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Old 08-03-2010, 04:17 PM
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YoGeorge
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Originally Posted by maples01
The I-beams have ball joints, and camber inserts, after installing the air bags up front, I aired them to where I felt comfortable, they are separate of each other, aired independently, ran a month to get settled, then had the camber set with a new alignment. The size of my van, it requires a certain rack to be setup, they gave me the camber inserts at cost, as they are a dealer item and not kept in stock as each are a certain degree, requiring them to keep many on hand, my stock ones were a zero, I have it in the tool box.
I don't race mine either, on a trip, I was on a country road and a deer jumped across my path, the maneuver I made, I barely clipped it, but should have turned the van over, it was stiff enough to not lean over on me.
There are lowering beams for our Econoline's, not the DJM tubular ones either, but heavy welded steel, Would love a set, bringing them down increases stability as it lowers the center of gravity.
Interesting info on the camber inserts--my real awareness of twin I-beams dates back to my 1978 F100 pickup, which I bought new. But that had the old kingpins instead of ball joints. Thanks for the info on the camber inserts (although I have a feeling that the amount of adjustment may be fairly limited.) It also sounds like you found the correct shop to do the alignment for you.

Glad to hear you survived swerving for the deer--it's a real mess to hit one, but you can sometimes hurt yourself and your vehicle more by swerving.

Keep the rubber side down, everyone,
George