KEGGER - I never said my radius-rods reduce sway or body-roll. The Hellwig anti-sway bar is still your best bet for that aspect. What I did was eliminate the axle wrap on my Excursion IN ADDITION TO adding the Hellwig bar. I sent you an e-mail that I hope clarifies this a bit further. LAND YOT

PS to OLDMAN CRONE - Just FYI, I run 60PSI at all four corners. I used to run 65PSI in my old F350, and it weighed 2,000# LESS than the Mighty-X. The original tires on my F350 were rated for 80PSI.

 

LANDYOT - Im having the same wandering problem on my 03 X v10. On the highway wandering is terrible, when towing an 8000 lb trailer unbearable scary feeling of uncontrol. I installed a pair of Supersprings on the rear to increase load capacity of the weak X springs. Helps greatly with the sag the trailer was putting on the rear. Trailer tongue weight of 950 lbs. I saw your pictures, very nice. Is there anything out there you can purchase or were you forced to make them, I have a machine shop so i could also make if necessary. Truck is in the dealer right now, they say nothing wrong, they just want to do alignment.
P.S. I saw that NANUKE1 had steering box readjusted and fixed his same problem.
What do you think?


Thanks for help

 

Kenny - What are "supersprings" ... some of those bolt-on add-a-springs? Many X-folks have opted for the air-bag systems which allow the PSI to be adjusted for when you're not towing. You can purchase some huge ladder bars, but I haven't seen any of those for standard-height Excursions. J.C.Whitney offers some bars, but they aren't as stout as mine. I found that making my own was my only viable recourse.

I'm glad that Nanuke is happy with having his steering box adjusted, but I know there is so much more to the wandering problem than that component. I've had a few guys with Excursions test-drive mine, and they said they could feel a difference before they even left my driveway (when my driveway was 100yd long ... have a shorter one now). Granted, they couldn't tell any difference in wandering while going down my driveway, but they both said the tail end on mine is definitely more "solid" feeling. After they got out on the back roads and highway, they could not believe the difference between my 2001 LTD and their 2000, 2002, and 2003 models.

BTW - In accordance with FTE guidelines, I am not allowed to discuss the radius-rods in any manner that sounds like I'm selling them. I will abide by those guidelines because y'all (everyone using this website) are a great source of information.

 

LANDYOT - Yes Supersprings are a bolt on. Check them out at www.supersprings.com I looked in JC Whitney but cant find ladder bars. Is this what your radius bars are called? Im interested in making what u made. Do you have drawings? are u willing to share them? Got my x back from the dealer yesterday, they did an alignment (did not help the problem) They checked for TSB's from ford on this problem and found none, The service tech called ford and spoke to an engineer about the problem, they did have a few complaints about the wandering problem, they told the tech to check the lower ball joints. Truck has to go back again. (PITA) Were going away next weekend on vacation with the camper, not looking forward to towing it. Previous truck was Yukon XL 1500, did a better job towing than the x.

 

Kenny44 - I have an '04 EX 2 WD and it used to be like driving a boat, never would go straight. BTW, also have a '99 Yukon and at 120,000 miles and 2" of play in steering wheel it goes and tow straight. My EX tows so much better because of the motor and trans, but I really disliked the way it drove. I pumped tires to 65 psi and that helped about a 2 on a 1-10 scale. (I think the square corners on the Pirrellis make it worse, can't wait until they wear out) I have no free play in steering wheel like Nanuke1, so after driving 5-600 mile my hands ached from gripping wheel and steering all the time. So, I put a rear Helliwig sway bar on and that was like a 6 on the 1-10 scale. Then the front bar and that brought me to an 8. At least now it goes "pretty' straight. If there was a way to increase the boost on the power steering to reduce the wheel effort like my Yukon the wear in balljoints would loosen up the rest and it could be a 10. My opinion, many of the Ford fans here think these steer just fine, but too many posts verify that they don't!

 

Another concern could be ruts in the highway. Here in MN we have most asphalt roads with some type of rut from heavy truck usage. When pulling a heavy load and you get partially out of a rut the fealing is almost like losing control until you get back into the rut again. Might want to check road surface when trailering feels loose again just to make sure.

 

Landyot's rear spring thing makes alot of sense. I hated the stock ride on our X. Just pulling into a driveway and watching the kids in the rearview mirror made me think of an old looney tunes cartoon with the heads all bonking together from side to side.
When I replaced the stock springs with Fabtech 5.5" springs it did wonders. I even took off the Hellwig antisway at that point because it was oversteering. Superstiff. Even with offset oversized tires and 10,000 GVW it goes straight down the freeway now. When empty it handles like a sports car in the mountains.

 

Diesel Cruiser - Exactly how i feel, The EX can pull the hell out of the trailer but the handling is terrible. Are the Hellwig sway bars much better than the factory sway bars? I have stock sway bars on the EX.

 

Kenny44 - Remember, I have the 2WD, and mine had no rear bar. Installing a rear bar made a huge difference. There isn't a major difference in diameter of the front (about 1/8 "), but that change also made a noticeable improvement. You didn't say if you have 2 or 4 wheel drive. I have read several positive postings about upgrading the bars on the 4 wd also. Just don't get the back end too stiff, it can swap ends in slippery conditions.

 

The diameter on the Hellwig is bigger...
I THINK the stock bar is 24 mm if you have it and the hellwig is 30 MM IIRC ????

but the important thing is the torsional strength difference - the hellwig is MUCH heavier and stronger than the stock bar....
I'm sure the stock bar is doing the bare minimum....

 

Kenny44 - Sorry, but I cannot share the drawings. But you (and others interested in more discussion on the X's wandering ailment) can check out the FTE post linked below ...

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...d.php?t=216993

Ken E.

PS - You can also do a search on this website for "radius rods" to gain more insight from other FTE website users.

 

Hi landyot,
Congratulations, Hope your Honeymoon was great.
About the wandering problem, You said it was caused by the weak springs. I have installed a set of supersprings, they are a progressive rate spring, when unloaded they dont affect ride but loading they take the load first. They work great. I was interested in your radius rods, but they wont fit with the supersprings i have. I found a set of ladder bars from tuffcountry, I called them and they are for the Excursion without a lift.
http://www.tuffcountry.com/misc_ladder_bars.html
I just got back from a camping trip towing my 8000 lb. trailer, it is unbearable to tow. When we got back i followed my wife while she drove the X. I watched the rear end of the truck, you are absolutely correct, that the truck is steering from the rear. We were on the highway driving a straight line and all of a sudden the X looked like it was driving sideways, you could actually see the rear end steering sideways. Unbeleivable that Ford doesnt know this problem.
Anyway, would changing the springs to maybe F350 springs solve the problem, or would you stay with the ladder bars? You seem to know the most about this problem.

 

kenny44, I have the same prob on my 2000 x 4x4. Mine is bone stock and just gathering info on which route to go.I was thinking a heavy 250 spring.

 

Kenny44 - I think it's fascinating that you witnessed this ailment in action, thereby proving my theory. Thanks! But on the other hand, it is a scary predicament.

I checked out the ladder bar link, but could not find any application for the Excursion. I'd be interested in seeing their product installed, mostly to see if it reduces your ground clearance any. I've studied the undercarriage a fair amount, and considered building a set of ladder bars, but the cons outweighed the pros ... at least in the way I was thinking of building them.

8,000# is not a real heavy trailer for the X. You could do like you say and switch to F350-grade springs, but then you'll always feel a stiffer ride when not towing. IMHO, the most common methods to improve towing is four-fold;(1) Hellwig anti-swaybar, (2) weight-distributing hitch, (3) adjustable air-bag suspension assist system, and (4) a device to keep the rear axle in a controlled arc ... like the ladder bars you mentioned.

Thanks for your compliment about me being knowledgeable on this subject, but I am no expert. I can only relate to others what I have had experience with, and offer my opinions on items I've only heard about from others.

Good luck! LAND YOT

 

I fixed the sloppy steering problem myself, on my 2000 ltd. I you have to do is adjust the steering box. All you need is an allen wrench, and a wrench. You just back off the jamnut, tighten the allen screw about a quarter of a turn and re-tighten the jam nut. This completely fixed the sloppy steering, and only took about 5 minutes.