So after driving her for a week including towing my 30' travel trailer to and from camping, I love the Excursion more than ever with the V/Modded C's & the Hellwig! (I didn't think it was possible to live her more than I already did! ) I can't say enough about Junior @ ATS! Super helpful!
My question;
I just refueled her and measured her again. 41 1/2 rear 39 1/2 front height. I'm thinking I'm going to do the 2" shackles (rear of front springs only), as mentioned previously. My question is this. ...Will this get me the full 2" height? I'm ok if it falls a little shy. My question may seem stupid but here's my thought process: Take a 5' board, raise it 2" at the end. The middle is less because of the angle. I'm no engineer, but is it logical to think the same rules apply here, or does the action of the spring negate that? Thank you did indulging me again!

Keith

 

I literally just installed front lift shackles for the exact same reason last night. I have an 01', V10, with X code front and Mod'd C's from ATS. The front was nearly 2" lower than the rear. I built the shackles myself, made the eye to eye length 2" longer. At first measurement I picked up about an 1 1/4", just about what I was after. Don't want the front higher but the rake was too much for me.


Yes you are correct on the 5' board lifted 2" at one end. If we knew the exact location of the axle in relation to the ends we could figure out exactly how much lift a certain height shackle would give. There are many on here who have done the lift shackles with good results, I'm sure someone with useful info will post up shortly

 

Never done it an X, BUT in general a 2" shackle will net a 1" lift, 3" shackle = 1 1/2" lift and so on. You end up with about 1/2 the shackle length. SO your answer is NO.

 

Harley4jcs is right on...


Just an FYI my reply was based on a company advertising a shackle as a 2" lift shackle" providing 2" of actual lift. They don't tell you how much longer the shackle actually is, just how much lift it will net you...

 

Thank you very much everyone!....Now to search out Shackles!!

 

I think most are getting them from Amazon or ebay. You could also check ATS...

 

Yes, like everyone else says, a shackle 2" longer than stock will get you about an inch of lift ( + / - ).


Do you ever come up here camping ? I've got a brand new set I ordered from Amazon. I don't think I'm going to use them, since my truck is as high as I want it. I was going to throw them on CL, but.....

 

PM sent....

 

I had asked Junior...He said he didn't have any right now. Hadn't made them up in a while. Not sure why, maybe the demand dwindled with Ford going to coils up front??

 

Just a word of advice for your shopping, be sure you get the actual shackles themselves and not a drop hanger kit. That'll lift you the advertised amount right off the bat.

Check out Icon, I have their full hanger drop kit and have been happy with it on top of my V's. Way higher than you want to go, but they may have just the shackles for your application.

 

What's the advantages / disadvantages between shackles and drop hangers?

 

Shackles are just the rear mounts on the front springs. A drop hanger kit has shackles but also dropped mounts for the front of the spring, so it lowers the whole spring X amount instead of the shackle dropping just the rear down and netting you half the lift.

Personally I am not a fan of using just a shackle for a lift, but there's no real hard science behind it - just my personal experience with it. I've used them on a few other vehicles in the past, all wheeling rigs, and they all prematurely wore out the springs. On the front of the vehicle, they technically do alter the geometry just a hair since you're not lowering the spring uniformly. It may change the caster all of a 1/2°, but I doubt it's noticeable otherwise people wouldn't do it without complaining about handling quirks. On the flip side, it should absorb bumps a smidgen better as now the spring moves up and a tiny bit backwards instead of straight up, so it has a better angle to absorb the impact and react.

Personally I went with the 2" drops and V's up front to sit level with the B-mods out back. Having had it this way for a couple years, I am now looking to swap for X's, keep the 2" drops, and C-XL-mods from ATS to get a firmer ride and a bit more height.

 

I hear you,
I thought there was something I was missing re the shackles.

Your are just suggesting using both for actually squarely lifting the truck rather than just one or the other and if you use just one, it's best to do the drop hanger bracket rather than just shackle.

Right?
It's worth noting on my X codes I took off an F550 the shackles were a solid inch longer that the stock ones attached to my stock front springs.

 

Yes, personally it's what I recommend and prefer myself

Not so much on this. If you're going to use just one, I would do the back instead of the front for the ride quality reason in my previous response. That and I don't think you can get just front hangars by themselves.

Interesting, did you notice if the front mounts were any larger than the stock X ones? Might be useful for people looking to gain a little bit of lift if they could swap the entire front spring mount setup from a 550!

 

I did not notice. I looked at the truck in the yard they were pulled from before I bought them and noticed nothing unusual.....maybe it's still there and I could measure it.