07 E350 Rear sway
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3rd Gear
Joined: Sep 2024
Posts: 3
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07 E350 Rear sway
My friend has and E350, recently was pulling a trailer when all of sudden rear starting swaying reallly bad like death wobble . They recently rebuilt the whole front end . New tires. But still does the same thing at whatever speed . You’re driving when all of sudden the rear sways . He said feels like if he’s drifting. He did mention although he got an alignment after rebuilding the front he still had constantly move steering to go straight. He’s currently working on changing the steering gearbox but it’s hard to find a used one . He did mention they put in new driveshaft and they also checked rear diff. Oil was clean ,gears looked good. But the rear left wheel did have some play to it. Van has a all new shocks too , rear leaf springs look fine also. Everything seems so strange to me, it does not have a rear sway bar and it never has , it never swayed like that before he said
Hotshot
Joined: Jul 2020
Posts: 10,410
Likes: 2,610
From: Near Salt Lake City
Left rear wheel has some play in it?
Get that fixed straight away
Do not let it run with loose wheel bearings
That and tire pressure and call me in the morning
Adding a sway bar will help
Too much caster is your trouble when towing and the rear end sags
So, 10 ply tires, pumped up, and go slow
My van does it too
Crazy, but towed a trailer with a 97 F150 on it with my half ton 94 van
Did the same thing and I had a mountain pass to deal with
Go slow, 50-55 tops, then no shimmy or death wobble
Get that fixed straight away
Do not let it run with loose wheel bearings
That and tire pressure and call me in the morning
Adding a sway bar will help
Too much caster is your trouble when towing and the rear end sags
So, 10 ply tires, pumped up, and go slow
My van does it too
Crazy, but towed a trailer with a 97 F150 on it with my half ton 94 van
Did the same thing and I had a mountain pass to deal with
Go slow, 50-55 tops, then no shimmy or death wobble
Lead Driver
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 6,259
Likes: 438
From: IL
If pulling a trailer, you really shouldn't be going faster than 55mph as they tend to sway at higher speeds. If he had sag on the rear, then that takes weight off the frontend which contributes to the sway. Rear wheel play, probably a bearing going out, it will contribute to the sway, under inflated tires maybe? It will contribute to the sway.
I rented a Uhaul 24ft box truck and a car trailer to finish moving my mother from Florida to Mississippi, Truck wasn't really load too bad, had rider mowers and such in it, I was towing a 65 Chevy drop top., I could barely do over 55mph without the trailer sway starting, Needless to say I kept it at 55mph not wanting to tell my mother that her $40K convertible decided to flip and roll. Other factors to consider are also the front sway bar bushing were they changed? Are the new shocks all the way around good shocks or something he bought off ebay on clearance sale? Big difference in quality. Lastly, tell your friend to fix what it broke first like the loose wheel. then move forward from there.
I rented a Uhaul 24ft box truck and a car trailer to finish moving my mother from Florida to Mississippi, Truck wasn't really load too bad, had rider mowers and such in it, I was towing a 65 Chevy drop top., I could barely do over 55mph without the trailer sway starting, Needless to say I kept it at 55mph not wanting to tell my mother that her $40K convertible decided to flip and roll. Other factors to consider are also the front sway bar bushing were they changed? Are the new shocks all the way around good shocks or something he bought off ebay on clearance sale? Big difference in quality. Lastly, tell your friend to fix what it broke first like the loose wheel. then move forward from there.
Cargo Master
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 2,112
Likes: 286
From: Eastern TN
Could a tire be going flat? Revisit the front suspension. Maybe something wasn’t tightened or a new part is a dud.
Sixto
07 E350 5.4 198K miles
Sixto
07 E350 5.4 198K miles
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Hotshot
Joined: Jul 2020
Posts: 10,410
Likes: 2,610
From: Near Salt Lake City
Tell them of your wander complaint and they should set the toe to a positive number
That positive toe set will negate or eliminate the wander if all the front end parts are tight, and the front tires are decent
When you get a new van, the toe is set to +1/8 or +3/32, that chews the front tires up on the outside, but they drive like a dream
To negate tire wear, most alignment techs will set your van at zero or -1/32 = toe out
That builds in a slight wander
I drive my van around with my toe set at -1/16 and my tires wear flat, and my van wanders
I did alignments for 25 years before starting my own shop where now I do everything but
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