I live in Australia and have a 1988 Ford E-250 Club Wagon. Ford Australia does bring the F series in every so often and several of my friends have them, but we never got Econolines. A friend of mine had a ‘74 model which he bought while living in the US back in the late’ 70s and brought it home with him. He sold it several years ago and that’s the only one I’d ever seen in Australia. I’ve wanted one since I first saw his and imported this '88 model about a year ago. From what I can gather, I’d estimate there might be as many as a dozen here now but aside from my friend’s and mine, I’ve never seen another one in the flesh. When I drive around, most people who notice unusual cars have to ask what it is.
Not knowing a great deal about them, other than I liked the look of them (I’ve been to the US twice and have seen thousands of them on the road), I did what research I could. I checked the Wikipedia and found that the model I liked best is the 3rd generation, made from ‘75 to ‘91. It went on to say that with this series, they began sharing the same chassis as the Fs. Prior to that, the Fs and Es were completely different. That lead me to believe that mine is simply an F-250 chassis with a van body on it. When I picked it up from customs and laid eyes on it for the first time, I was surprised at how high it sat and thought about lowering it almost right away. I did some research and found DJM Suspension and their "Dream Beams".

I must say I’m not fond of the twin I-beam as I think it’s a relic from the stone age but it’s there and there’s not much I can do about that. Anyway, as DJM don’t list any dream beams for an Econoline specifically, and thinking that they they are simply an F under the floor, I ordered a set for an ‘88 F-250.


I’ve finally gotten around to fitting them and when I crawled under my van, I noticed its beams were entirely different to the ones I'd bought (lowering feature aside).

You might be wondering why I didn’t look under there before. Because, as I said, I’d been lead to believe the Es were the same as the Fs. They probably are to a large extent, but from what I can gather, when Ford changed certain parts on the Fs, the Es changed a year, or even a couple of years later. The grille is an example. An ‘88 E grille was last used on the Fs in around ‘86. Luckily, I found that out just before I ordered an ‘88 F grille from LMC Truck. Why Ford would do this is beyond me. Please correct me if I'm wrong on that, remembering that no one in Australia knows anything about Econolines. I'm flying blind here and completely on my own.

Looking at the pictures on DJM's website, I now think that my ‘88 Econoline has the beams of a ‘73–‘79 F. Given that the 3rd generation E came out in ‘75 and that they were now on an F chassis, it’s likely they would’ve had the beams of a ‘75 F but when the Fs changed beams in 1980, the Es retained the old beams at least up to ‘88. Again, why Ford would do that is beyond me.

The stock beams measure 41 1/2” from chassis pivot to steering pivot on the RH side and 35” on the LH side. Height where the spring sits is 3”. The beams I got from DJM measure 30 1/2” and 39” and where the spring sits is 5 1/2” high. Needless to say, the difference in the steering knuckle pivots is obvious.

I sent a note off to DJM yesterday asking if I could exchange beams and telling them this whole sordid tale. They wrote back saying the E is indeed different to the F and they have nothing to fit. If I'd told them I had a van in the first place I wouldn't be in this mess but I thought anything made for an F would fit an E.


So, I'll try to sell the DJM beams on Ebay to an F owner but does anyone know how to lower a 1988 E by around 3"?


Thanks.