2002 E350 6.8.

Tires are balanced correctly. Just had it aligned, and the specs all look good on it.

Van pulls slightly left when I let go of the wheel, and I mostly get a shaking in the front end above 70mph.

Tie rods have all been replaced within the last 6 months. Ball joints looked good when I checked them before the alignment last week. One side has zerks, the other doesn't. So they weren't all replaced at the same time. I recently repacked the wheel bearings, and the bearings looked good. They are Timkens(I don't know what OEM is). 250k miles on the van. Radius rod bushings don't appear to be bad(I don't think they are stock by the look of them).

Camber is slightly more negative on the driver's side(actually out of spec), but everything I've read indicates a vehicle pulls to the more positive camber side(pass side).

What should I be looking at? Do these vans just shake at higher speeds?

 

What size wheels?
What size tires?
And what is your stock wheel and tire size?

 

Too little caster on the left or too much caster on the right could cause the pull to the left.

Cross Caster = LH - RH should be slightly negative, like about -0.2 degrees or so for the road crown.

 

Are air pressures in both front tires the same? Are the brakes wearing the same side-to-side? Does it dive hard right or left when brakes are applied? Its possible it was aligned with an eye more towards high crowned roads (country) or less crowned (city) streets.

Does this shaking seem to come more from one side or the entire front end? Shaking is NOT normal or usual so something needs re-checked; ball joints, all tie rod/drag link and Pitman arm connections.

 

Stock wheel size. AFAIK, stock alloy wheels.
245/75/16 Hankook Dynapro AT-M

I regularly check the air pressures, those are the same left/right. Brakes look the same on both sides. Hard braking is smooth and straight(I cleaned everything up, greased the slides, etc, not long ago, no change to behavior). I couldn't say if it seems to be one side more than the other. Just seems to be front end.

Attached are my 2 alignments. Same shop, took it back a week after the first because it wasn't right.

 

If your tire shop can perform a road force test that might something to try. If the alignment shop was able to achieve those numbers that's a strong suggestion the steering components are in good order.

The tire air pressures listed on the alignment sheet don't look right unless they record them? What pressures front and rear do you normally run?

 

60 front, 70 rear

 

Please check the driver's side door frame and post up the stock tire and wheel.
I would be amazed if they came with oem alloy wheels.

"Stock wheel size. AFAIK, stock alloy wheels.
245/75/16 Hankook Dynapro AT-M"

Those are relatively big lug tires.

IMHO, the steering components on the 2wd (and the 2007 4x4 F250) is undersized. That is why Ford sold a steering stabilizer for their 2wd ambulance conversions. (I don't recommend it - if you want to go this way, I will post up what I did).

I had true death wobble on my converted 2002 E350 4x4 with the added on 2007 F250/F350 coil front suspension. You don't likely need to do what I did to cure your vibration but you need to do something to damp the wheel to wheel vibration. Because IMHO, ANY off balance wheel/tire combo will cause a wheel to wheel lateral vibration.

And I will bet you a cup of coffee that your wheels are not stock.

And that your "tires" are not perfectly balanced.

Go back to your shop and have them balance them "perfectly" and ask to watch them.

On a E350 especially if modified in any way or if heavily loaded, "close enough" is not good enough for front tire balance.

Speaking of heavy, what engine does your van have?

 

The tires were balanced by me, at the auto hobby shop on Ft Carson (I'm NG). I also used to work at a tire center many years ago, so I know how to do it.

Wheels say ALCOA on the back.

And it has the 6.8

Eventual goal is to do a 4wd conversion on the van. But that might be another year before I get everything together to do that.

 

The caster is out to lunch and "in theory" is the cause for pull to the left.

Cross Caster is reported as 3.3 - 5.5 = -1.7 and should be about -0.2 degrees.

You want to have the LH caster increased to be +5.3 degrees to correct.
DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT, reduce the RH caster (+5.5) to correct cross caster.

 

Would this be a sagging spring issue, or just a caster/camber bushing fix?

 

Caster/camber bushing fix, fore and aft nose up/down angles effect caster. Your frame would have to be twisted to be otherwise. IMO

 

Speedwagon98 You should be running tire load range E? Is that what your door sticker means? If so, what is the load range on the Hancooks. (Tires are just bouncing basketballs after all...)

You are definitely more experienced than me and likely more knowledgeable than me.

My personal experience comes from being misdirected for a year by others who didn't know how to cure my 2002 E350 7.3L PSD's 4x4 conversion death wobble. And then researching it myself and then customizing a solution which one or two others succeeded with before me.

My guess is that there is a little play in the steering gear which when the wheels get up to 70 mph they get to bouncing each back and forth through the tie rod and you feel it as shaking in the steering wheel. (BTW, death wobble is a ~40 mph phenomenon but is likely just a more severe case of what your van has.)

Try everything that everyone here is telling you to do. I was told that adding more toe-in could reduce that vibration. So you may want to try that as well.

FWIW, I am amazed that we both have 2002 E350's and I ordered mine from the factory and I don't recall a 16x7 8-lug alloy rim being an option. That wheel style is identical to the 1993 alloy Eddie Bauer Bronco stock wheels except 8-lug instead of 5-lug and 16" instead of 15". By 1994 on the Bronco at least, Ford was using the same round hole alloy wheel but without the rivets. I cannot believe that rivet-looking alloy rims were a stock option on a E350 in 2002. I could be wrong and unless you ordered the van with those wheels (please tell me if so), I am going to call Bravo. Sierra. on the likelihood that those rims are stock.

Please keep posting so we can all learn what worked and what didn't work for you. You will find and fix the problem, but it will likely take some trial and error.

I can tell you this. If you damp the tie rod with dual opposing Bilstein gas SHOCKS (the problem WILL go away. (Opposing shocks neutralize the lateral pressure on the steering box. In contrast, opposing stabilizers would double the lateral pressure.)

But there may be easier things to try first.

 

I will get a bushing to bring the LH up to the RH ride then.
Took it to another brakes plus. This one verified the settings were in fact correct(same readings achieved as last time). They suggested bushings, but wanted to bring everything to ~4, instead of bringing the LH up to the RH side. More reading in some threads confirms what you are saying, I should keep it up around the 5.5 mark.

edit: Rockauto has a Moog 2.25 bushing on closeout for $1.98!

 

I don't have time to search, but your best bet is to get the adjustable bushings. I believe this one would work. ACDelco 45K6525 Professional Front Caster/Camber Bushing