Community Forums

twinboat · 11-07-2018, 05:06 AM

I have a 2017, E450 chassis that I want to have the caster checked and adjusted to 6 degrees.

Will I need new adjustable bushings, to give the shop to do this, or do they stock them.

Dcbenny · 11-07-2018, 06:29 AM

Most likely you will, just had mine done at a local ford truck dealer 313.00 for the new bushings and alignment

Charles L · 11-07-2018, 10:05 AM

Mine is getting aligned now. The shop had the bushings on hand. To get over 5.0 most likely will need them. They sell them on Amazon and other websites

Zigzag03 · 11-07-2018, 11:37 AM

All of which begs the question, why are you folks adding caster. What trait are you trying to correct or enhance? I know what caster does, just wondering why you want more?

twinboat · 11-07-2018, 01:54 PM

http://www.irv2.com/forums/showthread.php?t=158832

E350/E450 Handling and Caster

TeJay · 11-07-2018, 01:58 PM

It places the weight behind the contact area of the front tire which keeps the wheels tracking straight down the road. The same thing happens when you comes out of a turn. As you drive forward the weight pushes down on the tires and the SW and tires almost return automatically.

A road grater is another example. As the front tires are turned the tires seem to flop out to the side. As they are grating the dirt roads the weight of the grader/engine makes it much easier to track straight which is what it has to do to grade a road straight and flat.

When you were a kid you could ride your bicycle with no hands because you had some positive caster. If you had zero caster it would have been near impossible to ride with no hands.

Some folks will tell you if the caster is to positive it will make it harder to steer. Well that's true except you have power steering and it won't be harder to steer.

avfordguy · 11-07-2018, 11:18 PM

Correct caster on a E450 is night and day, a lot of folks will back me up on this.you need at least 5 degrees and it was I'll make you say why I'd I wait so long

Zigzag03 · 11-08-2018, 07:15 AM

As I said, I understand caster, along with suspension geometry in general. But in reading Twinboat's op it sounds like he's looking for special parts to get to a number that is beyond what the stock front end normally can be adjusted to. So is more better, beyond the original design?

Zigzag03 · 11-08-2018, 07:18 AM

Belay all that, the referenced thread answered my question and more!

oldecmech · 11-08-2018, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twinboat

I have a 2017, E450 chassis that I want to have the caster checked and adjusted to 6 degrees.

Will I need new adjustable bushings, to give the shop to do this, or do they stock them.

Ask the alignment shop when you make the appointment. If they are doing alignments on these things, they will very likely have the bushings on hand or have them locally available. They are a common part.

avfordguy · 11-12-2018, 09:35 PM

Ford spec is you can go as far as 6 degrees, has mine wa guy out to 7 degrees and dialed it back go to 5 degrees

lgcotton · 11-19-2018, 03:28 PM

I bought the adjustable bushings and will take it to a shop. My question is, the bushings only go to 4 degrees caster so how can you get to 5+ degrees? Is there a certain amount of caster already built in to the suspension?

Harvard · 11-23-2018, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lgcotton

I bought the adjustable bushings and will take it to a shop. My question is, the bushings only go to 4 degrees caster so how can you get to 5+ degrees? Is there a certain amount of caster already built in to the suspension?

You have probably figured this out by yourself by now.

At any rate, it appears Ford ships the chassis with fixed (non adjustable) inserts that position the top of the upper ball joint in the center of the upper cavity. This setting will produce from about +3 to +4 or so degrees of caster DEPENDING on the fore/aft nose attitude of the assembled vehicle.

The adjustable sleeves, when set to 0.0 degrees replicates the setting from the factory. By adding +2.0 degrees to the existing +3 to +4 you end up with +5 to +6 again DEPENDING on the nose up or nose down degrees of the final assembly.

ransil · 11-23-2018, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lgcotton

I bought the adjustable bushings and will take it to a shop. My question is, the bushings only go to 4 degrees caster so how can you get to 5+ degrees? Is there a certain amount of caster already built in to the suspension?

Make dure the shop understands whst you want and how you want it.

I took bushings to a Ford dealer that does heavy trucks, explained what i wanted.
Went to pickup, they said alignment was good, no print out, i asked for a printout and to have them set it to +6, went next day to pick up and got a bunch of bs about it would cost several hours labor, i took my printout and left.

Still need to install them but at least I have baseline to get the inital setting.

Instructions in the bushings tell you how yo set them based on initial readings