The other night, I filled the tank in my 2000 Expy, and stop at a Dunkin Donuts to grab a coffee, as I was texting a friend I noticed my headlights were a bit off, I got out of my truck and noticed the driver side is leaning a bit from level, even with me out of the truck, but I myself only weigh about 180lbs so I didn't see my truck magically leveling as I got out, but I had looked at my truck several times and only noticed it this time after I filled my tank. And avg liq gal weighs 9lbs x 22 gals is 198lbs, not including what was already in the tank, could this actually put enough strain on nearly 5yr old shocks to lean the truck? It'll be a week before I get to empty the tank to be sure. And it appears more obvious in the front then in the rear. But when I turn the wheel to the right the truck levels out again. Any ideas would be helpful.
Did you figure out how to fix the lean in your truck? I have a 2000 Expedition 5.4L 4x4 EB at 134k miles that has exactly the same symptoms. I have even noticed a similar Expedition in a parking lot with the same lean.
Up until recently I thought it was because of a faulty air ride suspension system, but I just did a conversion kit from air suspension to coils and it still leans (but at least the rear isn't sagging and I don't have to listen to compressors going all the time). The conversion kit included new shocks. I don't see much of a change regardless of whether or not I'm carrying a heavy load. I only weigh 125 so I take offense to my car making it look like the driver is heavy enough to throw off the center of gravity on a 6000 lb. vehicle.
When parked straight on a level surface, driver-side front is visually lower, driver-side rear also lower but not as pronounced. I have measured the car's height in several places and it's an inch (or more) lower on the left side. When I turn the steering wheel to the left, it appears to even out some.
I visually checked the front sway bar link bushings on both sides, as far as I can tell the driver-side ones are FINE, it's the passenger side ones that look torn. Does anyone know if bad front sway bar link bushings on the
passenger side could/would cause the
driver's side to sag?
I also visually checked the rear sway bar and it appears to be lower to the ground on the left side compared to the right, but I can't see a specific bent point on the bar, not sure if this is normal? The rear bushings are all there, they are old and somewhat cracked but not torn or missing.
I don't really hear any noises when driving or turning, but there is a weird feel when steering hard to the LEFT at slow speeds like when parking, it feels as if I'm going over bumps that aren't there. I have had the steering system checked by 2 different mechanics and it's not that. I am kinda hoping that it is just these bushings since I spent $750 to convert to coil suspension hoping that would finally even out my car front-to-back but now it's leaning sideways. I mostly drive around-town so I'm not overly concerned about this becoming a safety issue, but the appearance bugs me and it would definitely be an issue down the road if/when I look into a lift kit.
If nothing else I'll have the passenger-side bushings replaced at my next oil change and hope for the best.
