chin_k wrote: January 18th, 2019, 6:06 pm
I did not check the shock or the damper, and I don't think there is any anti-sway mechanism. I probably will bring it to a mechanics and let him/her check it since I am not that familiar with rig this size.
A new steering damper did a lot to help my Chinook's stability at speed, but it had the original unit and there was no oil in it .
I'm not suggesting that you'd employ more steering damping in an effort to mask other issues, but it serves a pretty important purpose.
So you don't have a sway bar up front? I've never seen that in these vans. Maybe it was removed. That would change handling noticeably.
As far as I know they (around my generation) did come with a front anti-sway bar (so maybe there is one you haven't noticed?). They did not have a rear bar (I added one and consider it a great mod, but that doesn't matter for this discussion).
Still, I don't know that the anti-sway bar does anything on washboard. If anything it might make it worse, because it "ties" your wheels together? I know that on my car, people who want to go offroad sometimes have detachable anti-sway bars.
But maybe you could have bad tie rod ends or some other "mysterious" front end components.
I bet Scott can shed more light on this though - not my forte.
Blue~Go wrote: January 20th, 2019, 5:17 pm
Still, I don't know that the anti-sway bar does anything on washboard. If anything it might make it worse, because it "ties" your wheels together? I know that on my car, people who want to go offroad sometimes have detachable anti-sway bars.
Certainly. Sway bars off-road are more of a hindrance than a help. You want the suspension to operate as independently as possible. So on washboard, you're right.
Just wondering about the state of the whole scheme if it's truly sans a sway bar. I would look at everything, and I've since lost sight of the core of the thread (washboard). Sorry.
Sorry, gentlemen. it does have a anti sway bar in the front.
I wish I took some pictures, but there is a shock that attached to the front wheel steering mechanism, and it seems to be leaking oil. The shock is horizontal, laying across in front of the metal piece that connect the left wheel to the right wheel. Any of you know if this is a stock Ford E350 mechanism? What does it suppose to do?
I will probably remove it and see if it is still working, and may replace it if not.
2000 Concourse dinette, on 1999 6.8L Ford E350 Triton V-10 Chassis
That's the steering damper Scott was talking about. Mine was okay but I replaced it with a Safe-T-Steer. Not so much for the purported safety aspects (although fine, I'll take them) but because it does give a stronger return to center (and my stock damper looked kinda tired).
That said I don't know if it would cause those symptoms, because aside from seeing that it looked tired I didn't really notice any driveability problems with the original damper installed (but maybe if leaking it's worse). I was just at a suspension shop and wanted to do things
It was a real pain to remove the steering damper without lifting the rig up in the air, so I just have enough time to get one end removed before it got too dark. There is not much resistance the damper offered, and I think it is not doing much if anything at all. I am going to get it replaced over the weekend.
One thing I noticed is that is that the tie rods seems to be pretty loose. I can rotate the rod in the same direction as the tires, and I think I should bring the rig to a mechanic to check it out after I replace the damper. The tie rod can rotate that way because there is a ball and socket joint at each end, but I just don't know how much movement is considered normal.
2000 Concourse dinette, on 1999 6.8L Ford E350 Triton V-10 Chassis
chin_k wrote: February 7th, 2019, 9:10 pm
One thing I noticed is that is that the tie rods seems to be pretty loose. I can rotate the rod in the same direction as the tires, and I think I should bring the rig to a mechanic to check it out after I replace the damper. The tie rod can rotate that way because there is a ball and socket joint at each end, but I just don't know how much movement is considered normal.
They're intended to rotate a few degrees, so they could be fine, but also maybe not.
An easy way to check for a worn ball joint is to compress the joint in a vertical diction with pliars. I'm sure there's a tutorial on YouTube.
If you're going to work under there, make life easy on yourself and jack it up. You can then wiggle the front wheels in various directions to check for play in the other joints and wheel bearings. Look for torn joint boots.
I doubt any of this would relate to your original complaint, but it's all easy to check once the wheels are off the ground.
Anyway, I got it installed, and torqued the bolts to 45 ft/lb per spec from the damper's paper. Took me 10 minutes to installed, but almost half an hour to uninstall due to the rusty nuts. I already soak it with lube over night. I did not get the Bilstein 5100 ($110+) but just the Monroe SC2955 (~$30) without the sleeve. I am going to test drive it this weekend and see if I notice any difference... I don't expect to feel the difference, but just to make sure I did not mess anything up. The next trip will be in March, so will try to find some washboard to see if that is the culprit.
Anyone know if the sleeve is something worthwhile to get and install on it to keep out the dirt?
2000 Concourse dinette, on 1999 6.8L Ford E350 Triton V-10 Chassis
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