New to the forum, but have been searching it for a while.
Purchased new 2012 E250 Extended with 9000# rear end.

Long and short of it is I replaced a 2005 Express 3500 long wheel base. Usual running weight was 9000# give or take.

Problem I've been fighting since new was severe wandering. I almost wrecked it the first day running completely empty and hasn't gotten much better since. It's a lot worse in the wind, but even oncoming cars will push me over.

Dealer re-torqued the front king pins, checked alignment, reset steering gear box, checked torque of steering rack ....blah, blah.

New van, everything is tight from the factory... I get that. Off the lot, I had to manually turn the steering back the last 1/4 turn to straighten it back out. After dealer 'fixed' it, now I only have to turn it back 1/8 turn.

I weighed it about 2 months ago and was under the GAWR 400# front and rear and 500 under GVWR.

I'm an electrician and I've played with moving cargo around, Helwig rear stabilizer bar, two trips to dealer, even went to putting two 80# concrete bags behind the front seats thinking I needed more weight on the front end.

I run 60# front, 80# rear, Hankook LT245/65 R16E. (OEM)

The van has the Stabilitrack system in it too.

This the 3rd van I've owned and the one I hate the most.
1992 E350 Ext (used)
2005 Express 3500 Ext (new)
Current 2012 250 SD EXT (new)

Sorry for the long write up but I'm going to wreck this thing some day ad white knuckling isn't any fun unless you're on a race track.

Any new ideas will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

How many miles on this van so far?

Relating to you wandering or control issues: Does this seem to be something severely sloppy, unable to center the steering wheel and it stay true?

Do you experience severe fish tailing when lane changing?

Does the steering wheel seemingly not respond to your input, the chassis taking a nano-second to respond?

I ask only because I have heavy duty Hellwig front and rear sway bars, Bilstein shocks, all new urethane bushings, ball joints etc etc---all on an 2003 E250 with 180K miles currently. Recently replace the steering box with reman'd Ford OEM part and immediately noticed a very tight and responsive steering feel.

While this new feeling isn't wandering the quick response of the steering now makes it a bit more challenging to stay perfectly straight while driving in a lane at speed. The upside is more exact "aiming" when needed, not a lot of steering wheel correction needed to maintain a line through a turn.

Sounds to me like the dealer removed nearly all the steering box gear lash or sector gear pre-load which is NOT the optimal condition. There is a spec for that setting----too "tight" and you'll have your condition and/or very quick steering box wear.

 

Thanks for the response. Bought new last December with 16 miles on it. Currently 20,500 miles.

The steering responds quickly but more force than what I would think it should have. The only way it will stay centered is if there's no wind. Any wind and it's constant correction, no matter if I'm riding the crown or trying to hold into the wind.

After the last dealer 'fix', I took about 1/8th turn of preload out of the steering box and it helped slightly.

What its seemed to me since new was there is too much drag in the king pins and no way to lubricate them. Only zerk fittings are of the steering linkage.

My '98 F150 2wd I can drive via osmosis. This damn thing fights me constantly.

Being a long body, short wheelbase, I figured out pretty quickly that having too much weight behind the rear axle only unloads the front end. I've since moved things forward. Everything to date has only given slight results.

Next step may be front Helwig sway bar.

After that, it's tires with some decent sidewall stiffness.

Thanks

 

Also driving an E250 extended body and honestly have not (yet) noticed any detrimental effects to that longer length by itself. Naturally significant weight behind the rear axle will change handling dynmaics, more from leverage than any huge unloading of the front end. For grins and giggles if possible next time the load center is skewed toward the rear weigh the van, checking for actual differences in axle weight from when empty.

With the rear Hellwig bar I'm surprised that hasn't tamed your van quite a bit---I'd be scared to drive any E-Series without one of those!

As delivered new the ball joints typically don't have Zerks, one reason so many experience what's thought to be premature failure up front.
Personally I don't think a Hellwig front bar will change the steering feedback that concerns you at the moment.

If the Hankook's are indeed E-rated that should be enough tire assuming you're not exceeding your GVWR.

Sounds like a normal driving van with new steering components however there is an extensive thread here about adding a steering stabilizer---that might be something to check into: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ering-fix.html

One thread not very pertinent to your newer chassis, interesting reading though: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-problems.html

 

After a year and a half of white knuckling my van, I may have finally got it straightened out.

I mentioned in my first post that I had the 9000# GVWR rating on the van but never had it loaded up that high.
I recently purchased an additional leaf for the rear spring stack (1190# increase per set).
I measured before and after and it picked the van up 3.5" at the hitch. I had been riding on the overload leaf the entire time!

On really windy days, it's still a handful, but normal driving and passing trucks, it's finally not too bad.

On a different note, has anyone had an issue with the front sway bar bushings being loose? I've always been able to slide the sway bar back and forth, now it will do it when I turn. The bar slips back and forth when the suspension geometry on the front axle shifts during a turn.

I'm considering upgrading to the Helwig front bar in addition to the rear one I already installed.

 

I'm facing or have already faced your same situation---in fact there's one other post here experiencing something quite similar.

I too found the rear springs to be vastly insufficient to even carry a 7,500# GVW daily driver load, 4,300# of that over the rear axle. My E250 being the extended body with full size spare installed I'm sure affects things.

Having already swapped out the OEM front sway bar along with installing a Hellwig rear bar, new front end (everything including front coils), Bilstein shocks and Michelin 245 LTX E-rated tires I should be firmly planted on the road. Sadly I experienced being bullied by winds, anything over 10 MPH gave the proverbial white knuckle butt pucker effect.

As a cheap experiment to confirm my idea weak rear springs I bought the Air Lift air bag set for my chassis. Rather than spend money on refreshing the rear spring packs this would be a DIY install and easily removed/resold if it wasn't the solution.

Once the kit was in place with 40 PSI added handling was restored---it drove as I expected. What struck me as funny or ironic is I'm fully aware the rear greatly affects the front and yet it escaped my notice for a few months.

I may start getting estimates to rebuild the existing springs as I'd like my rear ride height to not appear "jacked up". If the cost doesn't suit me I'll re-plumb the Air Lift kit to make it more convenient to check and re-fill as needed.

BTW Air Lift has a $50 rebate on this kit thru the end of June I believe. #88138 from Amazon $265.01 so you're into it all for $215.01, free shipping too!

Factory sway bars and their bushings tend to be very weak and die quite early. Before finding Hellwig I'd replace the soft parts with urethane--will last nearly forever now. Problem is that arrangement is IMHO quite inadequate for my liking, Hellwig is a very noticeable improvement and one I highly recommend if better-than-stock is your goal, sway bar wise.

Anyway sorry for the rambling but hope the info is helpful.

 

I just had the van to the dealer but I didn't even bother with telling them about the front end popping. I can't even get them to fix the water leak above the rear doors.

I've read about the air bag setups but have been shying away from them due to the stress they would add to the frame and wouldn't want to give away that I'm running over my license plate rating of 8000#.

I got the springs form General Spring | Leaf Springs, U Bolts, Suspension Parts and More!

They have 3 different spring weights you can get. I opted for the middle of the road. Took me and a buddy a little over two hours for both sides and they look pretty stock.

I'll have to look into different bushings for the front sway bar, although I saw a post this morning about someone having a right front coil spring popping....

Ramble on, that's why we're on here!

BTW, the leaf springs were $171 shipped.

 

That's an interesting site for springs---have to maybe call them next business day.

The air bags shouldn't stress the frame any more than the leaf spring perches. At any rate I added mine mostly as a temporary fix or experiment before doing anything with the leaves themselves. That being said I'd still prefer a 100% passive rear suspension, one that doesn't require me looking after it post install.

Sway bar bushings shouldn't have anything to do with the coil spring popping. Bad bushings will allow the bar to flop around, an annoying small thump when the bar does flop and hits against something. If the stock bar will remain seriously consider Energy Suspension bushings---typically about $25 for the set shipped. Installation is another matter, especially the I-Beam parts. Not impossible or all that taxing---just have to get creative with how you press them in.

So General Spring---that's $171 for both shipped? If so that's wonderful---I was quoted "sum'ere 'tween $350-500 fer adden a leaf 'er two..........."

 

Yep, the price is right for the pair. Product code: E250AAL922

Only real issue installing the rear leaves was disconnecting the rear sway bar and shocks to get the axle to drop far enough and getting the rear of the van high enough. Did have to shorten the through-bolt a little though.
Did not have to remove the spring shackles at least. The extra leaf I got is the second (or third) leaf in the stack.

For the front bushings, do they include the bushings for the links too?
I'll have to crawl under and measure the bar size.

 

Thought I'd already replied?!

Anyway try this link: energysuspension.com | Sway Bar & End Link Bushings

HTH

 

You did reply...I'm just slow sometimes!
I may just go ahead and get a larger bar anyway. I read somewhere the front bar should be larger than the rear. I put a Hellwig 1 1/4" at the rear and the stock front sway bar is only 1".
I'm not sure if the wishbone shaped links are better than the rod type links or not, but they don't look like fun to press out.
Thanks for the link.

 

Is this van actually within its legal limit?

 

Yep, I'm under at both axles and well under GVWR of 9000#

 

So you have less than 3400 pounds of cargo+fuel+you? Have you verified that with a scale?

I have had issues like your talking about, where an E250 is a bit squirly, but I still run them 80mph plus on the interstate without issue (E250 regular wheelbase cargo van, anemic 4.6L V8, 2013). The live axle under the light back end loves to make it dog walk. But typically when we load them there's no issue, except when they are overloaded. I put in a 3118lb battery system and the truck was not controllable in the slightest. But with two people and a full tank of fuel (plus the standard rack load in the truck) we were well over the 3450 pounds the truck is rated for.

 

I ran it through the CAT scale at a truck stop near me last fall.
I've got the extended length van so I've had a bit of a learning experience putting any kind of weight out behind the rear axle.

It has gotten better with the rear bar, extra leaf in the rear stack and me not putting 20 rolls of wire by the back door.

I just ordered a set of urethane bushings for the front sway bar. I can move it left and right about an inch now but it's never been snug.