2000 Excursion wander

sunnyseagull · 05-18-2009, 06:07 PM

OK I am about at the end of my wits with this wandering issue with my excursion, I have try all the tricks to help fix this except for doing a v b code 250 spring swap, I had this all pretty much taken care of but then I put new monroe reflex shocks on about two weeks ago and the wandering has some what returned , Have put a rear swaybar on , RAS system .. e load rated tires and adjusted the steering box , I guess its time to bite the bullet and up grade to the F250 springs front and rear. unless anyone has any other sugestions? Dan

**Sunline Fan** · 05-18-2009, 06:31 PM

I've tightened my steering box as well, it's helped quite a bit, but it still wanders too.

Coming back from the M&G today, doing 55 along the backroads was quite difficult with all the oncoming traffic passing. There was absolutely no wind today. The same thing continued on the highway. The best thing I could do was keep it between 68 and 70 which greatly reduced the number of shift times. It seems the change in torque at the rear wheels when shifting just makes it wander more.

I was beginning to think it might be the DC's are just a little bit off from each other, causing the trailer to wiggle in and out of each one, but now I'm not so sure. I think I'll still check it for alignment because I haven't in a while.

Jon

Hematite · 05-18-2009, 07:44 PM

Wandering, as far as I know, is a function of wheel alignment. If all the specs are correct, your vehicle will not wander. With any change of suspension components it is necessary to check alignment. Defective tires may also cause wandering.

If the issue is while towing, it is probably the adjustment of the hitch. I adjusted my Reese DC exactly according to the book and the combo goes down the road like it's on rails.

My suggestion, then, is to first have the alignment checked by a GOOD shop and recheck the values on your hitch adjustment. I emphasize a good shop because I've had some places actually ruin the alignment once they were done.

rich2500 · 05-19-2009, 04:49 AM

Dan if you get your excursion aligned who ever does it have them adjust the caster as far positive as they can within the spec,I do this on every truck I align and it makes a big difference in drivabilty.

sunnyseagull · 05-19-2009, 06:22 PM

thanks guys I have had the alignment check and it is all in specs , the tires are less than a year old and I spent 3/4s of a sunday setting up my reese hp , I was talking to someone today and they mentioned that if you have it aligned to the f250 specs that can help. I dont know if thats what you were talking about Rich , I was also looking at LANYOTS on FTE web site but they seem some what involved to install but everyone that has says that it corrects the wander completely , I dont know but its is very tiring fight this thing all the time thanks again Dan

kanyonkitty · 05-19-2009, 07:17 PM

OK, hope you guys are sitting down as this is a "girlie" thought

Anyway, is this "wandering" only occurring when the Sunline is hitched up, if so, is it possible that there just needs to be more weight transferred to the front wheels ???

**Sunline Fan** · 05-19-2009, 07:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kanyonkitty

OK, hope you guys are sitting down as this is a "girlie" thought

Anyway, is this "wandering" only occurring when the Sunline is hitched up, if so, is it possible that there just needs to be more weight transferred to the front wheels ???

It seems like that would be the case, but the problem, at least for me, does exist all the time. My mom's Ex used to be a lot worse, which would require moving the wheel back and forth all the time just to get it to go straight. I've dialed in the steering boxes on both, and mine actually is a little tighter and better, IMO. It used to be once you'd come around a curve, you'd have to really overcorrect to get it back straight, it's not like just letting the wheel go and it would return to straight. On my mom's, I'd have to turn it probably 15-30 degrees in the opposite way from straight to overcorrect to get it to go straight. It was really annoying. Mine was not this bad, but still required some. I've got mine adjusted so well that it takes little, if any, overcorrecting after a curve. It still takes some adjustments when going straight though. I can barely recognize the small amount of slop in the steering box now.

However, it seems that when a trailer is attached, the big tail greatly amplifies the little bit of slop there. One thing I noticed this time too is my rear end seemed to be sunk down a little more than when I set up the DC, so there may have been a little less weight on the front end than I would have liked. I don't think this is the sole problem though, it just made an already bad situation worse. And then add in the 25 mph headwinds on Thursday afternoon

...

I'd be really curious to try something. Get the whole rig hooked up and tighten the steering box like a whole turn of the screw. Then drive with minimal turning on a straight road, to see if it's still there. I'm quite disappointed in these steering boxes, and I think that really might be the problem.

One thing I think about with the steering is when dealing with a semi. I like to move over as far as I can from it in my lane because the steering is so loose that trying to keep it from looking like a worm is near impossible. I'd think normally that with a good sway control system and a firm grasp on the wheel, you could keep it away from the semis with little movement of the wheel. This won't happen here. If you can't move very far over, the vacuum pulls and you really have to fight it, causing the whole rig to squirm all around. The few times I passed some semis yesterday I tried to stay on the far left line if not a little over, and there was no vacuum.

I talked some about this with JohnB this past weekend and he knows someone who tried a lot of stuff to get rid of that, and he even has a Hensley. Air bags didn't work. The only thing he found that worked was a Roadmaster suspension and Hellwig sway bar. I'm not going to go this far in the coming future, so I would definetly be interested in any way to improve what's already there. Also, I've got 100,402.8 as of now, so I really don't have much time left with the original springs. I think I'm better off just waiting until these springs are tired out.

Jon

rich2500 · 05-20-2009, 04:40 AM

I was talking to someone today and they mentioned that if you have it aligned to the f250 specs that can help. I dont know if thats what you were talking about Rich ,

I would not advise using all the f-250 specs, especially camber or your going to wear tires due to the different springs and overall balance difference between the two trucks but if the f-250 has more positive caster then the excursion specs you could use the f-250 specs for caster. today I will check the difference of the specs between the f-250 and excursion and let you know what I find.

sunnyseagull · 05-20-2009, 02:59 PM

Thanks Rich I appreciate that .

SunlineFan I have the RAS system on mine and it did make a big difference I had the wander almost gone with that , the new tires and the sway bar I put on the rear . which is off of an 04 F 250 I got it from a junk yard for a 100.00 bucks I just had to get the rear links for the Excrusion the F250's were to long but then about a month ago I got new shocks Monroe reflex and now some of the wander is back I had Skyjacker sor rides on before but when I took them off there was nothing left to them. I compressed them by hand and 3 out 4 didnt open. but I cant imagine that shocks alone would have that much effect on the wander, since they say that shocks are suppose to create any kind of lift. I am seriously considering doing a spring swap with F 250 V code springs there is alot of talk about this on the FORD TRUCK ENTHUSIST web site . Ford just put to soft of rear springs on these Excursions and it just creates spring wrap

Kitty like sunlineFan has said this wandering happens with out the camper behind it , and like he mentioned when the trailer sways just a little it just amplifys the problem. and he is also right any time a semi passes you have to really over compensate no matter how well your sway control is dialed in or the whole rig does get very wormy it makes for some unpleasent towing , and on a long trip I get very tired from having to consentrate so much . oh by the way that wasnt a Girlie thought at all LOL !

**Sunline Fan** · 05-20-2009, 04:24 PM

I blew Sunny out today and took it back to storage. With the hot water tank drained and no food in it, it handled completely different. The museum was also absent from the back of the Ex unlike this weekend.

It almost seemed like I didn't have enough tongue weight today. Granted I do have my rear seat out (which it was this weekend too), but I seemed to feel the front end taking bumps but not really the rear end. So maybe once it would be loaded up for travel (minus all the museum stuff), it might tow pretty good compared to what it did.

I'll admit I only had a 1/4 tank of gas, so an extra 33 gallons behind the rear axle would make quite a difference too, about 200 pounds actually.

The more I think about it I think the best way to lessen the amount of wander is to keep as much weight off the rear axle as possible without picking the vehicle up. So basically sink the rear springs 1" or less. With the softness of the stock springs and the variability of tongue weight when loaded/unloaded, this is virtually impossible.

Hey Dan, I'm curious, what kind of new tires did you get?

Jon

sunnyseagull · 05-20-2009, 04:49 PM

Hi Jon I put BF Goodrich rugged trail t/a E load range I do really like them they are wearing very nice and keep them rotated . I tried playing with the tire psi I today I put the max 80 in the rear and 70 in the front it seemed to help so what , I dont know if you get on the ford truck enthusist web site or not but you may want to check the LandYot s go under the Excursion forum and do a search they are made by a guy in Va. they are about 300.00 for a set and everyone that has installed them claim that it has fixed the wander completely . there are even pictures posted on the install . I notice that you said that you do not have the rear sway bar that made a big difference with body roll once I put mine on it helped with cornering for sure . and as far as for the Roadmaster active suspension that was well worth the money also it made a huge difference in the wander until I put the new shocks on. I got my RAS on e-bay for 160.00 bucks the bidding started at 50.00 that was last summer I havent check on them lately but there were many to pick from may be worth looking into . you'll have to check mine out at the M&G at Buttonwood if you are going Dan

**Sunline Fan** · 05-20-2009, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sunnyseagull

I put BF Goodrich rugged trail t/a E load range I do really like them they are wearing very nice and keep them rotated.

Excellent choice. That's exactly what I'll be replacing mine with. My mom's '05 has those exact ones from the factory, and they have 54163.7 miles on it as of right now. They'll probably be due for replacement sometime in the next year, but they've served us well. I actually never rotated them until about 42k, which has I think taken out from some of the life of them. One in the rear now needs balancing, but we've decided it's not worth taking it in because they'll be replaced in not too long.

Mine has the Bridgestone Dueller A/T's on it. They were put on by the previous owner somewhere around 80k. I've got just a little over 100k on it now and I rotated them around 91k. They are nice riding tires, but the sidewalls seem softer, which allows for a great solo ride, but it just complicates the problems with the steering.

I've run both sets at 65 all the time. It seems to get the best mileage without too hard of a ride.

I'm not on FTE, but I am a member of fordexcursions.com and Landyot is on there too. I've seen some about the radius rods, but I haven't looked into them that much. I know a lot of people talk about how great they are, but I just haven't looked into it that much because the '05 and '02 don't seem to tow a whole lot different, and the '05 has the rear sway bar.

I definetly will check out all you've done at the M&G. I've not had an opportunity to check out an Ex with mods on it before.

Jon

sunnyseagull · 05-20-2009, 06:35 PM

Ok looking forward to meeting everyone , I kind of know Rich2500 and I ve meet MR and MRS Tweety they live up the road from me. I always stick wit BF Goodrich my grandfather retired from there he work there as a foreman his whole life. Dan

rich2500 · 05-29-2009, 04:16 PM

ok Dan finally remembered to check on the alignment specs,what I found is that the ex and f-250 have the exact same specs (surprised me )now if you get it realigned whoever does it have them look at the caster specs
min. is 1.5 deg.
max is 5.5 deg.
preferred is 3.5 deg.
have it adjusted to the 5.5 deg. and you should feel it drives better.
Also I have done some searching on the ford tech website regaurding the wander so if your interested in any of that info let me know and I can email it to you.

sunnyseagull · 05-29-2009, 09:19 PM

Hey thanks again Rich for checking into that for me Ill let you know . have a great weekend !