Replacing Shocks on 2017 E-450

Getting ready to tackle this project.  Upon inspection it appears Ford has made the job of removing/replacing the driver side front shock that closely resembles many of the cursed jobs I experienced on my sailboat!  Several You Tube videos show everything from there being an access hole below the carpet, using a sawzall, or a combination of various wrenches and bloodied knuckles!  Advice or experience much appreciated.

Try placing a box wrench up top and wedge it so it won't move, then turn the shock, keeping the shock's top nut fixed.  Being a 2017, rust won't be an issue for you.

I replaced the shocks on my 2016 2351 on a E-450 chassis with Koni's. Yep, your correct. The left front is a @#^#@.   The rears were a piece of cake, the right front was tough and the left front took two of us about hour to swap. Once the top nut is loose, you can spin the shock to finish removing the nut. Two of us had the four shocks changed out in about two hours.

My mechanic used a Sawzall.

I didn’t find any to be that big a deal. The front left took an extra 15 minutes but the access hole makes it very doable. Using a sawzall works well too.

Don't destroy the shock getting it off.  2016 & 2017 shocks are like new.  If you know anyone with an E250 or E350 van, they use the same shock.  Make someones day and hand them over.

I just caught that it’s a 2017. Why change them out?  I changed mine out that were 6 years old with 30,000 miles on them and quite frankly I won’t say the Komi shocks I put in are that much better. Actually in hind sight I should have installed bilsteins and saved some cash as the Komi being better than 6 year old shocks didn’t make me go OMG!

Maybe you’ve already done this but if ride is an issue I’d start with weighing your rig loaded and adjusting your air pressure.

I just caught that it’s a 2017. Why change them out?

Hi Joseph,

The shocks that come with the chassis from Ford are not effective because the chassis is loaded up to, or close to the max load rating.  Placing a house, appliances, people, water, and their contents, all combined is equivalent to a box truck loaded up.  The problem is made worse when the RV manufacture increases the wheel base and the worst is extending the frame behind the rear axle.

Apparently, Ford's shocks consider an empty or partially loaded box truck.  They are under-rated for the full load of a motor home.  That is why it is so popular to install after-market heavy duty shocks.  Understand that the shocks Ford installs are the same shock they install on an E250 van.  That alone is a strong indicator that the shocks are inferior for a motor home application.

Not every RV owner feels the same.  It could be they might not realize their shocks are inferior, or possibly the weight is well distributed on their motor home.  Some people simply get used to the way their motor home handles.  Some people don't travel far to their camping destinations so they don't see the value in the investment.  They would understand if they could drive identical motor homes loaded up, one upgraded, side by side, on a road that needs to be resurfaced and experiencing gusty side winds, driving across the USA.  That would be a typical condition for some of us.

Not just the shock aborbers, inferiority continues with the front and rear stabilizer bars, and the steering stabilizer.  Replacing all with heavy duty equivalents, in combination help make the chassis handle much better.  I feel you need to upgrade all of them to notice a significant improvement.

As you say, load distribution, the right tire pressure, and also the right wheel alignment, further improves the handling.

I am with Ron on this. Our 2552 would wander on the highway and sway when being passed by big trucks or a gust of wind.  Last week we took our coach to Champion Frame-Alignment in Elgin, Illinois. They installed Koni shocks, a track bar, and front and rear anti-sway bars. They also aligned the front end. The way it handles now compared to the original is a huge improvement.
Even my wife can tell the difference even though she isn’t driving. I’m very pleased and would recommend the upgrade to anyone.

I am with Ron on this. Our 2552 would wander on the highway and sway when being passed by big trucks or a gust of wind.  Last week we took our coach to Champion Frame-Alignment in Elgin, Illinois. They installed Koni shocks, a track bar, and front and rear anti-sway bars. They also aligned the front end. The way it handles now compared to the original is a huge improvement.
Even my wife can tell the difference even though she isn’t driving. I’m very pleased and would recommend the upgrade to anyone.

Champion Frame Align is less than 30 minutes from our house.  They did the suspension improvements on our PC and also our previous motor home, a 1983 Toyota/Mirage.  I highly recommend them if you can work out a visit with them.  But understand they have to order the parts.  They don't stock them.  So dropping in unexpectedly will be disappointing.

It is hard to drop an additional $3000 to $4000 in suspension improvements just after buying a new motor home.  We all wonder why motor homes are not equipped that way right from Ford to RV manufactures.  One simple reason.....money.  It's a shame that Ford doesn't install the right parts on the assembly line, instead of inferior ones.  It would cost them a lot less than the price Bud and I paid.  An additional $1000 to purchase the chassis would be money well spent.  The NTSB should make it mandatory for the sake of safety.  Not just easier to drive, the safety improvement is tremendous.  Of coarse that is only my personal opinion.

I did one upgrade at a time to get a feel for what made the biggest changes. For us the sway bars and the front end alignment were huge. I didn’t find the Komi shocks changed the ride all that much. The steer safe did tighten up the feel of the steering but it was the front end alignment that stopped the wander on ours.

Too bad we couldn’t have an air ride. A few months back I blew a tire on my motorcycle coming home and needed a tow. The flat bed tow truck was a one year old freightliner with just over 100,000 miles on it. I was amazed at how quiet the diesel was, you had to focus on listening for it to know it was a diesel running. Not like our poorly insulated cabs with all the engine roar. More importably however was it rode smoother than many cars due to its air suspension. It was truly impressive and those that say a truck will can ride like a limo are mistaken.

Ron, I don’t feel it’s fords fault if the shocks are too light for whatever an aftermarket company loads on top of its frame. Only the person buying the the cut away knows what loads being added. It’s not just rv companies that buy cut always.

I am with Ron on this. Our 2552 would wander on the highway and sway when being passed by big trucks or a gust of wind.  Last week we took our coach to Champion Frame-Alignment in Elgin, Illinois. They installed Koni shocks, a track bar, and front and rear anti-sway bars. They also aligned the front end. The way it handles now compared to the original is a huge improvement.
Even my wife can tell the difference even though she isn’t driving. I’m very pleased and would recommend the upgrade to anyone.

The alignment probably "fixed" 90% of your handling issues.

Shocks have nothing to do with supporting weight, all they do is dampen out the up/down movement of the "unslung" weight (everything below the springs).  Thus less "bounce" of everything above the springs.

Sway bars can help with cornering and side gusts.  My personal opinion is the sway bars that come on the Ford cutaway are fine.

Trac bars... No opinion.

Steering stabilizers prevent shimmy and/or steering wheel vibration, again, my opinion, factory stabilizer is fine.

Alignment is huge... My bad, but I didn't get it checked right away and as a result, after about 20,000 miles, the inside rib on both front tires was BALD!   The outside ribs were fine.   After new Michelins on the front and a front end alignment the high speed handling is vastly improved.

I wrote THIS a few years ago on how to determine if your PC's suspension could benefit from the improvements we are in discussion over.

Ron, I don’t feel it’s fords fault if the shocks are too light for whatever an aftermarket company loads on top of its frame. Only the person buying the the cut away knows what loads being added. It’s not just rv companies that buy cut always.

Hi Joseph,

We won't be seeing eye to eye on this one.  RV manufactures all buy the "RV Package" version of cut-away chassis.  It is a matter of fact that every RV Package sold will become a motor home.  I feel every RV package chassis should be equipped with the right parts to handle the projected full-time load safely.

There are cut-away packages offered for box truck rentals and such where there is often no load, a partial load, at-load, an uneven load, and sometimes an over-load.  It surely wouldn't hurt to have the same upgrades for them, but we are not discussing box trucks here.  We are discussing extended & stretched frames, a variety of shapes and sizes, poor weight distributions, max-load chassis conditions that the RV industry is all about.

Is it Ford's fault?  Maybe it would be better stated that the Feds (the NTSB) needs to reevaluate the requirements for all cut-away chassis being supplied specifically to the RV industry.