Weird ride after replacing front struts

J

jareddavidj

Member
Hi all,
I just got done replacing my front struts with Bilstein (Part no. #22214768; seen here). The van is a 2005 2500 with the high roof. Overall the van drives a lot better than before, but on the highway at speeds >65 mph the van will oscillate back and forth in response to the slightest steering input. It's sort of impossible for it to stop swaying back and forth until you bring the speed down to <60 mph. I haven't gotten an alignment since the job. Could this be the cause? The front wheels don't look to be extremely out of alignment. Or did I buy the wrong shocks? The whole SHC thing kinda confused me. I see there is another set of Bilstein's I could have gotten are those the correct ones? Thanks in advance for any and all help.
Cheers
 
B

Brokecanadian

2005 Cargo 2500 SHC NA
If you search, I made an exhaustive post on the Bilstein part numbers.

Did you put on new tires? My winter ones made the van sway nearly uncontrollably until they wore in

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Last edited:
9

99sport

Well-known member
When I replaced my worn out struts with Konis I had no issues after the install. I still haven't had an alignment done (I will before I buy new tires). I believe only the toe is adjustable on the Sprinter and I don't believe the toe changed when I swapped my struts. Toe out can cause a car to be darty / follow pavement cracks and generally be hard to keep in a straight line - autocrossers sometimes set a small amount of toe out to help agility / turn in, but I hated any toe out on my cars. Too much toe out can also wear tires in some strange ways.

An alignment is always a good idea after any suspension work, but if you have to replace your struts again the money spent on the alignment will likely be wasted. As I tend to hate paying for something twice, I would start by making sure you got the correct struts and installed them properly. Are they fully seated? I once had the wrong shocks delivered for my dad's suburban. Did the part number you received match what you ordered? Can you call Bilstein on Monday and check the application with tech support? Their website agrees with Rockauto: https://cart.bilsteinus.com/results...id=7307157202610282465&Bo=3308620576667929733

Rocking back and forth sounds like not enough damping (ie a strut problem)? Is one of the struts bad? Perhaps you got a lemon for one of them. Is there oil leaking from either of them?
 
BrennWagon

BrennWagon

He’s just this guy, you know?
Is it possible that the front sway bar links were disconnected or the bushings damaged during the strut change? It’s not necessary to remove them but it would make access a bit easier. Were you running the front tires at a low air pressure? Did you torque down the top mounting nuts with the wheels on the ground? Are the struts adjustable? You may need to turn up the dampening. If it’s a no to everything you may just need new rear shocks to eliminate that sway.
 
J

jareddavidj

Member
Brokecanadian said:
If you search, I made an exhaustive post on the Bilstein part numbers.

Did you put on new tires? My winter ones made the van sway nearly uncontrollably until they wore in

Sent from my SM-A705W using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
I did just get new tires but only on the rear, Hankook Dynapro HT RH12. Would that cause it?
 
J

jareddavidj

Member
99sport said:
When I replaced my worn out struts with Konis I had no issues after the install. I still haven't had an alignment done (I will before I buy new tires). I believe only the toe is adjustable on the Sprinter and I don't believe the toe changed when I swapped my struts. Toe out can cause a car to be darty / follow pavement cracks and generally be hard to keep in a straight line - autocrossers sometimes set a small amount of toe out to help agility / turn in, but I hated any toe out on my cars. Too much toe out can also wear tires in some strange ways.

An alignment is always a good idea after any suspension work, but if you have to replace your struts again the money spent on the alignment will likely be wasted. As I tend to hate paying for something twice, I would start by making sure you got the correct struts and installed them properly. Are they fully seated? I once had the wrong shocks delivered for my dad's suburban. Did the part number you received match what you ordered? Can you call Bilstein on Monday and check the application with tech support? Their website agrees with Rockauto: https://cart.bilsteinus.com/results...id=7307157202610282465&Bo=3308620576667929733

Rocking back and forth sounds like not enough damping (ie a strut problem)? Is one of the struts bad? Perhaps you got a lemon for one of them. Is there oil leaking from either of them?
Click to expand...
I believe they are installed correctly but I'll have to take a look again. I'll also take a look at the struts to see if one of them is bad.
 
J

jareddavidj

Member
BrennWagon said:
Is it possible that the front sway bar links were disconnected or the bushings damaged during the strut change? It’s not necessary to remove them but it would make access a bit easier. Were you running the front tires at a low air pressure? Did you torque down the top mounting nuts with the wheels on the ground? Are the struts adjustable? You may need to turn up the dampening. If it’s a no to everything you may just need new rear shocks to eliminate that sway.
Click to expand...
They were not disconnected for the strut change. No low air pressure. Torque'd down with the wheels on the ground. The struts are not adjustable. Yeah, from the outside it looks like the rear is dancing so potentially the rears need to be replaced too.
 
9

99sport

Well-known member
I assumed this swaying was new post strut install - if not, I second the need for new rear shocks. Also check the tire pressures - who knows what the tire shop put.
 
B

Brokecanadian

2005 Cargo 2500 SHC NA
jareddavidj said:
I did just get new tires but only on the rear, Hankook Dynapro HT RH12. Would that cause it?
Click to expand...
It did when I put on 2 Blizzaks. Extreme swaying

If you don't have 2 tires to try, check top of strut bolts for tightness, and give the tires a few hundred miles

I suggest the top bolts because I found them hard to get tight, have to hold the shock body and use an impact gun

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BrennWagon

BrennWagon

He’s just this guy, you know?
New tires also have a history of squirrely behavior during break in, especially if inflated to the 80psi max pressure. About 50psi seems to make most folks happier but it depends on your vans weight
 
OrioN

OrioN

2008 2500 170" EXT
Brokecanadian said:
It did when I put on 2 Blizzaks. Extreme swaying

If you don't have 2 tires to try, check top of strut bolts for tightness, and give the tires a few hundred miles

I suggest the top bolts because I found them hard to get tight, have to hold the shock body and use an impact gun

Sent from my SM-A705W using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Do you have the struts on the correct side?
 
CJPJ

CJPJ

2008 3500 170 EXTD 3.0 V6 OM642.993 4.182
X2 ..toe changed when the struts changed
99sport said:
When I replaced my worn out struts with Konis I had no issues after the install. I still haven't had an alignment done (I will before I buy new tires). I believe only the toe is adjustable on the Sprinter and I don't believe the toe changed when I swapped my struts.
Toe out can cause a car to be darty / follow pavement cracks and generally be hard to keep in a straight line
- autocrossers sometimes set a small amount of toe out to help agility / turn in, but I hated any toe out on my cars. Too much toe out can also wear tires in some strange ways.

An alignment is always a good idea after any suspension work, but if you have to replace your struts again the money spent on the alignment will likely be wasted. As I tend to hate paying for something twice, I would start by making sure you got the correct struts and installed them properly. Are they fully seated? I once had the wrong shocks delivered for my dad's suburban. Did the part number you received match what you ordered? Can you call Bilstein on Monday and check the application with tech support? Their website agrees with Rockauto: https://cart.bilsteinus.com/results...id=7307157202610282465&Bo=3308620576667929733

Rocking back and forth sounds like not enough damping (ie a strut problem)? Is one of the struts bad? Perhaps you got a lemon for one of them. Is there oil leaking from either of them?
Click to expand...
 
B

Brokecanadian

2005 Cargo 2500 SHC NA
2 votes tires, 2 votes toe

Learn how to do a string alignment, once tried, you'll be a convert.

I still think it's the new tires

Sent from my SM-A705W using Tapatalk
 
BrennWagon

BrennWagon

He’s just this guy, you know?
It’s alleged that no alignment is necessary after a strut change on a T1N. Unless a shim was in place behind the strut mount there shouldn’t be any changes to the alignment.
 
B

Brokecanadian

2005 Cargo 2500 SHC NA
That's what I thought too, tho I remember Dennis from Linden engineering saying he would check alignment after that type of work

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E

expcourier

expeditious
Just wanted to chime in about tires. I got a set of 4 Blizzak LT 16” tires this season for the van.

First impressions are that the van is now all over the road with the slightest input from the steering wheel. Very bouncy and drifting a lot. They have gotten better as they’ve been worn in.

They are expensive tires but the ride is a lot softer than the crap firestone tires I was running on 15” wheels. (Over the years, the choices for 15” tires with “E” load ratings have gotten smaller and smaller)

We just had a heavy snowstorm this week and the tires performed great. It’s the first set of snow tires that I put on the van. I always ran the all season tires all year and they were horrible in the snow.
 
R

Rocketgurl

2005 2500 158 crew conv.
expcourier said:
Just wanted to chime in about tires. I got a set of 4 Blizzak LT 16” tires this season for the van.
...
I always ran the all season tires all year and they were horrible in the snow.
Click to expand...
I don't like to miss an opportunity to say "all-seasons = summer"
Welcome to the world of Blizzak traction! I lived in rural CO for ~ 10 years where ~2 months of the year were spent driving on ice/packed snow.

I agree the ride is very soft - I've only used them on a 4000 lb vehicle - can't imagine them on a big ol' Sprinter.
 
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