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By Rowen - 9 Years Ago Ok guys today was the day!! 1987 ford Aerostar 2wd front coil spring install. IT WENT LIKE BUTTA!!! EASY PEEZIE!!!! First off. no hang-ups!! Second, DIRECT FIT!! Used the stock replacement shocks. We were anal in the process, so, it took about 3 1/2 hours. Could be done in a couple!! STANCE, ride, tracking, body roll, interior visibility, STANCE, ALL VASTLY IMPROVED!!!! Took it up to about 75+ mph, no vibration no funny tracking ! The geometry looks AND acts 100% better! I will keep an eye on my front tires for wear, but at this point.....SO MUCH BETTER, BETTER, BETTER!! About 3 1/2" lower. PERFECT!! Air shocks @ rear tomorrow...... By MoonShadow - 9 Years Ago Hows it take to bumps? I think my ride is a little stiffer and hard bounces. Chuck By Rowen - 9 Years Ago It is a little stiffer moon shadow, BUT, compared to the" ocean liner " ride she had before... NO COMPARISON!!! No bottoming out yet and I took some pretty gnarly back country roads to get home. About 18-20 miles. NO ISSUES!! If this is the only improvement, and let me stress, IMPROVEMENT, that I could do to better her overall ride and handling, well.... I highly recommend ya spend the $65 bucks and do it!! By Rowen - 9 Years Ago By the way, when we were all finished and cleaned up, this is what we were blessed with......life is GOOOOD!!! By 62bigwindow - 9 Years Ago Getting ready to do the same to my wagon. What wheels and tire size are you using after the drop. I am going to have to replace mine (long story) . I have an original set of 15x5 and was going to run 710-15 www Firestone Deluxe Champions. By the way your car looks awsome! By Rowen - 9 Years Ago Thanks Bigwindow, just the stock steel 15x5s. I like em and the 710s are on her now. Great minds think alike!! I am going to to go wider on the back. I have about a inch+ on the inside of the well so I figure I can go a lil wider tire without buying new wheels right now. Just got the air shocks on today and it helped the ride even more in my opinion. Only went up about an inch in the back for this pic. By 62bigwindow - 9 Years Ago Thanks for the feedback. I was hesitant to buy the tires. Now seeing how good your car looks I can't wait to get mine done. By Talkwrench - 9 Years Ago Sweet looking good! I found mine bottoming out pretty easy even with KYB shocks. I think there would be better benefit with a spacer so you can get some of the progressive rate, of course you lose the lowered look.. For you guys at $65 yes its money well spent. By 62bigwindow - 9 Years Ago Did you shorten the factory bump stops? Every post I have read about the Aerostar springs it was suggested that the bump stops be cut down. This may be why your car was bottoming out ? By Kahuna - 9 Years Ago Looks fab Rowen Good job Jim By Rowen - 9 Years Ago Thanks Jim. I'm tellin ya, it really was EASY PEEZIE!! Thus far I haven't touched ANYTHING but the springs up front and the rear shocks. No spacer, didn't cut the bump stops, even the alignment is good! ( I will keep my eye on the tire ware). Never felt it bottom out and now I have maybe 50+ miles on it. I LOVE IT !!!!!! Rowen By Talkwrench - 9 Years Ago I cut my bump stops down by nearly half. Ive got about a finger width between at rest  By MoonShadow - 9 Years Ago I used the bolt up bars that move the lower spring mount down. As a result I didn't have to do anything to the bump stop. Plenty of clearance and no change in the alignment.  The rear lowering block are, sadly, a different story. That's where I'm getting the harsh ride from. I'm going to change from 3" blocks to 2" and see how that does. Chuck By MplsMike - 9 Years Ago Hi Chuck I put Aerostar springs in my Parklane and think I may be bottoming out. What are the "bolt up bars that move the lower spring mount down"? I imagine they increase the travel on the shock? Are they available after market? Thanks, By MoonShadow - 9 Years Ago This is what I'm talking about: You remove the rivets that hold the lower spring mount and put these 1" blocks in. They will drop the front end 1.5" to 2" without much effect on the geometry. I'm using stock shocks but they are out a bit more. I supported the plate with a jack, drilled out the rivets and inserted two of the longer bolts. Let the jack down then took one bolt loose and inserted the end of the bar. Replaced that bolt then removed the other end and inserted the bar. Put the 3d bolt in and repeat on the other side. This was I didn't have to mess with a spring compressor or removal. My alignment didn't change. Hope this make a little sense. Those block kits are usually listed for over $70. By 62bigwindow - 9 Years Ago Moonshadow if you want to part with the 3" blocks I would be interested in buying them. By GREENBIRD56 - 9 Years Ago I believe that it will be found that - the spring pan spacers do the job of lowering quite nicely (buy four lengths of 1x1 aluminum bar from "Online Metals" and get your drill out) - but it doesn't fix the lack of roll stiffness. Original travel shocks fit well with the dropped pans - that is a plus. Handling will be better with a stiffer sway bar. If you go with the variable stiffness Aerostar spring arrangement - you can get some travel height back by using urethane spring spacer rings made for Mustangs. They look a lot like the ordinary 50's Ford spring rubbers - just stiffer. Due to the placement of the spring in the system of parts, they have more effect on ride height than their thickness. There are urethane suspension parts manufacturers that make various heights of bump stops - and due to the tougher material (urethane) they can be a lower height and do the job well enough to allow a bit more free travel (without the "metal to metal" sort of solid hit).  By MplsMike - 9 Years Ago Thanks, Chuck. Very helpful. By DryLakesRacer - 8 Years Ago Rowen, I bought the Aerostar springs and ready to install them on my 56 Vic. My fender well measurement is 26" now with stock rims and 215-78 tires which are 27" dia. I read the Areostar conversion is worth 2" which is what I was hoping for. My tire plan is 205-75 on 6" American Racing Torque Thrust rims and 225-75 on 7" on the rear. Your making me think 215-75 front and 225-75 rear all on the 6". Both the 6" and 7" have 3.75 back space. Any suggestions out there. I'm start with what's in the photo and a guy on h.a.m.b. Lowered it, put on the rims, and took off the skirts and it looked great. You can find it on page 603 of the "photo shop" thread. Thanks    By okiedokie - 8 Years Ago I sure like the new look on your 56, that Moose is something else. Here it is. By miker - 8 Years Ago DLR, I sent a PM. By DryLakesRacer - 8 Years Ago Okiedokie. That's why I'm going ahead with doing it. The thread on the h.a.m.b. Is a great thing. Over 600 pages of what can help a guy see what a modification can look like before $$$is spent. The photos of the spring saddle spacer did not show up on this thread. Does somone else have any and will 7" rims with 3.75" back space be ok on the rear? My measuring says it will work with 75 width tires. Thanks By miker - 8 Years Ago This is the link to my tire spec's , look at the section width. Mine are on 7" with 4" backspacing. I'm not sure these would clear the original leafs on the inside, and they are very tight on the outside. But I think the pass car has a little more space under the fender than the bird does. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=BFGoodrich&tireModel=Radial+T%2FA&partnum=36SR5RADTARWL2V2&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes By DryLakesRacer - 8 Years Ago Thanks miker. That tire is over 1" wider at the widest spot than the ones I'm looking at. With less than a 1/4" difference in the back spacing than stock so the leaf spring is not my worry with 7" AR Torque Thrust rim but the exhaust pipe is as it gets close aiming towards the back bumper exit tips which I want to keep. Removing the skirts gives me quite a bit of outside room. I like the 75 series tire and would use 78's if need be but not much selection. Thanks By Talkwrench - 8 Years Ago After driving for a while on the aerostar sprigs I would say a cut standard spring is just as good if not preferable.. Ted just my opinion but I like the original whitewalls  [lowered a bit] over the torque thrusts..  By Park Olson - 8 Years Ago I've got a set of those springs...my Desoto was too much for them. In SW VA. PM If interested. By DryLakesRacer - 8 Years Ago Well I put in the Areostar springs Saturday. Took about 2 hours using a tool my son has for splitting the ball joints. You loosen the bottom nut about 2 turns, place the tool between the 2 joint and screw the spreader and it pops loose. Like Rowen says "easy peazy". Hardest was remembering how the sway bar bushings went back. I did install a polyurethane spring spacer on top to replace the original. It is 1/2" thick. At the fender center it's the same as Rowens 55 Crown 24-3/4" so if I put in the original thin ones I could lower it 1/2" more.   I used American Racing 15" x 6" Torque Thrusts with 205-75 on the front and 215-75 on the rear. 225's would have fit with ease. 7" wide rims would have been close. The bump stop has 1" clearance so I'm sure it will need triming. I sure like way it looks and the ride so far is great. Thanks to all how chimed in. By miker - 8 Years Ago Very nice. Glad it all worked out. By Rowen - 8 Years Ago Ok fellas, this thread has been going for a while now and I'm thinkin most/all have had time to drive em. So if any of you changed out your shocks, (mine are stock replacement), what did you replace them with? Taking that much out, over 3", has me thinking I'm workin mine to hard. Thanks in advance for the feedback, Rowen By PF Arcand - 7 Years Ago Probably should expect a harder ride & bump stop issues, 3-1/2" is quite a drop.. By DryLakesRacer - 7 Years Ago My drop ended up at 2-1/2" for some reason I needed 2 different polyethylene spacers to make mine level even tho it was level (side to side) before I started. I replaced my shocks after a month of driving with stock demension ones. Actually my ride is not much different, my car is a flatlander for the most part. I do like what it did for its looks along with the wheel change and I can put it back to stock quickly.