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I know this topic has been covered before. I've read through all of them trying to find a solution. I just see "get shims," "it's your fuel tank" or "get new springs."
I noticed a 1" sag on the driver's side, both front and back. I wanted a leveling kit anyway so I bought the Procomp 22210 leaf springs. Installed them and truck is now level with the exception of the 1" lean.
'03 F-350 dually crew cab
-New front shocks
-New front springs
-Fuel tank only has 10 gal in it at the moment
-1/2" difference between left and right shock stroke
-1" difference from center of axle to bottom of fender
Would bad rear springs cause an issue up front?
A full tank of fuel only weighs 277 lbs. I can't imagine that creating a 1" sag on a 1 ton dually.
Is this just the way some of these trucks are and shims are the only answer to this problem?
Thanks in advance for any advice or tips. This has me scratching my head.
Is the lean the body or the frame?
You need to get under the truck and see what the hight from the
frame to the ground is. Then pick a point that is on both sides and
measure the body to the ground. Pick a point like the front door
hinge to the ground and also get a measurement from the rear of
the cab.
I can’t with the values off my truck. A) Mine is SRW. B) I put F250 blocks in the rear to lower the trucks attitude.
But, since the launch of this vehicle in ‘99 there have been discussions about the drivers side being lower then the pass side. There are a number of things on the drivers side that shift the weight in that direction, steering box, driver and fuel tank.
Springs despite being for a DRW won’t be that much different as springs, especially with a leaf spring vehicle are progressive in their weight tension. And the rear packs have the landings for the secondary packs once we really get loaded.
The Tacoma forum is all over this. They call it taco lean. It's from the battery/driver/fuel tanks all being on that side. They use shims to correct for it. Not much else you can do, other than getting a fatter girlfriend.
I had posted this image in another thread this am, it’s a picture of a test Excursion while getting the brakes changed out. Over in the pass footwell you can see the blue sandbags we used as test weight. In this case four bags to sim a passenger.
When we weighted out a test vehicle we would put 4 bags on the drivers seat. The average of us were 4 baggers. If you were a three bagger you added a bag behind the drivers seat to compensate. If you were a 5 bagger, you took one out. I was a four bagger, now coming down from becoming a 5 bagger.
Thinking about the sandbags I thought about my old laptop and checked if along with pics I had some data. Not all but a few of these might show wheel loadings.
For our test work we had wheel scales so we measure and load the vehicles to the weight needed for the different procedures. We had to have an accuracy of 5lbs and moved sandbags or weight blocks to get where we needed to be. Anyway, there are some curb weight data here, but I can't find early suspension dually info other then the F-550.
The Excursion has a full cabin, so it's different. and I think we can though the F-550 into the same different category since it had a dump stake body. But the F350 SRW despite having a different suspension up front still shows the side to side differential.
TSB O4-23-6
11/29/04
VEHICLE LEAN/SAG WHEN OBSERVED FROM REAR
OF VEHICLE
FORD:
1999-2005 F-250, F-350
ISSUE
Some 1999-2005 F-Super Duty 250/350 vehicles may exhibit a vehicle lean or sag, to the right or left, when looking at the vehicle from the rear.
ACTION
It may be necessary to install Ford approved shims to correct vehicle lean condition. Refer to the following Service Procedure.
SERVICE PROCEDURE
NOTE WHEN VERIFYING THE VEHICLE LEAN ALL EQUIPMENT MUST BE REMOVED FROM THE VEHICLE SUCH AS TOOL BOXES, CAPS, BED FUEL TANKS, ETC. THE VEHICLE MUST BE PARKED ON A LEVEL SURFACE.
NOTE THIS REPAIR MAY ONLY BE PERFORMED ON THE REAR OF THE VEHICLE. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS PROCEDURE ON THE FRONT OF THE VEHICLE.
1.Check for fractured or broken springs, both front and rear.
a.If a spring is fractured, replace the spring and re-evaluate the vehicle. If the condition is corrected return the vehicle to the customer, if not proceed to Step 2.
NOTE IF SPRING REPLACEMENT IS NECESSARY, REFER TO PART CATALOG FOR PROPER APPLICATION AND PART NUMBER INFORMATION.
b.If springs are found to be OK, proceed to Step 2.
2.Check tire pressures and adjust if necessary.
3.Measure the vehicle ride height from wheel lip to top of wheel well opening, at all four corners, Figure 1.
4.Calculate the difference between left to right (Worksheet 1).
5.Measure chassis ride height per Workshop Manual Section 204-00 (Description And Operation; Ride Height) at all four corners and calculate the difference between left to right (Worksheet 2).
6.Refer to the chart for repair action to take.
7.If shim installation is needed, install the shim as shown in Figures 2 and 3.
8.Inspect U-bolts and replace if necessary.
NOTE IF U-BOLT REPLACEMENT IS NECESSARY, REFER TO PART CATALOG FOR PROPER APPLICATION AND PART NUMBER INFORMATION.
9.After shim installation re-measure the vehicle ride height per Workshop Manual Section 204-00. If the ride height is now greater than 200 mm for a single rear wheel vehicle, or 210 mm for a dual rear wheel vehicle replace the spring.
CAUTION IF NECESSARY INSTALL NEW SUSPENSION FASTENERS. ALWAYS REPLACE FASTENERS WITH THE SAME PART NUMBER, OR AN EQUIVALENT PART. DO NOT USE A REPLACEMENT FASTENER OF LESSER QUALITY OR DIFFERENT DESIGN. TORQUE VALUES MUST BE USED AS SPECIFIED IN THE WORKSHOP MANUAL FOR CORRECT RETENTION OF COMPONENT.
Parts Block: 1" shim 5C3Z-5742-AA
WARRANTY STATUS: Eligible Under Provisions Of New Vehicle Limited Warranty Coverage
DEALER CODING
CONDITION
BASIC PART NO. CODE
5560 63
