Expedition handling problems

Teddy62 · Jul 25, 2022

I noticed during the winter and on intermittent snow covered roads (snowy patches).
Upon driving over these snowy patches the rear end of my 03 expedition wanted to slide to
the left. It did it consistently.
It was not the road.
Then the SOB started eating tires right down to the belt.
I had alignment checked.
They said it was good!
I always noticed the camber on the rear sagged in almost as if the springs were weak.
No it doesn't have that ride adjust option.

Any ideas?

Hamfisted · Jul 25, 2022

How old are the rear shock / springs ? You can buy a set of complete assembled units to eliminate them as a possible cause.

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Gary Waugh · Jul 26, 2022

are you sure the brake caliper is not binding on that side? That would cause the wheel to slide as soon as traction got worse and would cause the tyre to wear very quickly. If alignement is okay, that is the only thing I can think off!! Raise the rear wheels off the ground, chock the front wheels so the car can't move release the brakes and then see if the rear wheel will move freely.. You might have to put it in neutral..

Teddy62 · Jul 26, 2022

Interesting thought!
I do watch for any abnormal wear on my rotors/pads.

Gary Waugh · Jul 27, 2022

Don't forget, the rear wheels have 2 sets of brake pads, the external disk brake that operates when you stand on the brake pedal, but there is also a drum brake back there which operates with the parking brake pedal, maybe the parking brake is binding, you can’t see the drum brakes until you remove the actual disk itself. But just check the wheel turns freely before trying to get access to the parking brake pads.

Broncoholic · Aug 1, 2022

Teddy62 said:
I had alignment checked.
They said it was good!
I always noticed the camber on the rear sagged in almost as if the springs were weak.
No it doesn't have that ride adjust option.

Any ideas?

Don't count on the alignment being good. Years ago my 2003 burned through 2 sets of tires in under 20k miles each. I had the shop rotate tires and check alignment at each oil change every 5k miles. They'd say "Alignment is good and you always rotate the tires, these trucks just eat through tires." I finally did my own inspection of suspension components and found multiple ball joints and bushings wasted. The alignment was good when they had it on the rack, but was all over the place driving around town. I fixed everything and it was way better.

BTW, on our trucks, the springs only support weight. If you think your camber is off, it's because of worn ball joints or bushings.

Expedition handling problems

Teddy62

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