Chassis.....Ford versus Chevy

My original radius arm bushings lasted about 200,000 miles. The original sway bar bushings would only last about 30k. The sway bar was fixed with polyurethane bushings, and the radius arm was ultimately redesigned by Ford for 2008, and I stuffed one of those axle in, along with its improved brakes and sway bar.

jerem0621 wrote:
I thought that all E-series vehicles used the twin - I beam like my F350 dually 2wd does, and most Ford 2WD trucks have since 1966. I have not heard of a common need to replace "bushings" at 40k miles on these Twin-I beam front ends.

My 1965 Ford 3/4 ton pickup had Twin I-Beam suspension.

I gather from reading in the forums about the handling of some Class C motorhomes built on the Ford E350/E450 platforms that the problem is not so much about the wearing out of any front suspension components. The issue seems to be one of the front end alignment not being correct for the motorhome right from the start when the chassis is new - or at least from very early in it's life. Oftimes the solution is to switch the front suspension's beveled steel alignment shims to ones with a different angle so as to adjust the alignment from what it was from the chassis factory.

I've been involved in bushing jobs on two older (1980s) E350s. On ours, I changed the two where the inner end of the two half axles meet the front cross member. The pivot points where they "swing." And I also changed the bushings on what I'll call the "radius arms" which lead back from the lower ball joint ends of the half axles to the frame rails. It provided some improvement. I had tried to adjust play out of the 90000-some-mile-old steering box and it leaked after that, so I'd replaced it before the bushing work. First thing I'd ever done to that front end was replace the end link bushings on the OEM sway bar with hard poly bushings from NAPA. And I found it was toe-out, changed to slightly toe-in. Those changes left it driving very well.
The other E350 was a painter's work van. My neighbor was going to put kingpins in it and I asked for a look. There was no rubber left in the swing bushings! He replaced the bushings and took the kingpins back, problem solved.
Over the years, I've noticed that shops and DIY often ignore the bushings. They can wear out, they can get off center, they can go soft and not provide proper control. Unfortunately they can cause as much problem as ball joints. But they're harder to change.
But I haven't heard much about swing axle bushings in any E-Series discussion. I'll add, though, that a shop told me the stretched-frame E-Series is hard on front end parts in general.

The bushing comment.. I am interested in that comment. I thought that all E-series vehicles used the twin - I beam like my F350 dually 2wd does, and most Ford 2WD trucks have since 1966. I have not heard of a common need to replace "bushings" at 40k miles on these Twin-I beam front ends. Overall, they ride a little rougher than the Chevy, but the design is sound and VERY roubust. I tend to favor the twin-I beam just for its stoutness. JMHO.

Thanks!

OK I pulled the trigger and bought my first motorhome, it's a 2011 Jayco Greyhawk 31SS with the Ford E450 chassis, a one owner with only 4,800 miles. It seems to ride and drive perfect so I guess time will tell but so far we really like this unit. Thanks to everybody that jumped in and replied. Now I have a thousand other question but when I'm ready I'll start a new thread for those.

I would not mind at all having a GM/Chevy/GMC chassis. That's given that it'd support the coach I wanted. I'm told Chevy 4500 (the cutaway van chassis) not only has a slightly lower GVWR than Ford but isn't allowed to be stretched as far. THAT would concern me more than the weight rating if I was looking for a long coach.
Also, and I'm not sure this really matters, but GM hasn't been consistent in offering their Class C chassis and of course dropped their Super C chassis. All the service parts are probably available. Still, it appeals to me that Ford's had E-SuperDuty/E450 since the late 1990s and E350 since about forever. I know the detractors'll say Yep, same cramped cab and poor handling all those years...

It was supposedly the 365 HP Eco-Boost V6 and I was the passenger - my BIL was the driver. Perhaps he didn't floor it hard enough going uphill. We both went in the Dodge PU with the Hemi V8 in it ... up the same hills ... and WOW ... all the difference in the world with my BIL's same foot on it's gas pedal.

pnichols wrote:

Golden_HVAC wrote:
So buyers will have a choise of the new transit van with it's 365 HP V6 Ecoboost ...

Boy - unless Ford makes some changes I really don't know about this engine in a Class C motorhome.

I recently went in a test drive in a brand new loaded Ford pickup truck with this engine in it. It was a gut-less wonder. The 305 HP V10 in my small Class C motorhome is far more responsive than that new pickup was.

Something definitely "felt wrong" with the 365 HP V6 Ecoboost. Maybe it's the "spool up delay" of a turbo-charger in the Ecoboost, or maybe the higher shaft torque of the V10 ... that I was noticing.

The EcoBoost is heardly a gut-less wonder, and it doesn't have spool-up delay. Are you sure you didn't test out the 3.7 non-turbo.?

Golden_HVAC wrote:
So buyers will have a choise of the new transit van with it's 365 HP V6 Ecoboost ...

Boy - unless Ford makes some changes I really don't know about this engine in a Class C motorhome.

I recently went in a test drive in a brand new loaded Ford pickup truck with this engine in it. It was a gut-less wonder. The 305 HP V10 in my small Class C motorhome is far more responsive than that new pickup was.

Something definitely "felt wrong" with the 365 HP V6 Ecoboost. Maybe it's the "spool up delay" of a turbo-charger in the Ecoboost, or maybe the higher shaft torque of the V10 ... that I was noticing.

When I was shopping for my Class C I drove the model I wanted on a Chevy chassis first and asked the dealership to get the same model with a Ford chassis to make the deal. I'm completely satisfied with the E-350 SD DRW chassis and the 6.8L V10 power plant.