I am planing on upgrading my springs to better handle my camper when towing. I have C's in the front and G's in the back according to my door sticker. I have a 2001 4x4 with the V10. I pull a camper with a loaded weight of just over 9,000lbs. I've read dozens of posts on upgrading the shocks and most all of them say to upgrade the front springs. The whole V/B thing.

Here's my dilemma. I contacted a local spring shop that has been in business since the 1930's. Obviously they know a thing or two about springs. After talking with them on the phone they recommended adding a leaf or two to my existing rear pack. I asked about the front and he recommended not doing anything with it at first. He said to try the rear upgrade first. Had I not been reading posts on this forum I would have said ok and moved on. However, I keep coming back to people recommending the upgraded front springs.

Obviously they will do what I ask them to do but I don't want to spend money carelessly. The guy did say his brother had a suburban which would walk all over the road when coming out of a curve. He said they upgraded the rear springs and it solved that problem. He said building up the rear would make a world of difference in how the vehicle handles.

As a side note he even said they have a relationship with two local dealerships. One is a Ford shop and the other a Chevrolet. They have customers who purchase brand new trucks and want beefier suspensions and the dealers will bring the trucks over for them to work on. That says a lot for their reputation.

I need some thoughts from those who have been through this. Between this and my planned gear upgrade in the near future I'm working with limited dollars so I need to spend them wisely.

 

I had the same advice from a local spring shop with my 01 EX. I think the issues with the excursion suspension is unique and different from what the spring shops usually see. It is not just setting it up for a heavy load. The stock springs are already overwhelmed with the stock vehicle weight. Look at it like this, the ex comes with lower weight capacity springs than an F250 that weighs a couple thousand lbs less in stock form. Plus the 44 gallon fuel tank adds to the tail wag that the ex has. Most F250's do not have a 44 gallon tank. I just did the V/B mod swap on mine + bilstein shocks and it is a whole new truck. I still need to add the rear 30mm sway bar but it is already so much better than stock. You will need to drive one to understand the difference.

 

I should add that I've already install the Road Active Suspension kit. I wonder if simply upgrading the front springs alone would provide much of an improvement?

 

My 2 cents worth. While I am sure they know what they are talking about, I would figure out a way to do both or in your case at least the front since you have RAS installed. My spring shop took my V's and took one leaf from my existing front pack and put them together. Then just added a block to the rear to give the correct rake. My Ex rode 10 times better after that. So I am a believer that the front springs play a big role in the wandering. But if you trust your shop, have them do the rear and see how it behaves. If its not what you want, then take care of the fronts.

 

FWIW, I did V's in the front and 1 add-a-leaf in the rear. It made a world of difference with the handling and I also like the added height.

 

The reason we recommend front springs is because the stock springs are really weak and will sag causing poor handling, rough ride and eventually damaged bump stops. They more than likely don't know of this situation because it is excursion specific and doesn't apply to any superduty.

 

The spring shop that did mine, didnt even want to do it. I told them what kind of springs I had and they said something like, "Well those are from a 1 ton truck, I dont think they are gonna work." I was like, "Look, can you do it or not?" I didnt have a lift or I would have done it myself. I need to do something on the rear of mine, and Im just gonna do it myself. Anyway, I have found that many places these days simply dont know what they are talking about, or at least they dont know as much as you do. This place new a little about everything, but I sure as hell knew more about my Excursion than they did. With all the ways to get info these days, I am sure you know more than most about your truck and what you want to achieve and I am sure you have put more time into it than most shops have expecially considering the Ex isnt even made anymore. You are going to get much better info about your Ex on this site than from most of the shops out there. Figure out what you want to do, obtain the parts yourself, then go take it somewhere and say, this is what I want, will you do it? Thats just my 2 cents. BTW, the Sub has IFS, no comparison to a 4x4 Ex.

 

I'd have to agree, the Excursion has some unique problems with the suspension that the shop probably doesn't know. Take a look at the front bump stops, you're probably .5" or .75" off the stop at best. I installed new STOCK springs because I thought that would fix it...with the new springs I got .85-.95" off the stop. If you think the V's will be too harsh get the U codes. Since you have RAS, try just the fronts first and see what you think.

When I did my springs I did them front, then drove a couple weeks, then rear and drove a couple more weeks, then sway bar. The V-codes really reduce body roll, I'd be curious how the U codes compare, but I like how it rides right now.

 

Certainly someone on FTE knows more about the Excursion than
the local shop. If the well-respected folks on FTE said to go buy
"product x" I'd bank that it would fit/work. Now, maybe something
else would fit too - so IF you post up what YOU did we'll all learn!
Pay it forward so to speak.

 

I like air bag helper springs. Easy to instll, removabale, tuneable. usually only takes 10 psig in the 5,000 lb bags to level the truck under load.
I have also tried Timbren solid rubber helper springs, not as happy with them because they are not tuneable.

 

I did the ras & V code up front and it was like driving a new truck For about $250.00 in parts its well worth it

 

That is what I did. The local spring shop wanted to sort of argue with me about using the V & B code springs. He just wanted to measure my truck and order heavier springs for it. I got some junk yard v & B springs and went to a Local guy that use to do huge lift kits on 4x4 trucks back in the 80's and 90's when that as "cool". I told him the problem with th Ex suspension and what I wanted him to do. Took him the parts and the truck. He had it done in about 2 days. He used a bigger block on the rear for whatever reason but my ex looks and rides great. I still plan to add the rear sway bar.

 

You can either ask the shop to do what you want, or go somewhere else to get it done. Don't doubt that the V/B upgrade will work. I did V/B and then added RAS to rear B code springs. I'm very happy with the results, and I think many others on here will report the same.