[garagedoordennis]

Took delivery of a new 150 short roof 3.7 on Wednesday and returned it Friday ! There is a real problem with the way the rear end floats around while driving in traffic or changing lanes. To me its like the rear tires have "low air presure" or the tires have way to soft of sidewall. Scary when the wind blows you around from semi trucks and all you do is chase the steering wheel trying to keep it in your lane. What the heck is Ford thinking here ?

 

[EddieZ]

I dunno, I found the handling of the med roof, long wheelbase to be a pleasant surprise. Of course, some wind interference is to be expected, but, it's much better than an older hi-top van I had driven. I have not had any tendency to over-correct, or overwork the steering wheel, but, I would not be surprised if the short wheelbase may need a gentle touch on corrections... that would be something you'd get used to. Tires -- did you verify the inflation on them?

 

[garagedoordennis]

yeah I checked them right away 85lbs each. As soon as you make a correction the back end moves around 1 sec later. Very strange feeling. I have the same wheel base GM van with the same 8600gvw and it handles like a sports car compared to this thing. I even have a 68' Chevy 90 cargo van and it drives way better so the wheel base i feel has nothing to do with it. Weight is only going to make it worse so I never even set it up.

 

[Brad]

>>> What the heck is Ford thinking here ?

Don't know what Ford was thinking. But I came away thinking handling was very car-like.

 

[PeterR]

Took delivery of a new 150 short roof 3.7 on Wednesday and returned it Friday ! There is a real problem with the way the rear end floats around while driving in traffic or changing lanes. To me its like the rear tires have "low air presure" or the tires have way to soft of sidewall. Scary when the wind blows you around from semi trucks and all you do is chase the steering wheel trying to keep it in your lane. What the heck is Ford thinking here ?

You might have gotten a lemon with a manufacturing defect? Bad alignment? The overwhelming reports here are positive, from many former van owners and lots of commercial drivers. The Transit ain't perfect but your experience is unusual. Too bad you returned the vehicle, perhaps you can ask if the dealer found anything wrong, like the alignment.

I have a 130" wheelbase low roof Wagon, and it drives like a dream under all conditions. Sorry for your experience.

Good luck!

 

[garagedoordennis]

I called the dealer today ( cause I had not heard anything ) and they said they could not find anything....."really I said well just keep it then cause I'm not driving it that way " The owner called me 30mins later and said the same thing....So I asked him "did you drive it ? " and he said no........I told him we had nothing to talk about till he did

I have been driving vans for 30 years and put 35-40 thousand a year on. I have a very good opinion on how something drives/handles. Brand is not a factor but reliablity and safety are. I really think the tires are a big part of this , but I just laid out over $30,000 for a new van and I'm not going to have to buy tires for it !

 

[onetwo]

how about trying different Transits at the dealer to see if they all exhibit this characteristic? or to see if its unique just to yours?

If your's is unique, then the dealer will be figure out whats different...

 

[star gazer]

yeah I checked them right away 85lbs each. As soon as you make a correction the back end moves around 1 sec later. Very strange feeling. I have the same wheel base GM van with the same 8600gvw and it handles like a sports car compared to this thing. I even have a 68' Chevy 90 cargo van and it drives way better so the wheel base i feel has nothing to do with it. Weight is only going to make it worse so I never even set it up.

Is that what the door sticker says? Sound high to me.

I don't think mine handles bad at all.

 

[EddieZ]

yeah I checked them right away 85lbs each. As soon as you make a correction the back end moves around 1 sec later. Very strange feeling. I have the same wheel base GM van with the same 8600gvw and it handles like a sports car compared to this thing. I even have a 68' Chevy 90 cargo van and it drives way better so the wheel base i feel has nothing to do with it. Weight is only going to make it worse so I never even set it up.

Proper pressure is more like 49 psi front, and maybe 60 for low load on the rear (Ford spec is higher, but, that's for loaded). The high PSI would give you less contact patch. Don't know about the rest, as that's not my experience.

 

[garagedoordennis]

yep say 85max on the sticker. On my GM van I only ran them at 70lbs just to help the ride

 

[star gazer]

But what is the recommended pressure that the door sticker says? Unless you are running max load you don't need max pressure.

 

[PeterR]

Brand new tires are always squirrely. The owners manual (or some other document in my new Wagon) even warns about this.

 

[orton]

yeah I checked them right away 85lbs each. As soon as you make a correction the back end moves around 1 sec later. Very strange feeling. I have the same wheel base GM van with the same 8600gvw and it handles like a sports car compared to this thing. I even have a 68' Chevy 90 cargo van and it drives way better so the wheel base i feel has nothing to do with it. Weight is only going to make it worse so I never even set it up.

You need to inflate the tires according to the yellow sticker on the driver's door frame. On my 148" high roof the correct pressures are 49 psi front and 71 psi rear. Not at all surprised that it has evil handling with 85 psi at all 4 corners. I run 60 psi in the rear because van is currently empty. The 71 psi is for a van at its rated load.

My van handles exceptionally well. Did not expect it to be such a pleasure to drive.

Your dealer obviously did not set the correct tire pressures. Hopefully you did not add air.

 

[garagedoordennis]

You have a point there.....and no I did not touch the presure just checked to see what was in there. Presure may change it a bit , but I used what I experenced with the Gm vans in the past and never had this "float issue " at any presure or new tires ?

 

[alarmist]

When I put new tires on my Sprinter the thing was scary for a while, then it settled down. As others have said, if you're running 15 and 35 more PSI than recommended, you know where to start.

 

[SuprMover]

I dunno bud, I drive mine empty, loaded, city, highway, slow, fast, etc. And it seems excellent compared to anything in its class... My wife hates anything bigger than a compact car but she'll happily drive my Transit. If anything it's more planted in transitions than any other vam I've driven.

 

[6386]

These things handle great! I'm sure the issue was the incorrect air pressure, especially since the front and rear have different specs. Always check whats listed on the door jamb.

 

[PeterR]

These things handle great! I'm sure the issue was the incorrect air pressure, especially since the front and rear have different specs. Always check whats listed on the door jamb.

Ditto.

I checked this morning, and my front tires were way over-inflated. Need a better tire gauge >50 PSI to check the rear.

Also I now have about 750 miles on the Wagon, and the driving has gotten even better. Will report MPG after 1,000.

 

[ted]

Ditto.

I checked this morning, and my front tires were way over-inflated. Need a better tire gauge >50 PSI to check the rear.

Also I now have about 750 miles on the Wagon, and the driving has gotten even better. Will report MPG after 1,000.

I usually keep a cheap manual gauge to check tire pressures and every so often check with a different pressure gauge just to ensure mine is accurate.

I have a friend that's a mechanic, so I use his gauge

 

[Chance]

While tire pressure is most likely the problem, I won't assume that assembly lines produce identical results on every single unit. Just because most units handle great doesn't preclude an occasional unit from having assembly-related errors or problems.

I've worked on non-auto-related lines where failure rates of 1 or 2 per 10,000 units were typical. I would guess vehicles can't all come out perfect either otherwise they'd be no lemons.

Inflating to proper pressure is obvious first step. Hopefully it won't be more serious than that.