Hello all,

I got my tax return and am working on the Excursion. 2000 v10 4wd. I want it to handle better with less body roll. I have been running used tires, some not e rated, one a P tire... shocks are shot. Money is tight, so I am going with a new set of Cooper Adventurer A/T tires, the pep boys version of the Discoverer A/T3. Shocks are going to be Skyjacker Hydro 7000s. I want to do a spring swap, but can't find what I need used and can't afford new, so I am thinking about Add a leafs. Cost for add a leafs all around all 4 corners is about $170. Couple questions-

1- add a leafs. Anyone do it? I know the V/X and B code swap is the accepted norm, but without the ability to do as such, is an add a leaf really too far off of the spring swap for handling and load capacity?

2- will the U bolts need to be replaced, or will the standard ones still fit? I know ideally you should replace U bolts when you loosen them, but I doubt they will fail horribly if I don't.

this is a street truck, some minor off road because I live in the desert and not all roads are paved. I tow and will be towing heavy, 10-11k, later this year on a move East.

Thanks!

 

Oh, one more note- the springs that are on the truck now aren't sagging. It was a soccer mom oversized van before I got it and has 135k on the clock.

edit- oh, and I'm in SoCal, so no rust on a anything.
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Save your money and keep looking for V codes (front)
You can always use RAS in the rear to give you about an inch lift and tighten the rear up a bit. Can always reuse the RAS if you do future rear springs.

Bolts should be replaced since they are yield to torque

 

The RAS looks interesting but dramatically over priced at $400. For less than that I can do the B mods, new.

I know folks are happy with the Super duty spring swap, but has anyone here done the add a leaf? I a curious if it's really that inferior to the new springs.

 

I got a deal on an open box from Amazon for Explorer Pro Comp 13128 2.5" Lift Add-A-Leaf springs, and did get 2.5" of lift. I did it to keep the rear of the EX from dropping too far when I hook up to my trailer. Per the instructions, I was able to reuse my stock U bolts.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post17702698

 

Add a leafs are a poor choice if you are wanting to improve the handeling.

The Excursion suspension is lacking wheel travel from the factory not payload captivity. By adding add a leafs you are increasing the spring rate which increases the load carrying capacity but not increasing the springs travel.

So now you would have a short stiff spring that will handle worse and be stiff, to make matters worse the shocks you picked are valves to light for your now stiff springs making the handeling even worse. All in all that is a poor setup.

The f250 spring swap achieves better handeling because you modify them to be the stock spring rate but have more suspension travel.

You would be better off just leaving the springs stock but putting on a set of quality shocks like a bilstein or the KYB mono max. ( not the skyjacker )

 

Reusing u-bolts doesn't result in a catastrophic failure right away, it results in the u-bolts constantly working loose and the axle clunking and or shifting position. Very annoying because you have to constantly resign ten them. Left loose the next thing to fail is the spring center pin and a broken leaf. Ignore it long enough and indeed you will have a catastophy on your hands,

 

1. RAS is just a fancy add a leaf in the form of a coil spring

2. Yes

3. Yes

 

No, it was not to improve handling. With my trailer attached the rear of the EX dropped over 2" causing trailer frame to hit the driveway. The add-a-leaf resolved the problem by bringing the rear of the EX back to normal height with proper suspension travel with the trailer attached. Yes, I do have a WD hitch, the problem is the raised driveway and the dip before the street. I got the EX to pull the trailer while traveling the country. Aint retirement grand!

Edit: you can see in the photo, it's a low riding trailer.

 

I was replying to the original poster of this thread.

 

Thanks for the insight, ladies and gentlemen. I will look at some better shocks and keep an eye out for some F250/350 takeoff springs to swap in. I also need to replace the bump stops in the front, and may just do the same for the 4 in the rear- fronts are gone, rears are there but pretty well cracked up. Planning on going to Energy Universal Poly stops.

I just had an adventure at Pep Boys today- after much searching, I found their Cooper Adventurer A/T, which is their house version of the Discoverer A/T, at a very good price. So, I sat there for 2 and a half hours, even with an appointment, for my tires. They handed me my keys, first thing I did was look at my tires, fortunately. They were P rated!!! Wrong tires. The manager offered for me to come back another day, but it was an honest accident- I didn't want to drive on the tires and make them used so they couldn't sell them, and I didn't want to be driving around on all P tires. So anyway, they swapped out for the right LT E rated tires, gave me a card for a free oil change for the trouble and I was on my way.

Moral of the story- check and double check. Don't trust anyone to do anything right the first time. Heck, I know I don't every now and then. ;-)

​​​PS- if anyone needs new tires and has an interest in Cooper A/T, I was OTD for 4 installed at $666.94 plus a $70 mail in rebate for ordering online with installation, which ends on the 25th. Cheapest name brand A/T LT Es I could find with good reviews.

 

With the stock springs the axle actually hits the bumps fairly frequently and is an important part of the suspension as it is the last inch or so of travel. The poly bump stops are way to hard for this use. As long as you have the stock front springs I would replace the bumps with the factory style rubber bump.

Once you go to a longer spring like the f250 the bumps rarely get used and then you can go to a hard poly style.

 

Dorman make a factory style replacement

Available on Amazon or eBay

https://www.dormanproducts.com/p-77909-523-085.aspx

 

For a stock height Ex consider the KYB mono max
https://www.kyb.com/products/monomax/

Available from Amazon

 

Ok, I'll go for the factory style bump stops instead.

Will the KYB Monomax work with a mild lift, like what you get with the spring swap, or would I have to buy all new again when I do the swap? That was one of the things that drew me to the Skyjackers- they said they would work with 0-3" of lift, so I figured they would work stock as well as with the slight lift from the V/B swap.
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