Lifting a 2WD van

vintageracer

To Infinity and Beyond!
Among my other vehicles I also have a 1996 2WD Standard Wheelbase Dodge B350 "Sportsmobile" pop top conversion van. Given that this van is 2WD and that Dodge Vans are Unibody in construction leads to my question:

Is there a good and safe way to "Lift" this 2WD van 2 inches to 3 inches MAX over stock without major surgery or goofy suspension angles?
 
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vwhammer

Adventurer
I know very little about the Dodge van but I can assume a few things.

It likely has leaf springs in the back so the rear can be lifted like any 4wd van or truck with the use of blocks or new spring packs which I am sure can be sourced from several places.
The front is where I may be way off.
However, I assume there is a sub-frame that all the suspension bits attach to.
This could easily have a 2 inch spacer placed between it and the body to net you some room for some bigger tires.

Beyond that you are probably looking at some much more complicated custom stuff.

I think 2 inches in the front and 3 in the rear the way I described earlier could be done safely if the proper materials are chosen.
 

vintageracer

To Infinity and Beyond!
No front sub-frame on a full size Dodge. Front suspension attachment points are on the Uni-Body.

Yes rear is easy it's the front that concerns me. I know I could stick longer/taller front springs in there which would give a lift however then you get into possible bad ball joint angles and steering linkage issues.

See if anybody else has any other idea's!
 

luthj

Engineer In Residence
Are the front spindles shared with any of the dodge trucks? If so lift spindles may be available or could be adapted to your application.
 

luthj

Engineer In Residence
I see 2-3" coil spacer kits. Depending on total down travel and the load on the vehicle, that amount of lift may be fine.
 

vwhammer

Adventurer
Hmm well with no sub-frame then you are pretty limited as to what can be done with stock components, as has been mentioned.

After looking at a couple of those vids posted above to get a general layout of the suspension I would bet you could get away with a couple inches of lift with nothing more than a spring spacer.
Yes you might limit droop a little but I would bet it would be just fine.
This type of suspension has a pretty good amount of travel for what they are.
I also doubt you will run into any problems with your ball joints.
Within reason your ball joints don't care whether they are at 7 degrees or 10 degrees as long as you are not at the limit of their angularity.
a lot of times with this type of suspension the shock reaches its limit before the ball joints will.
I suspect, as long as you are not ramping the van all the time, which might be fun but I also suspect you are not doing, your ball joints will be fine.

Other than that you are looking at either custom control arms or dropping suspension mounts.
From the looks of the upper control arm mount you could probably only get it down about an inch before running into frame clearance issues.
It probably would not be too hard to lower the lower arm mount a inch also.
You could do that and run a small spring spacer for about 2 inches or run a larger spring spacer and get 3 inches without too many other negative effects.
If you lower suspension mount though you may have to look into a dropped pitman arm to keep bump steer in check.

I would say look for a spring spacer or have a nice one made from some UHMW polyethylene and try it out.
You could always remove it if it sucks or do the lowered suspension mounts if it works and you want a little more.
Do some fender trimming and clearance for even more.

I assume you would be running bigger tires.
Obviously you will get a little lift in doing that as well.
 

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