll be at it a while. Once the last bolt is off, the bar will drop like a rock. So again, be careful.

011

Next, I removed the cotter pin, retainer and nut from where the tie-rods ends connect to the spindle. Save the nuts and retainers but never re-use cotter pins unless it is an emergency.

012

There are several types of tie-rod separators. The "pickle-fork" kind is the easiest but it destroys the joint's rubber boot. For now, I intend to keep the existing joints. The joint separator shown on the right-hand side of the picture ("scissor"-type) is pretty effective but it still has a tendency to shred boots. The one on the left is easy on the boots but almost never separates the joint.

013

The "scissor" type separator can be tightened with a ratchet but an impact wrench makes it so, so much easier. Once the joint is popped, I lifted the rods out of the way with a chain of tie-wraps looped over the frame.


NOTE:
I have new tie-rod ends but I'm not sure if I'm going to install them myself. The problem is, once I've installed the new ends, I'll have no earthly idea where my alignment is. I suppose I could measure the existing rods or even count the number of exposed threads on my old setup and then duplicate the measurements on the new rods.

Any suggestions?

014

I decided my next step was to remove the upper fasteners for the shock absorbers. No reason. It just seemed like the thing to do.

Much has been written here and elsewhere about how awful a job this is, particularly on the driver's side. Honestly, it wasn't that difficult, it was just extremely tedious because in both instances, you are removing a dirty, obstinate nut using short-leverage hand tools, one-quarter turn at a time.

The passenger-side shock is removed by holding the lower nut still and turning the top nut. The driver's side is the opposite, where you have to hold the top nut still while turning the lower one. No fun at all.

015

The coils come out now. This involves slackening what is probably the toughest fastener in the entire job: the big radius arm bolt that not only fastens the radius arm to the axle but also helps hold down the lower part of the coil.

Using a long 1/2" breaker, it took pretty much everything I had to pop it. But if my noodle-arms can do it, so can you.

Next, using a small hydraulic jack, I raised the axle up a few inches.

016

The coil is fastened at the top by a metal tab which is secured by a small bolt. Remove the bolt and tab. Make sure you save them! Note that the retailing tab fits into a notched recess on the frame.

Now, slowly lower the floor-jack. The coil will tip out. Rotate the coil 180 degrees. With a bit of turning, twisting and tugging the coil WILL come out of it's lower mount. I'm not sure it matters much, but I made a note of which side of the vehicle each coils came from using colored tie-wraps so i can put the back on their original sides. Probably doesn't matter.

017

In anticipation of the last few steps (particularly, removing the axle bolts), I raised each axle up on small three-ton jackstands at a point I guessed was the mass-center of the axle, pretty near the sway bushing.

With the coils out of the way, removing the lower shock mounts is super-easy. A short breaker loosened the nut and a ratchet finished the job.

018

Using a 1/2" ratchet on the lower nut and an impact wrench on the bolt, the radius-to-axle fasteners are removed. The plastic coil-insulator was more misshapen than I was expecting, so I'm probably going to get new ones.

019

The radius arm is held to the frame by three pretty big bolts. I had to use a large breaker to loosen them but a ratchet did them the rest of the way. After that, the radius arm is fairly easy to remove.

020

The bolt for the passenger side axle is frontmost, so it is removed first. In the photo, you can see I have a long breaker-bar augmented by a length of pipe. This is not only to give me a bit more leverage but it also allows me to stand up outside the wheel-well when applying force to the bar, rather than from a lying or sitting position.

Once the bolt broke, the impact wrench finished the task using a box wrench on the nut. The axle was balanced on the small jackstand, so it was fairly easy to just tip it out from under the vehicle.

021

The other axle nut comes off the same way except you'll be pushing down on the breaker.

022

THAT'S IT!! ALL DONE!!


I'm still waiting for a few fasteners to arrive at my Ford dealer. But otherwise I have everything I need to put the front-end back together. I'll post all that as soon as I can!

THANKS!!!
(EDITED FOR SPELLING & TYPOS)