What's up people?

I'm hoping someone has some suggestions on my dilema. I have a 93 e150, 5.0/aod. Planning to tow a 30' 6000 pound travel trailer and am wondering about certain upgrades to make it better/safer. I went with the dual cam sway with weight distibution hitch setup. Very nice indeed. Anyways, on to the questions.

1. I know the aod is not suited for this type of abuse and am sure it will not last long. When it does go south, should I rebuild the aod for towing or upgrade to the e4od?

2. Depending on performance, I will probably look into a 351 swap over the summer. The 302 is ok, but i'm not sure with 6000+ pounds on it. Should I do the 351 or build a 347 from a 302? Opinions please.

3. Will e250 leaf springs bolt in to the e150? Should I even worry about this with the weight distribution equipment? Anyone?

4. I will be adding a rear sway bar and am looking for shock recommendations? What has worked for you? Will also probably rebuild the front end with a P-S-T kit.

5. I have 3.55 gears now and was thinking about going to 4.10. Worth it?

6. The brakes on the e150 are marginal at best. I worry with all that extra weight. I was at the local U-Pull-It yard and found several e250s of the late 80s with complete front brake setups. Would this be an easy swap? Is the late 80s front end suspension the same as a 93? Anyone have more info on this?

I know there are some that will say to get a truck/van better suited to towing but this one is mine and I don't want another used car payment. When I finish what I mentioned above the thing will be like new (at least engine/suspension will be) for a modest investment.

Thanks everyone for the opinions/guidance. I know there are some of you that regularly pull this weight and am curious what you have done if anything. Thanks again.

Brian

 

The AOD is a LOT tougher than you think it is. I know for a fact of one with over 300k original miles on it, and it towed a 15k pound trailer no problems. The best upgrades you're going to want to do are and external cooler, then put overload (spring over) shocks on the rear. A larger sway bar will help as well. Really 6k should be a cake walk if the van is in good shape. I'm willing to bet that you're trailer has brakes on it. They just need to be hooked up. You'll need a brake controller to use them though.

 

The trans is a recent rebuild (not sure when though) so I do think that it will last a while. Especially because I won't be towing often. The trailer does have brakes and I have the controller set up.

My first and foremost concern is the power (or lack of) of the mighty 302. Also the rear suspension. It rides soft which is great for hauling people, but I wonder what happens with 700+ pounds of tongue weight. I'll find out this weekend I suppose.

About the spring over shocks, any worries about broken shock mounts? Dad had a ltd wagon with air shocks and full of people when his broke. Not fun.
Anyone know if the e250 leaf springs are bolt in? Thanks again.

Brian

 

The 250 springs are wider, not an easy direct bolt on, I suggest the air bag overloads and no question about it, a load level hitch is a must, you need it to force the front on the ground. The 302 will be short lived, it's great for economy, but when it comes to towing, comes up short.

 

Yeah I kinda figured it couldn't be as easy as bolt in. I was considering the airbag rear. I have no doubt that the 302 will be a dog. As long as I can maintain 60-65 mph (i'm not afraid to let the motor rev) I'll be ok for now. I do plan a 4.10 swap in the near future.

Brian

 

If you have hills, 60-65 will be a dream, you'll likely dip as far as 45, 4.10's help, but cost you on MPG when on the Hwy empty.

 

I do expect a slight change in mpg when empty with the 4.10s but really, I only get 11-13 now. So does it really matter?

Anyone have any experience with Monroe Reflex shocks? $150 on ebay for a set of 4. Worth it?

Brian

 

I'd go buy them at the parts store. You never know what you're gonna get from ebay. They'll cost a little more at the store but you can take them back if one breaks. The 302 does fine towing. My dad is a carpenter and subcontracts from my uncles quite often. He pulls their 16 foot box trailer with his '88 E150 with a 302 (the van is loaded with tools) and it maintains 65 no problems. Unless you've got a really odd rear gear (3.08 or something) you should be fine. You probably have a 3:55 rear gear now.

 

Before you spend all this money on upgrading the E150 at least consider trading for an E250 or E350. The E150 will never be better than second best for towing a 30ft trailer no matter what you add to it or change.

 

Believe me I have thought about the upgrade to a e250 or 350 but with the shape that the 93 150 that I have is in I can't justify the cost. For right now I will not sink a whole bunch of cash into it. Less than $1000 for now as my labor is free (I have nothing better to do that fix this thing - yeah, right). Also, I like the empty ride of the 150 as this van will only tow a few times a year. For that little, I would hate to sacrifice a nice soft ride, not to mention another auto payment. The motor has plenty of life left and the trans had been rebuilt recently (still has tag hanging from it). And it is the 3.55 gears.
So for now new shocks on the corners, rear sway bar and front end bushings, balljoints and tie rods.

Thanks for all the input. By all means keep the comments / thoughts coming.

Brian

 

Is it an AOD or an AODE? The E model (actually a 4R70W) has an OD cancel button on the end of the shifter. The AODE is quite strong and I wouldn't worry about it. The old AOD isn't quite as good at towing due to its lack of a torque converter clutch and the way it locks up direct in 3rd and 4th gear. The AOD is a pretty good transmission in its own right and I wouldn't worry too much about towing with it.

You won't be able to upgrade to the E4OD without swapping the entire wiring harness and PCM for the E4OD.


The stroker kit is nice but expensive. There are lots of easy hop-ups for the 5.0 available. I did a K&N, a 2.5" low restriction cat and a high flow muffler. This really woke up the motor. If you want to go further, a little work in the exhaust ports to remove the EGR hump and machining the heads for more compression is an easy upgrade. Also, the higher ration roller rockers are another easy upgrade. Then there are a multitude of camshafts available.

As already noted, the springs aren't an easy swap.

I would do both front and rear bars and helper springs. I used Helwig bars from JC Whitney, they worked just fine. Adco also makes an excellent kit.

The 4.10s on an E150 are really short. I have 3.55s and wouldn't recommend going beyond the 3.73. I would recommend the 3.73s for your application.

The front brakes from a 250 would require the 8 lug hubs and 16" wheels. Then you would have to swap the entire rear axle to get the 8 lug rear hubs. Not an easy thing to upgrade to 250 brakes.

I upgraded the brakes with CarQuest rotors and ceramic pads. They work great.

I use my van ('95 Clubwagon 5 liter, 4R70W, 3.55. Helwig front bar, add-a-leaf rear helper springs, KYB shocks and it tows just fine. The KYB or Bilstein shocks are way better than the Monroes. The other thing that is important are tires. I use the BFG Commercial T/A truck tires. They are great all around tires but handle the load very well.

I regularly tow about 4000 lbs and the van handles it just fine. I have also towed a four door, 4WD Explorer (4200 lbs) on a 2000 lbs trailer. The total of more than 6000 lbs was quite a load but the van handled it OK.

Steve
'95 Clubwagon XLT

 

On my '05 E-150 I did the following configurations. I have the 3.73 gearing with the 4R70W transmission in it. I put the extra large capacity tranny pan on it (it holds an addition 2 quarts of fluid (about $120 from Ford) I put the weight distribution kit on. It's worth every penny of the $300 I spent for this set up. I also got the 3,500 lbs over load springs which ran about $350.

1 thing to keep in mind is keep as much tongue weight off the van as possible. (Some is good but a lot is bad) My trailer weighs 10,000 lbs fully loaded (not including the van which is about another 7,000) I have brakes on both axles of my trailer and it doesn't look overloaded. You don't want DOT pulling you over and having to run across his portable scales or anything.

You could always take the E-150 emblems off and put the E-250 or E-350 ones on also. I'm just waiting for the '08 E-350s to come out and I'm ordering one with the Diesel.

 

There is NO 08 diesel offered, the 6.4 is too big, the 6.0 is discontinued, infact, Ford is in a lawsuit with International over the problems of the 6.0, guess it wasn't superior to the 7.3 that it replaced. Emblems are OK, but your vin will reveal the lie, so when stopped and he runs your tag, the decal will mean absolutely nothing. I had a boss who was unfortunate enough to get put to the scale, the writing commenced, he had tons of violations, all because the cop was in one of those moods.

 

Thanks for the advise everyone.

Clubwagon,

It is the regular aod with the od-d-1 shift pattern and no od cancel switch. I am not afraid of the computer or wiring if I decided to update the trans to an e4od. With that said, I have 2 friends that work for Jasper engines and they both have said that out of all the transmissions that they deliver the e4od tops the list. Now I understand that there are tons of these on the road but I think I will keep the mighty aod. I may have been getting a bit ahead of myself with all the plans for this van. i have been reassured by many people that the current combo will do just fine for the amount of towing that it will do. Time will tell. I am however going to rebuild the front end, add 2.5" exhaust with shorties and new y pipe and front and rear sway bars and shocks. Thanks for you input in this area.

vincewood30,

I know all about DOT. I am a trailer driver by trade and deal with them on a regular basis. PITA sometimes I know. I may consider the extra deep trans pan and probably do rear helpers especially if I can't get the rig level with the weight distribution setup. Lots of people seem to think that the wd setup will be enough though. We'll see.

Finally, on Tuesday March 20 the van was involved in an accident. Front driver side door, fender, running board, bumper, axle, tie rod, rim and tire shot. A 18 year old girl on a permit decided she did not want to wait for the green light and just went right though the red light and into the front of my van. Bummer. Insurance companies suck. Been 4 days and still fighting even thought driver of the other vehicle admitted running the red light and was issued a citation. Go figure. I hope that the insurance company does not total it as I am sure it is worth more to me that it is them. I highly doubt I can replace it for what the insurance will offer.

Thanks again everyone. If anyone has anything to add please do.

Brian

 

Well I hope it all worked out, and you got your van fixed.

I tow about 5500 lbs of boat and trailer with my 93 e150 It also has the 5.0 aod trans. I also have the same 3:55 gears in mine. One thing is dont tow in OD. You want to be in third gear. Now towing the boat, with a full van load I have no problem keeping 70mph except on the biggest hills, and eaven then, it will maintane 55. Leaving a stop takes a bit though, but it is more then dooable. That 5.0 is realy a gutsy little motor. Not a power house, but will always get the job done. I would realy be leary of changing gears. these motors in the trucks are tuned to run at a farly low RPM, and I think the steeper gears, at hiway speeds, out of OD, will realy push the motor out of its RPM range. At low speed, around town, or lower hiway speeds, a 3:75 would be nice to have, but you will pay at hiway speeds.