E350/E450 Ford Installed Caster/Camber Sleeves ?

Our Phoenix Cruiser is built on a 2007 E350-V10 cut-away chassis. Because the loaded house with all our gear & fresh water placed so much weight on and behind the rear axle, the front was slightly lifted. That lighter front had the front wheels at a slight inward angle like this.


Our rig when new didn't handle very well so I took the rig to a specialty truck/bus/RV/ambulance shop of which they did a number of upgrades. For the wheel alignment, the camber adjustment required more than the suspension allowed so they installed offset camber bushings that resemble this.


I understand the 2008-2014 E350 & E450 have less of a problem, but it all depends on the weight distribution of your motor home. You have to consider the weight of your fresh water and gear. That is why the shop had us load the rig ready for a trip, gear, water, gasoline, and propane....as close as you can get to represent "actual" loaded conditions. I even threw in some exercise weights placed right behind the driver and passenger seats. Then it was ready for an alignment.

Vintageracer hit that nail on the head. If it isn't installed factory, you can look on ebay to find the caster adjusters cheap. They just drop in.

On older for chassis (like my 1983) it's a whole production to install the caster adjuster plates. Wish it was as easy as on the new ones.

Jose

Phil,
Your shop's idea is correct.
As I recall, the offset bushings in our 2012 axle have Ford part numbers on them.
Then, there are any number of aftermarket "vendors" by which I mean probably not all that many manufacturers and many product lines re-box them.

FWIW, the repair shop I use for our E450 put beveled cams in my front suspension several years ago to align it better under the motorhome's loaded weight. They said that what's to be used for the Ford chassis, but I don't know if the cam was a Ford part or an after-market part.

I think "adjustable" means "by replacing our OEM fixed bushings with something else."

From my very limited experience with E450's (2002 and 2012 front axles), Ford ships chassis with offset bushings, at least in the cases I've looked at. On the 2002, they MAY have been added by original owner, but with their approach to maintenance, I doubt it. I KNOW the 2012 came with offsets. But as I said, they are FIXED offset. To adjust further requires either adjustable bushings like Ingalls 594 or the comparable one from Specialty --OR-- a different fixed bushing.
In Harvard's case, it seem the coach builder chose to install Ingalls adjustable bushings.

On the trucks at least the camber and caster is adjustable within a small range by rotating a sleeve with an off-center hole. There are different sleeves available that each have a different range of adjustment. Since one sleeve adjusts both camber and caster at the same time the effect is often a compromise.

Brian