PSDExcursion wrote: I have no rear swaybar on my 2003 Excursion and had none on my 2000 Excursion that towed my 41ft at up to 80mph like it was on rails so am I the only one with perfect Excursions ? I have the Helwig rear swaybar sitting in my garage waiting to be put on . I am sure it will keep it from leaning in the turns but if you have frontend steering problems how is a rear swaybar going to fix that ?
A rear swaybar will reduce the tendency of the front end to "push" or understeer. From a theoretical standpoint I'm also having trouble believing a rear sway bar will have much impact on straight line tracking. However, I do believe the radius rods to have an impact. They will force the alignment of the rear axle to maintain a more constant geometry - ie: keep it at right angles to the direction of travel. I find the back end of my Ex wanders around a bit and I am considering the Landyot Radius Rods along with adding a rear sway bar and new shocks. Currently my Ex feels much more stable when I'm towing than when I'm not but I do have a Hensley.
FORD: 1999-2001 SUPER DUTY F SERIES
2000-2001 EXCURSION
ISSUE:
Some vehicles may exhibit stiff steering, wandering, or poor returnability after turns. This may be caused by alignment, steering gear meshload, or a lower knuckle ball joint that becomes sticky and degrades steering returnability.
ACTION:
Check alignment and check steering gear meshload or install greaseable ball joint and lube every 8000 kilometers (5000 miles) or at every oil change (whichever comes first). Refer to the following Service Procedure for details.
SERVICE PROCEDURE
Verify stiff steering, wandering, or poor returnability after turns. Proceed as follows:
Check alignment and correct if not to specification.
NOTE: USE 0.75 DEGREE OR LESS CASTER SLUGS TO CHANGE THE CROSS-CASTER. IF THE CASTER REQUIRES MORE THAN A 0.75 DEGREE CHANGE YOU MUST USE CASTER WEDGES THAT ARE INSERTED BETWEEN THE AXLE AND LEAF SPRINGS. USE IDENTICAL CASTER WEDGES ON BOTH SIDES TO CHANGE CASTER.
If alignment corrects the condition, return vehicle to customer.
If alignment does not resolve condition, continue to Step 2 (steering knuckle torque to turn test).
Perform the following steering knuckle torque to turn test:
Place vehicle on alignment rack with front wheels on low friction plates. Wheels must be pointing straight forward.
Remove tie rod from steering knuckle. Install a nut and bolt into the steering arm hole and tighten.
NOTE: WHEELS MUST BE LOADED AND ON PROPERLY OPERATING TURN PLATES TO PROPERLY CHECK TURNING TORQUE.
Use a click-style torque wrench and position it on the bolt head so that the handle is pointing toward the front of the vehicle.
Set the wrench at 135 N-m (100 lb-ft).
Pull on the torque wrench so that you are turning the front wheel outboard.
If the knuckles turn without the wrench clicking, then ball joint turning torque is acceptable. Return vehicle to customer.
If the wrench clicks before the wheel breaks free and begins to turn, then the torque to turn the knuckle is too high. Continue by replacing ball joints (Step 3).
Perform this procedure on both front wheels.
If the torque wrench clicks before the wheel breaks free and begins to turn, then replace the lower ball joint with the greaseable Lower Ball Joint (1C3Z-3050-AB) and replace the upper with the current replacement part (F6TZ-3049-AA). Refer to the appropriate model/year Workshop Manual for removal and installation procedures.
Follow this procedure to torque the ball joints after knuckle installation.
Torque lower ball socket nut to 47 N-m (35 lb-ft).
Torque upper ball socket nut to 95 N-m (70 lb-ft), then advance nut to the next slot to line up with hole and install cotter pin.
Retorque lower ball socket nut to 190/217 N-m (140/160 lb-ft).
NOTE: THE NEW GREASEABLE LOWER BALL JOINT MUST BE LUBRICATED AFTER INSTALLATION.
SERVICE SCHEDULE FOR GREASEABLE LOWER BALL JOINT
If a greaseable lower ball joint is installed, it must be serviced per the below schedule:
At every oil change or at 8000 kilometer (5000 mile) intervals (whichever comes first)
The recommended lubricants are:
Premium Long Life Grease (XG-1-C, or equivalent meeting Ford Specification ESA-M1C75-B)
Hi-Temp Wheel Bearing Grease (E8TZ-19590-A, or equivalent meeting Ford Specification ESA-M1C198-A)
Measure steering gear meshload. Reference the appropriate Workshop Manual for the procedure for measuring meshload.
If it is less than 0.45 N-m (4 lb-in), reset to 0.56-0.68 N-m (5-6 lb-in).
NOTE: THE MESHLOAD MEASUREMENT IS THE AMOUNT OF THE TORQUE INCREASE THAT THE TORQUE WRENCH SHOWS AS THE STEERING WHEEL IS ROTATED THROUGH THE CENTER OF ITS TRAVEL (I.E., IF THE STEERING WHEEL TORQUE TO ROTATE IS MEASURED AT 0.45 N-m (4 LB-IN) ON THE ENDS, AND THEN IT MEASURES 1.13 N-m (10 LB-IN) AS IT IS ROTATED THROUGH THE CENTER, MESHLOAD = 0.68 N-m (6 LB-IN). MESHLOAD = CENTER - END (1.13 N-m - 0.45 N-m = 0.68 N-m OR 10 LB-IN - 4 LB-IN = 6 LB-IN OF MESHLOAD).
Once meshload is OK, procedure is complete. Return vehicle to customer.
PART NUMBER PART NAME
1C3Z-3050-AB Ball Joint - Lower (Greaseable Type)
F6TZ-3049-AA Ball Joint - Upper
XG-1-C Premium Long Life Grease
E8TZ-19590-A Hi-Temp Wheel Bearing Grease
To check steering gear meshload :
NOTE: The engine should not be running.
Turn the steering wheel from right lock to left lock at least once.
Remove the driver air bag.
Remove the cotter pin from the pitman arm.
Remove the castellated nut.
Separate the drag link.
Use the Pitman Arm Puller to separate the steering sector shaft arm drag link.
Rotate the steering wheel to the left stop and then rotate the steering wheel back approximately 45 degrees.
NOTE: The peak preload torque must be within 0.23-1.13 Nm (2-10 lb-in) or a new steering gear must be installed.
Attach an inch pound torque wrench to the steering wheel bolt and slowly and evenly rotate the steering wheel clockwise 1/2 turn (180 degrees).
Record the peak preload torque.
Rotate the steering wheel to its centered position (approximately 1-1/2 turns from either stop). Place the torque wrench on the steering wheel bolt with the handle in the vertical position. Rotate the torque wrench slowly and evenly 1/4 turn (90 degrees) from each side of center.
Record the peak on-center torque.
NOTE: The on-center torque must be 0.56-1.02 Nm (5-9 lb-in) greater than preload torque without exceeding a total of 1.92 Nm (17 lb-in). The on-center torque minus the preload torque is the meshload torque.
If necessary, carry out the following steps to adjust the on-center torque.
NOTE: Rotate the meshload screw clockwise to increase and counter clockwise to decrease.
Adjust the meshload screw to the proper rotating torque.
Hold the meshload screw and loosen the lock nut.
Adjust the meshload screw.
Verify the rotating torque is to specification.
Readjust if necessary.
Tighten the lock nut.
Hold the meshload screw.
Tighten the lock nut.
Install the drag link, castellated nut and cotter pin.
I never noticed the handling until I got the truck. Very spoiled by the additional 30 inches of wheel base, not to mention the additional power. I took the Excurion to a tire shop I like and they discovered the 50K maintenance item of replacing the ball joints was necessary. It handled a lot better but still had poor centering performance. I adjusted the preload on the steering gear which helped a little but still very stiff on centering. One interesting observation after this adjustment is that it tracked curves beautifully, just didn't want to go straight. Finally I removed the steering damper and oh boy, what a difference. Very light and much more feel in the steering. I think when I re-adjust the preload it will get ever better. Because of the missing damper I purposely entered the driveway at an angle to see if I would get a bad steering kick and it was fine.
I suspect in my case I tend to drive a lot by feel, that is I feel a movement and correct. One big difference between the truck and the Excursion is rolling motion, my guess due to height. If I correct steering in response to the rolling motion, which I suspect I do, then I make it more difficult to maintain good directional control. This is why I have been thinking of adding a roll bar to the rear axle - not to control axle movement but to control body movement (both mine and the Excursion's).
Thanks for the good information, especially about the roll bars, steering gears and ball joints.
I fixed the wandering on my '01 V10 LTD at the rear axle. Check out the article at the following link. It explains what causes the wandering, and provides a cure ... and it certainly cured mine.
Ok I have a question. If the Excursions wandering problems have been fixed by some using the Radius Rod or upgrading the leaf springs to a F350 pack. This is telling me, just like PowerBy4D posted, the rear springs are to soft. Would adding the "SuperSprings" to the rear help? It stiffens up the rear end and adds sway control.
No, SuperSrings are not the solution because while they may slightly increase your weight capacity, and possibly stiffen the ride some, they do nothing about the great distance between the axle tube and the leaf springs. nor do they restrict spring wrap. Because the axle is so far away (OEM lift blocks on both 2WD & 4WD models), it allows the axle to impart much more leverage on the leaf springs ... and ALL vehicles with leaf spring suspension suffer from spring wrap to some degree ... the X just seems to suffer the most.
I have an '05 EX 4x4 PSD Eddie Bauer. If I have any sway issues they are very minimal. I have only towed my camper twice with it so far, but one trip was over 250 miles one way and it seemed to do a fine job. I use the equilizer 4 point hitch-great hitch by the way. I will have to admit that on a test drive of a similar EX to the one I bought, the vehicle required constant steering wheel correction to keep it going down the highway straight. The EX I purchased did not seem to have this problem at all. I have heard that tire pressure can be suspect with this issue. I run mine based on the door jamb recommendations-55 rear, 50 front I believe.
Me, The Beautiful Better Half, and 2 Awesome Little Girls
TV: 2005 Ford Excursion Eddie Bauer 4x4 PSD
2009 Jayco Eagle 324 BHDS
Quote: I have heard that tire pressure can be suspect with this issue. I run mine based on the door jamb recommendations-55 rear, 50 front I believe.
I bet 99% of the wander problem is low tire pressure. I run 65 front and 80 rear full time. The Excursion is a truck, if you want a soft ride get the Expedition or any other 1/2 ton SUV that come with P tires.
Offline
