Well, for a truck with a 6" lift, 37" tires that are friggen heavy as hell, a truck that weighed just a hair under 9000k lbs (official scale weight for DMV transfer of ownership when I bought it) having it run 14.7 at Famoso for the NHRDA opening race of the year aint too shabby....not for a 7.3L.

Give Clay a call. He has OUO on all his rigs, including his Excursion.

Stewart

 

Thank you all for your input, it's funny that I was looking for dual shock info and our fearless leader just spent another 1000 of my money on something else. Gotta love this forum!

 

I wonder if one of the reasons for the "rough ride" has to do with the lack of any cross axis pivot joint in that aftermarket shock mount?

I've seen other dual shock mounts, including the 1978 Ford F150 4x4 dual shock mount as well as various hoop mounts for the 1999-up Super Duty, and they all had a pivot provision along the longitudinal axis of the frame.

The dual shock mounts in the photos above here do not, and that would concern me.

In the stock cast shock tower, the upper eyelet allows the cross axis fore and aft pivoting. This enables the shock to pivot back slightly when hitting a pot hole or a speed bump, and the leaf springs undulate in a wave form as the axle is thrust backward from the impact.

In the shock tower above, there is no pivot provision in the direction that the truck moves!

The upper pivot is oriented in the same direction as the lower pivot. So while these shock mounts will not be stressed when the axle articulates up and down unevenly between the left and right sides, they might be very stressed when the leaf springs undulate as the vehicle moves forward, which is ALL the time, unless it's parked.

Not only are the upper and lower eyelets oriented in the same direction, but now there are TWO of them, which further eliminates any hope for pivoting within the confines of the urethane of the shock bushing itself, because the broader base of the dual inline mounting configuration restricts, cancels out, and effectively prevents bushing movement in a radial direction parallel with the truck.

I think dual shocks can be useful, but I would want to see either a stem mount (like the Fords of the 1970's) or a 90 degree change in eyelet orientation between the top and bottom mounts, which is how the original front Excursion shock was mounted.




They way you painted and center trimmed those factory wheels looks BAD A$$!

 

I know that it can get into the low 13's with dual pumps

 

Michael, I know you demand the best, and OUO fits the bill when it comes to suspension products. The stuff is pricey, but the engineering principles behind his designs are perfect.





Stewart

 

That is *****, 13's on a 4-1/2 ton SUV DIESEL. Take that gassers.


Nothing personal.

 

All of this talk about the double shock setup has me looking at my wallet to see if I can add the BDS twin shock setup. As it is, a full leaf spring 4" BDS kit is getting installed in just over a week, now I am wondering if the extra couple hundred is worth being spent for the dual shock setup... I guess you can say these are the conundrums of being an Ex owner, "can I do it, if so, can I afford to do it?"

If I decide to go for it, I will make sure to post pics!

UPDATE: After doing a little more research, I decided to pass on the dual setup for now. There are always other projects that the cash can go towards.

 

I have a shock hoop with dual 10" travel Bilstein 7100 smoothies w/ reservoirs. Advantage of Bilstein 7100 shocks is that they are revalvable & rebuildable.

My top & bottom mounts are mounted in the same orientation, but both top & bottom mounts of both shocks have spherical heim joints.

If you look closely at the bottom of the hoop middle brace in the second view, you can see it's now gusseted, as there were a few hairline cracks. I believe that's because the top of the limit strap was connected to the bolt hole you can see between the top of the shocks in the side view ... so when offroading hard it was torquing on the hoop. After gusseting the bottom of the hoop, as well as relocating the top of the limit strap to the much stronger frame (you can see the limit strap in the angle view), I haven't had any more problems after a couple of years of both on road & off road use.

Side view:



Angle View:




P.S. In the back I have single Bilstein 7100 smoothies, non-reservoir. Also have Firestone Ride-Rite airbags in rear (2600 lbs rated, each, so higher rated than stock Excursion application, I believe). Off road I have to air down the air bags to 5-10 psi, to allow the rear shocks to work properly off road. I wouldn't mind upgrading to 2.5-3" single smoothies, with reservoir, in the rear.

 

Life changes every day! I made an offer on a little toy that if it works out I may not move forward with the new lift or the shocks. Will need to occasional tow this 38 foot 8500lbs dry weight plus three axle trailer about 2000lbs not to mention water and 200 gallons of gas. I don't think anything over my 5inch lift would be wise just my .02... Will keep you kids posted...

 

A boat? You know what they say about a boat... It is a hole in the water to throw money, or that boat stands for Bust Out Another Thousand In all seriousness, that looks like if would be a lot of fun. Word to the wise, contact your local Coast Guard Auxiliary, they will come and give you a free boating safety inspection. This will give you a good idea of what you need to keep from getting a ticket if the County Sheriffs or the active duty CG pulls you over while underway. Plus it never hurts to be safety ready! Good luck on the purchase!

 

That right there is funny, I dont care who you are.

 

I'm in the industry, I have very good contacts at the coast guard here in my neck of the woods. I've owned a ton of yachts I'm used to bust out tens of thousands and even did an MTU rebuild on my last yacht to the tune of 145k. Lol.... I was just looking for something I get to Bimini in under an hour for occasional lunch etc. David the conch chowder there is incredible. I am also part of the "local boaters option" so I don't even need to do a physical appearance when coming back into us waters.
I've also been an owner operator, just used captains for charters although I do employ a stewardess/cook and engineer full time when I run offshore usually to the Exumas ( wife's favorite ). Here's a picture of my last yacht it's a 70 Azimut I've been in the market for an Azimut 100 jumbo there's a few here in my market I've looked at in the past 2 weeks but haven't fallen in love yet. The 38 I made an offer on was just an owner that does not use it and could use the money, so will see what happens.
70 Azimut

 

NOW THAT IS A BOAT! Sounds like I was preaching to the choir a little, I guess you can say it goes with the job If you get the boat, enjoy the purchase and the conch chowder!

 

I am looking for something like this:

 

That's way beyond my capabilities lol