Sent you a pm asking some questions about the ATS springs you are about to install.

 

Amazon appears to have the Hellwig sway bars ready to ship for $237, if you're in a hurry.

 

I ordered the Hellwig at the same time as shocks, air bags and compressor, everything was delivered except for the Hellwig but I knew that. They told me when I ordered it, it would take 2 weeks to get.

 

Well the truck is done. I've only put 350 miles on it so far, I want to put at least 500 on it before I tow the camper.

 

Front left before 23 1/2
Front left after 25 1/2
Front right before 23 1/2
Front right after 25 1/2
Rear left before 24
Rear left after 26 3/8
Rear right before 23 5/8
Rear right after 26 3/8

 

All my parts are here, air bags, sway bar, now I just need time to put them on.
Still playing with air pressures to find the perfect ride for me. But it feels so much better than the wallowing marshmallow it used to be. A firm ride but very controlled, I'm sure the springs will settle a little bit.

 

Finally got all my parts on. This holiday weekend we went on our camping trip, Knoebels in Elysburg Pa. We've been camping there for 29 years, every. Memorial day weekend. I'll start off and say I am not used to this short wheelbase truck. I've been driving crew cab long beds for the last 15 years, this Excursion is short. This is going to take some getting used to. So with all the work I've done to this thing, I have some closeness in the steering. I had a long conversation with the guy who owned the shop where my springs and gears were done, about the alignment. He really didn't agree with me about the 5 degrees positive caster and I'm not really sure if he set it at 5 degrees because he didn't give me a printed readout. So I'm going to take it somewhere else to at least get a readout of where it's set at now. I have a lot of steering wheel play. I can turn the wheel left or right 2 inches and nothing will happen, the truck stays straight. So short truck, loose steering was an interesting drive. My biggest worry was power, now Pennsylvania is hilly, rarely a flat road, this truck was in third more than 4th. I had a 2000 F350 v10 with 3:73 that would easily out pull my Ex with 4:30's. I am 5 star tuned and was running the 91 tow tune with 92 gas. The first thing I'm going to do is change all the plugs and COP's. Maybe the Cat is partially clogged. Something isn't right. Maybe I'll sell it and go get a 2008-2010 F350 v10, I should have never sold that truck. Maybe I'll look for a 6.0 Excursion. That's just frustration talking, I have too much time and money invested to sell it, although two different guys who saw it in the campground did want to buy it.

 

So I got an alignment today, well a readout at least since the shop that did the springs didn't give me a readout, I got my own. As you can see the caster is right where we want it to be, I'm not sure if that caster difference between the two front wheels is a concern. However there is the toe that's out of spec, so I will need to address that.
Since the alignment is decent, I went ahead and tightened the steering box 1/4 turn test drive then another 1/4 turn, what a difference, so much better. I will drive a few more times and probably tighten it another 1/8th.

 

I have both the Tow and Performance tunes from 5Star in both 87 and 89 Octane flavors. I don't like how quick the Tow tunes are to drop out of OD on a climb, the Perf tunes will hold onto OD much longer without a downshift, which I much prefer. With the deeper gears and higher revs there is still plenty of torque to keep up highway speed in OD on most hills. We just towed from Watkins Glen NY down to Lancaster PA a couple of days ago and some of those steep and long hills in Northern PA had me dropping out of OD but we were able to run 60+ MPH up every one of them without having to use more than 65% throttle opening. Our TT weighs 11,000lbs and the EX just had my Bride and I onboard but it was loaded up with a bunch of gear and a pair of kayaks on the roof.

 

Hmmm, that's an interesting tidbit of information there, I think I need to call 5Star on Monday.
Now i need to start on my next project, custom floor console. Not sure if I want to make it all in cherry or walnut or just build it with MDF or plywood and cover it with leather. I'm leaning towards cherry or whatever matches the factory fake wood. Then there's the question to remove the arm rests or not. If I remove the armrest I can make the console taller and just lean on that. I'm going to add 2 12volt ports and a USB port or two and some built in cup holders as well as a trash can of some sort. I need a spot for the CB and a spot for the air bag controls and 4 or maybe 5 switches.

 

Well it's been a very long summer. My father in law was in the hospital for 51 days, not all at once but 20 here 15 days there, that sort of thing. So I was taking care of my house his house and his cabin so I haven't had much time to chat. Anyway he's got a clean bill of health, which is very good.
So in the time that I could work on the Ex, I found that the steering box was bad and so we're the ball joints, which were supposed to have been fixed by the dealer I bought it from. Anyway its fixed now and drives very nicely down the road. I also replaced all my plugs and COP's and that fixed my lack of power issue. Didn't get to go camping much but we had a chance to go last weekend, even though it was cold, it was nice to get away. This weekend I will winterize it. I also look forward to the RV show in Oaks in March. We will be looking for a V nose trailer with the bathroom in front. Since the kids are gone we don't need the hunks anymore. I hope everyone is well and I look forward to catching up.