First time towing with the new van, not fun!

So I got to tow with our new van for the first time today. It was one of my worst experiences towing ever. The engine and transmission seemed to run great, but the steering was miserable.

To be fair, my hitch isn't adjusted quite right for the van, its still setup for our truck, but the hitch heights were similar so I figured I could drive it home as is then adjust. We have the equalizer hitch and it has been awesome on this camper and our previous one. It needs to add a bit more weight onto the front wheels. Its not off by much probably 1 hole, but I know its not perfect. THere was some weight on the bars but not a ton.

My tires are brand new Michelin LTX MS2 tires and my alignment was checked and really good. On the road not towing it goes pretty straight downt he road.

When the road was in good shape and straight it seemed to go along pretty well, not as good as my last truck but not unbearable. However as soon as I had to make one steering correction, I ended up having to make about a dozen more to get it straight again, with my tail wagging all over. When the road was uneven (construction zone) or in bad shape, I felt like I was all over the road. If a semi passed me on level ground, there wasn't any sway or pull really felt. BUt if they passed me on the uneven section, it was miserable. A curve in the road when it was uneven was about as bad as you could get. I just felt like I spent the entire time zigging from one side of the lane to the other trying to keep it straight the whole drive.

I wont get a chance to adjust the hitch and try again for probably a week, and we leave for our big trip in under 3, not leaving me much time to correct any issues.

Could not having the hitch perfect really cause me that much misery? Or are there other things I need to be considering? That hitch has been amazing on the same camper and other vehicles in the past.

I remember when we went from a 1/2 ton van in the past (on a different trailer) to a 3/4 ton suburban thinking the towing was night & day better. Is it just towing with a van that is different? Or should I be considering adding something? AntiSway bars to the front or rear axle of the truck? Steering system like Roadmaster?

Thoughts / Suggestions?

WyoTraveler
Explorer
May 17, 2015
I would be checking track bar for your van. Does it have coil springs in the rear?
Hank85713
Explorer
May 17, 2015
I found that you need about 600 miles for the tires to tighten up. We have these on our RV and they squirmed badly at 1st. Same thing for the tires on my F350, new BFG's, took about 600 miles for them to tighten up. After that they were ok, now yes you may need to reset the hitch, might also need to add airbags who can tell?
rockhillmanor
Explorer
May 17, 2015
The LeRoys wrote:
....My tires are brand new Michelin LTX MS2 tires
and my alignment was checked and really good. On the road not towing it goes pretty straight down the road......Thoughts / Suggestions?

Take two fingers and grab the outer tread on the front tires and move it back and forth. My bet is,it is going to flex back and forth like nobody's business.

Had perfect handling on my RV until I put the new Michelin's on and we were all over the road......to aggressive of a tread.

I had that MH in 4 shops trying to figure out what was wrong with the 'handling'. The 5th shop was a semi-truck repair. Mechanic walked right out to the tires and showed me why. :(
The_LeRoys
Explorer
May 17, 2015
I have installed the exact same tires on my last 3 tow vehicles and loved them, never experiencing anything like this. Some of the tires I towed a camper the same day or next day after they were installed, not waiting 600 miles.

After WyoTravelers suggestions of the track bar I did a bit of reading and it does sound like a logical suggestion. Especially after reading the below post by Ron.Dittmer.

E350 Susupension Modifications

After discussing the Track Bar with the wife she mentioned that when she was following the van the other day she noticed that the back of the van wasn't really "following" the front, it appeared that the back end was a bit to the right of the front. This was before we got the new tires though. Does that sound like it could be the track bar? Or something else?
PRodacy
Explorer
May 17, 2015
If the back of the van isn't following the front you may need a four wheel alignment to make sure both axles are parallel. Worse case is that the van was in a wreck and is tweaked out of shape. The four wheel alignment can help there, too.
rexlion
Explorer
May 17, 2015
Lower profile (less sidewall to squirm) tires on larger wheels might help. But first, try adjusting the Equal-i-zer to level the van better. Different suspension on the van might drop the rear end differently, and maybe there's just enough height difference to make an adjustment necessary.
LarryJM
Explorer II
May 17, 2015
The LeRoys wrote:
I have installed the exact same tires on my last 3 tow vehicles and loved them, never experiencing anything like this. Some of the tires I towed a camper the same day or next day after they were installed, not waiting 600 miles.

After WyoTravelers suggestions of the track bar I did a bit of reading and it does sound like a logical suggestion. Especially after reading the below post by Ron.Dittmer.

E350 Susupension Modifications

After discussing the Track Bar with the wife she mentioned that when she was following the van the other day she noticed that the back of the van wasn't really "following" the front, it appeared that the back end was a bit to the right of the front. This was before we got the new tires though. Does that sound like it could be the track bar? Or something else?

I have the LTX MS2 tires on my E350 for the last 13K miles with over 10K miles towing and have never experienced this issue you are having so I doubt it is the tires. With that being said my Van is basically MAXED out weight wise with my front weighing between 3900 and 4100 and the rear between 5800 and 6100. As a guess it sounds like you could be a little lite on the TW and you definitely need to have your Equal-i-zer hitch set up properly ... I'm also running a 12K/1.2K Equal-i-zer hitch with a TW in the 850 to 1,000 lb range. The GCW of my combo is between 16,700 and 17,000lbs.

Two things I watch closely is my TW which I measure frequently with my Sherline scale and at my first fuel fill up on each road trip I make it a habit of running across the scales since I'm basically always maxed out or close to it on the Rear axle on my Van and both 3500 lb axles on my TT.

As far as your comment on your wife's observation of the tracking of the VAN IIRC and I could be mistaken and someone needs to confirm or correct me on this, but I think the Ford Vans are sort of unique in that the rear track witdh is slightly wider than the front so you get a skewed prospective if you view the Van from the rear since the front and rear tires won't line up exactly behind one another.

Larry
carringb
Explorer
May 17, 2015
Are you running factory spec for tire pressure? Too high front or too low rear will cause poor steering while towing. I don't have a rear track bar on my van, but I did add a rear sway bar, mostly for tighter handling with the roof rack loaded. I haven't experienced anything quite like your trip, so it does make me suspicious of the hitch setup.
coolmom42
Explorer II
May 17, 2015
Get that hitch set up right before you start hunting gremlins in other places. You need some weight on the front end of that van, and on the tongue of the trailer. Make sure trailer is level and you have 10-15% of the weight on the tongue. Make your adjustments with the trailer loaded the way you will tow it.
LarryJM
Explorer II
May 17, 2015
carringb wrote:
Are you running factory spec for tire pressure? Too high front or too low rear will cause poor steering while towing. I don't have a rear track bar on my van, but I did add a rear sway bar, mostly for tighter handling with the roof rack loaded. I haven't experienced anything quite like your trip, so it does make me suspicious of the hitch setup.

Excellent advice on the tire pressures and while I obviously run the max 80 in my rears, I tend to put about 10psi more than needed in the fronts so those are generally at around 65psi towing. One thing is if you do a lot of driving with that Van in a lite condition and for that I call light at around 4K on each axle you need to back off on all your tire pressures to what is actually needed and not more than 10psi over that and at 4K that is around 50 to 55 psi or you need to wear a kidney belt to keep things in place.

Larry

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First time towing with the new van, not fun!

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