ford e350 7.3 Moog CC880S 2 inch lift, too much positive camber. Fix?

[mortaldemon]

Hi all,

I have a 2002 ford e350 7.3 van and installed the moog cc880s springs a few months back. I have driven the van since then, but the wheels have positive camber on both sides now and I just wanted to know how I can fix this. I didn't read about this being an issue for other's but I've noticed increased wear and a staggered stance. I have read about camber bolts but do not have any experience with these things. I do know the I-beams are rusted to hell. I could not remove the bottom nut where the I beam meets the radius arm using an impact wrench. Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

Alex

 

[Raul]

Very well known issue. With the 880s springs on a 7.3 you should be able to fix it with alignment cams.
Google I-beams camber, there is a plethora of information.

 

[Bikersmurf]

I’ve got an E350 Ambulance with a 7.3 and 880s. The drivers side needed a 3.5 degree castor/camber bushing and the passenger side 2 degree (not sure as I reused an old bushing). At 65 mph I can let go of the steering wheel.

I’d recommend an adjustable one like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Moog-K80109-Caster-Adjusting-Bushing/dp/B000C59ZDQ



The Ford stealership that did my alignment quoted me $70 to do an alignment... they told me it needed a $30 bushing. When I came to pick it up they wanted to charge me a few hundred more because it needed said bushing... even though it was a 15 minute job since the had just been put in. The icing on the cake was that they put in a 2.5 degree bushing when it needed a 3.5 degree bushing. Low and behold it pulled like never before. To put the correct one in they wanted another $300. Had I put in adjustable 0-4 degree bushings, they could have set them to the correct caster & camber and it would have saved me a small fortune.

If there’s a good reason to not use them, someone should pipe up... but they make sense to me. Instead I’ve got an assortment of fixed bushings to get the alignment done through trial and error. It’s a dream to drive now but I started with 3 or 4 different degree bushings to start with and spent $70 to get two more.

 

[mothgils]

I’ve got an E350 Ambulance with a 7.3 and 880s. The drivers side needed a 3.5 degree castor/camber bushing and the passenger side 2 degree (not sure as I reused an old bushing). At 65 mph I can let go of the steering wheel.

I’d recommend an adjustable one like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Moog-K80109-Caster-Adjusting-Bushing/dp/B000C59ZDQ

View attachment 474958

The Ford stealership that did my alignment quoted me $70 to do an alignment... they told me it needed a $30 bushing. When I came to pick it up they wanted to charge me a few hundred more because it needed said bushing... even though it was a 15 minute job since the had just been put in. The icing on the cake was that they put in a 2.5 degree bushing when it needed a 3.5 degree bushing. Low and behold it pulled like never before. To put the correct one in they wanted another $300. Had I put in adjustable 0-4 degree bushings, they could have set them to the correct caster & camber and it would have saved me a small fortune.

If there’s a good reason to not use them, someone should pipe up... but they make sense to me. Instead I’ve got an assortment of fixed bushings to get the alignment done through trial and error. It’s a dream to drive now but I started with 3 or 4 different degree bushings to start with and spent $70 to get two more.

Do you have a link to the bushings you used?

I have a set of the CC880s springs to go on my E350 7.3 but haven't installed them yet.

 

[shenrie]

^^^ just google ford econoline camber kits and plenty of moog options come up.

Ingalls engineering has been making camber and caster correction kits for as long as I can remember and a lot of companies put their name on their products. Not sure if they have a solution for the econolines or not but I’d look at ingalls and spc as well as moog.

Might be a good idea to reach out to Jeremy at weld tech solutions and ask him what he uses with his lift kits. Some kit designs just self destruct after time even though made buy a reputable company. If anyone would know I’d guess it would be him.

 

[mortaldemon]

Thanks all for the responses!

 

[Bikersmurf]

Do you have a link to the bushings you used?

I have a set of the CC880s springs to go on my E350 7.3 but haven't installed them yet.

I bought mine locally for the ones I used, and paid more than for the adjustable ones I linked and would recommend.
Mine was an ambulance for 10 years... at the stealership they asked if it had ever been in an accident... likely more than one. So you may need slightly different bushings.

 

[RXtacy]

I put the CC880S on my 04 V10 E-350 and picked up 0-4 degree adjustable cam bushings at NAPA. No problems setting correct alignment.

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/NCZ2643950

 

[Raul]

Those multi adjustable bushings are great, but good luck finding a technician that knows how to adjust them. I ended up doing it myself.

 

[shenrie]

^^^ That’s the problem these days. The younger techs only know how to work the machine and follow its instructions, not fully understanding how to actually align the vehicle without a fancy machine telling them what to do.

 

[Bbasso]

the one I bought a long time back but never got to install lol

 

[Bikersmurf]

I also installed the 3.5 bushing myself. It wasn’t much harder than changing a tire. I figured if the alignment wasn’t right I could just pay for the actual alignment.

The camber was correct it just needed more castor. My solution was to remove the wheel, jack up the corner until the face of the hub was square to the ground (trusty carpenter square), remove old bushing, install new bushing, turn till face of hub was again square to ground, tighten bolt to prevent bushing from turning, and put wheel back on.

Camber is stupidly easy to measure. Short answer is that when sitting on the ground, the hub face should be square to the ground. Allowable range varieties from tipped in a bit to tipped out a bit. Solution... flat smooth floor and a square... if the hub face square to the floor then camber is within spec.

Castor is harder to measure. The top pivot needs to be a bit behind the lower one. I don’t remember the spec for 2WD, but for 4x4 it varies, but it’s usually something like 3-5 degrees. Stock my other truck was only 1 degree with manual steering... but with bigger tires it needs more.

Any tricks to measure Caster?

Push pins & a tape measure work great for Toe in.

 

[freewayross]

Does this apply to 4x4 conversion or just I-beam setup?

 

[Bikersmurf]

Solid axle 4x4 doesn’t have the same issue with camber changing was the wheels travel up and down. For the most part, solid axle only allows changing toe in and castor.

In the case of my 40... it’s toe in & castor wedges. Camber was set when the axle was designed. It’s not impossible to change camber, but it’s next to it and never done (escentially).

 

[freewayross]

Thanks one less thing to worry about