Any other E350 Diesel Passenger Van Owners Out there?

[rankroddin250]

Originally Posted by 999renville

not loading 4 bikes in the back of any X I've seen. 8*)

I've had 5 small bikes in the back of our extended 15pass van before whilst being creative. That along with all 3 kids and mom. plus when unloaded we all slept in it on some camping mats.

get one of them stretched limo Xcursions.

[999renville]

would be funny. then they would really complain at work about my parking. as it is I have to back in or else I hang out 3 feet.

[elibenson]

I own an ambulance company, so I have a bit of experience with E-Series vans (e350, e450's). All of them are powerstrokes, but not that it matters. I have also owned a '95 E-150 custom van and a '02 16 passenger van. Every one of them have front end problems. The ambulances are worse than the plain passenger van or the e-150. They all get lots of hard miles, but also get regular maintenance. I have worked for other ambulance companies for 10 years, and my mom has worked for other ambulance companies for 22 years. I have a lot of experience with Fords in general because almost every ambulance made is a Ford. As long as I can remember, they have all had problems with their front ends.

I think that that problem with ambulances is that they are so darned heavy. A vehicle is normally loaded to a certain percentage of their maximum Gross Vehicle Weight Rating. The closer you operate to that GVWR, the quicker things wear out. A normal unloaded van may be at 50% of their GVWR, but an ambulance is operating at about 85% all the time. That's not including the equipment, patient and crew (who are invariably over 350# each). After all the necessary items are onboard, it really only leaves about 600-800 lbs of extra capacity for the patient before you are overweight.

Anyway, the short answer is that yes, E-Series vans will need constant alignments.
Eli Benson

[txevt]

Well for starters, upper ball joint for the E350 is the same for E150 and E250. Shocks are also the same. I use Moog on all my suspension parts. I use Monroe shocks and have tried Billstein (or how ever you spell it) in the past with no difference in any preventative maintenance schedules. I use Michelin XPS Rib tires. And for tire wear, make sure you follow specifications on tightening wheel bearings. I know it sounds silly, but it does make a difference in tire wear. Check ride height, every two years, I replace front springs and rear leaf springs. If rear brake shoes, I check and adjust every 1000 miles or so. Other than that ...... happy motoring.

[txevt]

and of course all these are 911 ambulances, single rear wheel, 9,600 lb gvw.

[Drysuit John]

I have a 04 E350 6l PSD cargo, working on seat mounts to install set of set of bucket seats for 2 nd row, and brackets for bench 3 rd row. Pop the bench out, toss in storage/bed box and instant camper. Getin' close to 100k on it, needs to go in for inspection. Drove an 88 E350 7.3 for 4 yrs, did 1 set of uppers and changed 1 set of tires in the 210k I put on it. It had 760k on it when I parked at behind the local High School as a project for them.

[moxwell]

I had the same issue with my van, mechanic changed out the bushings and I have no longer had any issues with it. He told me it was within alignment specs as per the factory but that you could visually see that it was not right (maybe due to the weight of the diesel engine?) anyways, the new bushings corrected the problem.

[RockinOnDiesel]

I'm a proud owner of a '96 E350 Club Wagon XLT with the 7.3 PSD in it. It's my first diesel, and the first van I've had all to myself. My interest in vans came from playing in bands and touring. With the rising cost of fuel and trying to cut down expenses, I eventually came to diesel. We kind of lucked into this van, and it's been great except for some recent problems I'm working clearing up. The power, durability, and options for alternative fuels was what reaffirmed me I had made the right choice with the van.

The guy I bought the van from put about 30,000 miles on it in the two years he owned it. He was mostly using it on vacations to haul a big travel trailer (it has a Reese package installed, don't know if there's an intercooler) and his two boys. It's a great vehicle for road trips because of the massive amount of room (and our band definitely needs it) and the fuel efficiency being significantly better than any other van I've ever toured in. Anyway, the guy I bought it from had the whole front end rebuilt in the time that he had it, so clearly this is an issue. The van has about 221,000 on it and I've put about 4,000 on it myself driving it around town and going on trips down to Seattle and such (about 130 miles each way).