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I have a 2008 E-150 that is difficult to keep in its lane. I have been following the thread A Real Econonline Steering Fix and I'm not sure that my issue has the same symptoms as is referenced in that thread. See end of this post for a description of my van's symptoms.
-- Three different shops say the steering components are tight. (There doesn't seem to be "play in the wheel." While driving and quickly shimmying the steering wheel left and right, the front wheels respond as expected.)
-- Tires have been checked by a respected tire shop.
-- I just had new rear springs installed and alignment done. That made the issue slightly better.
To determine my next step, here are my two primary questions:
1. With the caster at +4.5 and +3.1, should I have the 3.1 (right side) increased to somewhere around 5.0?
2. Would there be any negatives to installing a steering stabilizer at this point in the problem solving process or should I wait?
Description of symptoms:
The issue is subtle and I think that's why at least four different techs who drove it did not find that there was any problem that needed to be addressed.
I experience the issue at any speed but it is more noticeable at higher speeds. It's as if there's play in the front end. Yet as noted above, the front end seems to respond as expected when shimmying the wheel quickly left and right.
Example 1: The vehicle can drive straight for relatively long periods of time. But it will seemingly at random decide it's going to drift to the right (or left) without any input from me. It feels as if I've encountered a strong crosswind or a significant crown of the road when little or no wind or crown is present.
Example 2: Picture driving at any speed and moving into a left turn lane. What a driver would normally do to execute such a move is steer left a certain amount and then steer right a certain amount to properly position the vehicle in the lane. For anyone who's been driving more than a week, this is instinctive.
For the same maneuver in my E-150, when I steer left the van responds as expected. When I steer to the right, it does not respond enough. I have to steer to the right more than one normally would.
Last edited by E-152; May 12, 2022 at 10:24 PM.
Reason: clarify terminology
Just when I thought we were finished with these threads about E-Series vans "wandering" we have yet another! If the existing threads aren't enough to convince people they're generally ill handling vehicles, never meant to be anything more. Having owned 4 of my own and driven 3 others sadly this isn't a problem that is fixable. Those chassis are just huge compromises in design which creates the handling issues we all experience.
Have the caster angles corrected closer to +5 degrees with acceptable cross-camber variations, make sure the tires installed are specified for your chassis and probably too often over looked what's the weight as driven most often?
While some variations in road surfaces might not be immediately seen visually they can exist and in turn affect a poor handling vehicle's behavior.
Personally I didn't experience any significant difference with the front steering stablizer installed but did notice a large improvement installing a rear anti-sway bar, any brand but Addco. It is possible the steering box is worn but before replacing it raise the front tires off the ground, have someone wiggle the steering wheel while you observe whether there is any slop before the tie rods and drag link are moved.
Since you've had at least 4 technicians not find cause for concern that should be sufficient to say your van is acting as it should.
. It is possible the steering box is worn but before replacing it raise the front tires off the ground, have someone wiggle the steering wheel while you observe whether there is any slop before the tie rods and drag link are moved.
Good luck with this!
so what box should we buy to replace the worn box? What’s the smart move? My rig is a 1992 E350 RV
Have the caster angles corrected closer to +5 degrees
What type of shop is capable of this adjustment? I could take it back to the place that did the rear springs (they're a well respected heavy truck suspension shop that most other shops in the area refer to) but they're not very near me.
It is possible the steering box is worn but before replacing it raise the front tires off the ground, have someone wiggle the steering wheel while you observe whether there is any slop before the tie rods and drag link are moved.
Similar question for this - should any decent shop be able to do this diagnosis (and replacement if needed) correctly?
What type of shop is capable of this adjustment? I could take it back to the place that did the rear springs (they're a well respected heavy truck suspension shop that most other shops in the area refer to) but they're not very near me.
If convenience is your priority then keep shopping around for a closer shop asking if they're capable and/or willing to do as you request caster-wise.
Originally Posted by E-152
Similar question for this - should any decent shop be able to do this diagnosis (and replacement if needed) correctly?
If its a truly competent shop more geared towards repair/correction than just replacing parts then yes it should be a fairly straight forward process. The best initial inspection should be done by YOU in order to see what's happening--otherwise you're trusting someone who might not have your best interests in mind.
Brand-wise on steering box replacement I've gone from a Ford reman'd box that unexpectedly and catastrophically failed just 85K miles later---was replaced by the junk brand "CarDone" that lasted until the van was sold at 291K miles about two years later.
Red Head boxes were once upon a time thought to be among the best but I'm not sure that's still the case----Google search the 'net for recent reviews. Concentrate on what failures were experience and how Red Head dealt with the situation. This would be a part you'd supply to the installing shop for their installation. The onus for any warranty replacement due a failed box would fall on you. I really don't have any specific brand recommendations for reman'd E-Series steering boxes, there are probably no brand new parts available nearly 10 years after end of life for the full bodied series.
Just thought I'd share my experience in fixing the wandering problem with my 2003 E150 conversion van. Bought it 2 years ago with 69,000 miles and it was frightening to drive it over 60 mph especially with any wind. It is a high top so some of that is to blame on the high profile, but most of the problem was not caused by the height of the van -- it wandered badly in the absence of any wind. First, I replaced the sway bar link bushings for the stock sway bar -- I did not notice any improvement. Rear leaf springs were flat so installed HD rear leaf springs and HD front coil springs and KYB Adjusta-ride shocks all around -- much less body roll but no help with wandering. Adjusted the steering gear about 1/8 turn clockwise, that got rid of most of the free play at the top of the steering wheel which made it slightly easier to drive but really didn't help with the wandering. Installed a Moog tie rod and drag link assembly, that helped quite a bit but still wandered to an unacceptable degree. Installed new ball joints, that helped some more. Installed new wheel bearings and seals because there was a tiny bit of movement when shaking the wheels, that helped a little. Installed new axle pivot bushings and radius arm bushings, that also helped. Installed 3.25 degree caster camber bushings for about 7 degrees positive caster, that helped too. Finally, I added a steering stabilizer (Monroe stabilizer, following the instructions on 'A real Econoline steering fix' thread but I bought the drag link bracket from VantageOptics.com because I couldn't find one at a junk yard). After all that, it drives decently. I just returned from driving it on an 8300 mile trip and I could drive at 75 mph with no problem, but attention to the road needed to be constant unlike driving most newer pickup trucks. It definitely doesn't handle great but it is much, much more drivable and I wouldn't hesitate to drive it cross country again. In summary, I believe that I had to do all of those things to get the thing to steer decently with much less wandering. Even with only 69k miles, all the steering parts mentioned needed replaced, and a little incremental improvement was gained with each new part. Fortunately, most of the parts are not expensive but doing the work took a lot of my spare time. However, none of the parts were obviously worn out. The tie rods seemed fine on inspection (both by me and a good mechanic) but replacing them helped a lot. One lower ball joint had a tiny bit of lateral movement, but the others tested out okay with a prybar, wheel shake, etc. but replacing them helped a lot. The factory radius arm bushings looked fine. Bottom line is that I found that the steering components have to be in very good to excellent (eg, brand new) condition for my E150 to drive decently on the highway. There seems to be very little room for error. Adding maximum caster helped quite a bit. The other major component in the system is the steering box but that's expensive and I'm not replacing it as long as it drives okay. The E250s and E350s may handle a lot better than the E150s due to having heavier duty front end components and axles from the factory. Also, I believe that the E150 brakes are a bit too small for much mountain driving, you have to be careful not to overheat them even when using low gears. The much larger brakes on the E250s and E350s should have been put on the E150s at the factory. I think from about 2007 and later in E-series production, Ford put larger axles on the E150s so maybe those years are better. I think the later years also got a factory stability control system which may help with steering stability. Some folks have had good luck installing aftermarket sway bars to help reduce wandering. Bottom line, if I had to do it over again, I would not buy an older E150; I would get a E250 or E350 and I would at least test drive a Chevy Express or GMC Savana van just to compare the handling. Just wanted to share my experience for anyone suffering with a badly wandering E150.
Sounds like that’s what you did but for the benefit of the archives, I got the frame bracket (F2UZ-3E652-A, ~$40) from the Ford dealer a year or so ago. The steering arm bracket is NLA from Ford but you found an alternative as I did.
Did you get an actual full alignment or did you pay one of those back yard shops that just adjusts the toe and hands you a bill for a complete alignment? ( never mind, the readings you posted for caster already answered that question). I ask because thats been my experience with nearly every single shop that has ever claimed to have done an alignment on my E350.
They adjust the toe and then hand you a print out of what everything is currently reading even though they made no attempt to set the caster or camber to the correct values. Its because they dont want to spend time pulling the camber/caster bushings and doing the math and then running to the parts store to track down the correct bushings.
Clearly your caster is incorrect by a large margin and likely everything else in terms of proper alignment. The ford specs call for the right side to have slightly more caster than the drivers side and here you are with nearly a full 1.5 degrees less caster on the passenger side than you have on the drivers side. You have exceeded the maximum allowable cross caster. Why would you expect your truck to do anything other than what its currently doing? Find a shop that knows how to do a correct full front end alignment and then go from there. Tail wag is also a real thing and is common in the RV world and can also be an issue with regular vans in crosswinds. Its actually the rear of the truck shifting but mimicks a steering/alignment issue even though it isnt. Like i said, find a shop that actually knows what they are doing and get a proper alignment before you waste a bunch of money.
The proper way to do an alignment contrary to popular belief is not to leave one side at say 6.75 degrees while the opposite side is at the other extreme end of the spectrum at 1.75 degrees and then claim the readings are within spec because they are not. You have to attempt to get the readings within the specified range while not exceeding .5 degrees of difference side to side. There is also a reason that your passenger side is supposed to have more caster than your drivers side.
Claiming that these trucks all handle like crap and you just have to live with it is a logical falisy. If they handled like yours off the showroom floor Ford would never have been able to sell them. There are 100 half *** alignment shops out there for every 1 shop that actually knows how to do a correct alignment.
Have you recently replaced any front end components such as balljoints?
FWIW there is another new-to-me previously unknown brand of NEW steering boxes for the E-Series Lares Power Steering Box. Phone conversations are handled by knowledgeable people, they sell through sites like Summit Racing rather than direct to end users. They do NOT require core returns, do call with your particular chassis and they'll direct you to the right box.
They do have a "where to buy" link on the site so call someone most convenient to you.
Oh screw me running will ya? I did NOT suggest he simply replace the existing box, simply posting another option for anyone who knows they need or want a brand new NOT reman'd box, that I'd found something better. IOW I posted an alternative to the junk re-mand boxes I've used and soon reverted to the same sloppy steering I too was trying to fix,
As for these "mechanic's" telling him the steering box is NOT the problem---BS I say
If the existing threads aren't enough to convince people they're generally ill handling vehicles, never meant to be anything more. Having owned 4 of my own and driven 3 others sadly this isn't a problem that is fixable. Those chassis are just huge compromises in design which creates the handling issues we all experience. 
I did NOT suggest he simply replace the existing box, simply posting another option for anyone who knows they need or want a brand new NOT reman'd box, that I'd found something better. IOW I posted an alternative to the junk re-mand boxes I've used and soon reverted to the same sloppy steering I too was trying to fix,