97 Crestline's Slow camper build

[97 Crestline]

Since I had new rear Springs installed... (4k lbs per pack) it's been sitting tail high. Especially with the extra 1" lift block on the drivers side to level out the lean from the extra weight. It started at about 5.5" rise over the 12' run of the box. They've been settling down since last July. They'd got down to 3ish" over 12' and I was happier with it. But before having the front ball joints done, I was wanting to get it better.

Enter Moog cc880s. They are rated at 3009 lbs per side and are progressive springs. With 3k ish lbs the top 3 coils almost touch. The are designed to do this to give a softer ride. Unloaded they're 17" long... With the weight of the truck they're currently sitting at 13.5".

Result, 1.5" over the 12' box run. Everything may settle a touch, but it's getting darn close to level & more inline with the rake in service ambulances have. I'm happy with the improved ride or handlling as well as the finished ride height.

[coachgeo]

Didn't happen without pictures

[97 Crestline]

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[coachgeo]

Will be interesting to see how these end up settling out. She looks great

[97 Crestline]

They should be higher than the old ones... I'm hoping if they do settle, that the rears also settle a bit more. As I finish the rear, it'll likely sink a tad.

Thanks. I'm really happy with it. Just wish the interior was also done.

[97 Crestline]

The Moog 880s still are about the same at 35.5" to the top of the front fenders. I picked up some low mileage Bilstein HD shocks for the front. I'm very pleased with the ride and handling now. Virtually no dive even when the brakes are applied aggressively. High speed bumps are way more controlled.

[97 Crestline]

Had a friend do the upper and lower ball joints... they're a major pain to do.

Took it to Ford for a front end alignment... I wasn't impressed when they tried to charge me $200 more than the quoted price for the wheel alignment. All because it needed an alignment bushing changed. They claim, after the fact, that changing bushings isn't a part of the alignment. Even though I told them where my spare bushings were... they told me I should've told them it would need one changed. I pointed out that was beyond what I could actually determine with a level and tape measure.

They proceeded to ask me if it had ever been in an accident... I had to resist the urge to say 'duh' but instead only said it's a 20 year old ambulance with 200k miles... it's safe to say yes. In its 16k+ hours of use it has likely been banged up a bit.

There's likely a reason the fenders are rust free.

Needless to say I spoke with the manager and he adjusted the bill to something I could live with. I still wasn't happy they were 20 hours past when they said it would be ready. It didn't help they didn't touch it the first day it was there.

[eporter]

My ambo's at the shop right now getting all the ball joints replaced, & with the left outer tie rod end and an alignment it's going to be $935. Oh well, I'm at work where there's AC. I thought about trying to do them myself, but it's the kind of work I'm not really interested in...

[97 Crestline]

For all that was done I'd have paying closer to 2g. 935 doesn't seem bad

[97 Crestline]

With ball joints, TREs, etc I was at about $800 for parts