My 2wd rides like a tank,I see a lot of suspension talk on this site, seems mostly 4x4. I have gotten lots of good info on other subjects,looking for help. I have 2000 Ex that has been lowered properly(djm 3" beams in the front ,hangers and shackles in the rear). Tried taking leafs out rear springs and made custom helper bag set up. Put new rancho adjustable shocks all the way around, my work van still rides better.

 

Hey, I feel ya! Mine rode like it was totally bottomed out when I bought it eighteen months ago.

At first, inflating the air bags helped. But really, that was quite stiff too. Next I spent a lot of money to have rear leafs replaced at the dealership I have gone to for many years.

That has helped quite a bit, but still I dont have that "billowy" ride that I know is possible to achieve. I know its possible because logically a four ton suv SHOULD ride that way, plus my friend JH818 does have the billowy ride Im looking for and he has Monroes.

A few other people have also mentioned Monroe Reflex shocks, and thats the next thing I am having done. Just bought them today and having them installed friday am. Right now Monroe is having a sale on shocks. 4 for the price of three, and then Pep Boys is offering 1/2 off installation. So, I figured "......heres your sign!" Just check on the internet, the coupon can be printed out.

I will report back to this thread how it turns out. But I am optimistic that this will achieve what I am aiming for. Hope you find your solution too.

I am Worried that your Ranchos didnt help. Dd you set them on "1"? Apparently the lower numbers are for a softer ride. Also, from all the reading Ive done on this topic, I dont think just taking out one of the leafs will work.

The entire leaf setup from the factory is worn out, and was not up to the task to begin with. They put leafs on there that were too soft because they knew a lot of "soccer moms" would be driving them and would want a softer ride. Well, that was a mistake on a nearly 4 ton suv!

Hope this helps shed some light. Sorry if I rambled

Good luck!
Karl

 

get the 4 inch lift kit and then soften the shocks and cut the bumb stops as they are to long .. or just put ajustible shocks on then cut the bump stops lol .. min is soft but that cause i have destroyed the bumbstops as i use mine like a 4x4 lol

 

1999-2013 Ford Pickup F250/350 Super Duty 2wd - Heavy Duty Front Coil Spring Kit - TTC-2814 | $144.95

I found these in my continual search for improvement.
I have the Airlift 1000 on front and they seem to help (@40 lbs)

I keep my tires at 65f 70r and I suspect that contributes to the
harshness on rough roads, along with my rear hellwig.

If I grow tired I'll go with the springs above, maybe somebody will
get them first and report how they work on their 2wd Excursion!?

 

So.....would that coil be a replacment for what we have or would it be an upgrade? Im assuming we HAVE HD coils from the factory?

Misky, does your diesel have coils on the front? Its just the 4x4s that have leafs in front, right (regardless of engine)?

Thanks for the link!
Karl

 

Is there such a thing as a progressive coil for these trucks?

 

Is that your X in your avatar? Looks nice! I'd like to see big pics.


Looking at the avatar it looks as though you have big wheels and small sidewall tires. The shorter the sidewall on a tire the rougher the ride (no flex). Not that it would help much with short sidewall tires but fords answer to a rough ride is lowering the air pressure in the tires.

Even being 2wd the X is still a 3/4 ton truck. Personally we only have 3/4 ton trucks (about 8 of them) and I must say that my X rides the best out of all of them.

With the rancho shocks, what notch do you have them adjusted to? Have you tried playing with their settings much? I have mine set on something like 3-4 in the front and 5-6 in the rear. I found much lower than that made it to gooshy like an old worn out 4 door cady. To low in the front I actually felt the tires "boing" after hitting a bump. "boing" as in bounce like having bad shocks.

 

Karl, all 2wd Excursions have coil springs up front.
I have S-rated springs up front, A-rated springs in back (per door sticker)

I believe the springs I referenced are "new", since I've spent most of
a year looking for options and ended up going with my front air springs
even though they didn't "list" 2005 Excursion (only up to 2004***).
The Excursion coil spring is "softer" than the F250/F350.
The softness also results in the 2wd Excursion sitting lower in front than
the F250/F350. This was a Ford decision to make "soccer mom" have
a "better" ride vs. the F250/F350 "truck".
The springs are all 12" tall unloaded (per info in fleet specs), but the
amount they compress depends on the engine (weight) up front and
the spring rate.

All excursions have LEAF springs in the rear. I believe the Excursion
rear leaf springs are also softer than F250/F350 springs.
The 4x4 folks use the same rear leaf springs, but with a "spacer" to
give them the extra lift compared to a 2wd Excursion.

I believe the referenced HD front springs will fit just fine, since
the Ex and F250/F350 share the same components. I am NOT sure
how much "lift" the Ex will end up with, but I feel it should be 1-2 inches
since that appears to be the delta between stock 2wd F250/F350 & Excursions.

Special note: The 4x4 F250/F350 went to front COILS in 2005.
The 2005 Excursion, retained the 2004 setup (2wd coils, 4wd leafs).
So, I believe the 2wd 2005 Ex would continue to share the coils for
a 2004 F250/F350. *** since my air bag fit just fine as well.

 

I had the same problem August 2007. The springs were sagging and even though I'd replaced the shocks, the suspension was worn and had seen better days:



To that end, looked into better springs for the truck, but to no avail. You can always run some better leafs in the rear, but the hard part is finding coils to match. Since I couldn't find coils to match, I just decided to replace the entire suspension with something better: a lift. I wasn't planning on 6 inches, I just wanted 2 maybe 4 inches so it would be a slightly modded stock setup. Instead I ended up with something WAY better:

The truck normally sits perfectly level (no blocks needed) after your first install the lift.


The suspension will settle after a few thousand miles and you'll end up with a slight factory rake. In order to achieve the full factory rake, I added the RAS. This pic is just after I installed the Roadmaster Active Suspension.


This one is just a cleaner pic


Fast forward 5 years and 3 months later, the truck still rides worlds better than stock and gets plenty of looks and compliments everywhere I go. Totally worth it to me; it's not for everyone, but this was my way of solving the suspension issues I had.

 

Tor, which lift kit did you end up going with?
4" or 6" - I know I've seen your info before (your sig says 6")??

I do love the way that looks - soft of a 4x4 look but w/o the added HW.!

 

I went with the PROcomp 6 inch lift kit with the MX shocks. The only regret I have is the people I bought it from: 4wheelonline.com Worst customer service ever! They lost parts of my lift and never communicated with me about anything. It was enough to drive anyone to drink....

Other than that, everything went together well. The only other thing I did was regear to 4.10 since I tow from time to time and it helped recover the fuel economy and slight power loss with the bigger tires. The 4.10 gears in essence puts me back to 3.73, the best combo for power and fuel economy.

 

Misky,

Okay, so you are just posting a link for springs that would be good to use when our factory coils wear out. Not that you are advocating upgrading beyond what came from the factory, per se ( like TD's lift kit).

Thanks for all the info, btw. I love learning about these rigs. Very grateful to you, who have so much knowledge and experience, for sharing that with us noobs!

Sincerely,
Karl

 

TD,
At stock height, I just simply get in and out....no need for steps or running boards. I know for a fact you could do the same based on our conversations.

But how about now? With a lift kit, do you use your running boards to help you get in and out? Just curious how that works.

Karl
P.s. nice pictures of your rig! Really good visualization of the "before" and "after"!

 

Karl,

You don't want to get new "s-code" springs again from Ford,
you'd want F250/F350 springs from Ford, or an alternative.

But, yes, they would give a bit of a lift and hopefully change the
ride in a positive way. Another alternative is a 2" coil spring spacer
which gives you more height, but the same bouncy-ness from the spring.

How much lift would depend on how much sag your current springs have.

 

Okay, that sounds good. I think my coils are still ok, I will know more tomorrow after I have new shocks put on. But right now, I would say the springs still have adequate bounce.

The coils werent my problem, it was definitely the leafs that were killing me. Definitely looking forward to new shocks. I think they will really help. (Ok, ok, I know weare talking about a3/4ton truck....but you know what I mean!)

I will file this away so I can refer to it later.

Thanks again!
Karl