Class C Alignment

[Calisdad]

I'm having our '94 Tioga (E350) aligned tomorrow.

Recently I've read here to ask for 5 degrees of camber. I'm not really sure what I should ask for and when I spoke to the salesman on the phone he said I should talk to the technician when I bring it in. Can some one please clarify? Is this out of the suggested settings?

I do have the previous left front as a spare now and when I roll it, it is clearly worn more on the inside, but for some reason not evenly.

thanks-

[j-d]

Nope, Sway Bar install doesn't change alignment or ride height. Front or rear. Hellwig is a very easy install.

If bushings are from Specialty, they'll have "SPC" stamped into them. I don't know about Ingalls.

Nothing wrong with doing a brake job and ball joint job, but if I'd heard about this sooner would have suggested getting a take-off late model axle package. I wonder if changing out the axles would be less labor than changing ball joints.

[Calisdad]

Interesting. I had my alignment done at this same shop 4 years ago. They installed one on the right side but I don't know the brand. Just checked and it's still there. So now I have all new ball joints and brake rotors. It felt like it pulled to the right when I hit the brakes but I couldn't get it to repeat to just breaking in I guess.

While under there I noticed the front sway bar bushings look a little tired. The stock bar is about 1" in diameter. Would installing a new Hellwig 1 3/8" bar change my alignment?

[j-d]

Yep, Ingalls "594" bushings. Not sure all the adjustable bushings are equal. When I visited Hendersons LineUP, they mentioned Ingalls and Specialty which is Specialty Products Company (SPC) and the E-Series part is 24180. Harvard has done a lot of research on alignment and he cautions us against "just any" brand. Based on his remarks and successes with Ingalls, plus Hendersons' comment, I think I'd consider only Ingalls and SPC.

The "594" and "24180" will fit E450, no problem. They aren't listed in catalogs because the manufacturers don't trust them to stay put in heavy duty applications like cube vans and RV's. I've had two shops tell me that if they find them they replace them with fixed. Mentioned that at Henderson and they said the bushings will stay if the torqueing instructions are followed. I'd add, de-grease all surfaces and use Loctite.

[WA7NDD]

The front tires of my 1998 E-350 felt like they were not even on the ground, when I bought it a year ago. I read all I could here, and did the following. I bought adjustable caster sleeves online. They were not inexpensive to install, but the caster is now at +5, new tie rod ends, and a Safe-T-Plus stabilizer. I drove it 2400 miles this summer, in Oregon, twisty windy roads, and it did great.I always felt I had full control, even in two days of hard rain. And Yes, the E-350 has very little caster adjustment so you will need new sleeves. The company is Ingalls Engineering. They are online, and I paid about $65 for them and about a $150 to install them.

[DaHose]

Caster on the older front end is simple to make adjustable, but hard work. You can find a plate kit (ebay-$20), but installing means dismantling the radius rods and lower spring perches. Some of those nuts tighten to over 200 ft/lb.

Jose

[Calisdad]

Took the RV in today and discussed the caster settings. The mechanic walked over to his laptop and looked it up. He said book is 4.5 to 5 degrees so no problem there. I do need ball joints so I don't get it back until tomorrow.

[j-d]

My neighbor used to repair vehicles for a painter friend. Brought an E350 cargo van home to put Kingpins in it and we found that what it needed was Axle-to-Crossmember Bushings instead. Solved its loose steering problem. When I replaced ours, change wasn't night-and-day but notable.
All we ever replaced on our '83 steering and front suspension was rubber parts. Adjusted toe, but never took it to an alignment shop.
The REAR springs were sagged and we separated the spring pack and added a "repair leaf" to each side. That got rid of a lot of sway and that's important with Ford's swing-axle (Twin-I-Beam) suspension.
As repaired, the 24-ft '83 with 158" WB drove better than our 2002 with upped Caster plus a track bar and upgraded front/rear sway bars.

[j-d]

That 1980's E-Series Chassis uses Kingpins not Ball Joints. Beginning 1992, Ford used Ball Joints with Upper Sleeves (Bushings).
So I'd say it's not "Readily" adjustable as with the offset bushings we talk about so much here. I had the impression it "Could" be adjusted but a quick look didn't show me how.
This may have promoted the thought that all that can be adjusted on these is Toe.
We had a 1983 E350 and it drove quite well with all new front bushings. That was Axle-to-Crossmember, Radius Arm to Frame, and Sway Bar. Setting Toe to slightly IN really tamed the tracking issues.

[4K-Ranch]

On my '85 Tioga I asked them to reset caster to 5 and they told me it was not adjustable, were they BSing me? Maybe take it to another place?

[TXiceman]

best thing to do is to take it to an independent truck suspension shop and not a dealer or any kind of chain shop.

The dealers do not understand the front end geometry and a heavily loaded chassis.

Ken

[Harvard]

Explain to the technician that your unit has a tendency to wander and you have read on this forum where adjusting the CASTER to the upper end will resolve the issue. The Ford specified range is from +1.5 to +7.5 and you want the most you can get in this range..

As stated, it is + CASTER not CAMBER that you want.

[Chopperbob]

Oops make sure it's caster not camber. I think the
Limit is 7.

[Chopperbob]

E450s like 5degrees. They just do. Mine is 5 and
41/2. They will need to install the bushings to do it.
Bob