There's tons of threads on this topic, but I'm having trouble finding "simple" advice for my needs. I have a 2000 Ex 4wd with plenty of miles and the V10. As far as I know (just bought the Ex this year), everything is currently stock, old, and probably well worn. My leaf spring suspension doesn't ride great and can even get a little squirrely going over bumps at highway speeds, but this is partly due to needing a new track bar (bushings are worn).

I'm planning to get a pretty heavy camper trailer (about 9k pounds loaded with around 1300 pound tongue weight) and mostly care about highway comfort, towing ability, reliability, and affordability. My 65 year old mother will be borrowing my Ex and pulling the camper without me sometimes so it's important that she's comfortable and safe...I don't trust the current setup for her. That said, I'm not looking to spend a fortune on a 21 year old vehicle with almost 200k miles either. The only "off-roading" I would do is steep, gravel driveways and I don't really care about the appearance, so I'm not looking to lift the Ex unless it adds a benefit mentioned above.

I've read that the leaf springs don't attribute to ride comfort, so I'm thinking about just throwing some KYB Monomax shocks on there and call it a day. Should I also replace the rear (or even front) leaf springs because of the towing and cargo (probably 1500 pounds of people, fuel, and gear)? I don't really want to spend the extra money unless I "should". If I was willing to spend more, would it be worth it to ditch the leaf springs for a coil over or even air bag conversion? With this, a lot of folks have mentioned needing to tune the suspension as your needs (IE towing) change, but this is not something my Mom would be able to do.

Lastly, anything else I should be considering? (suspension or otherwise)

Thanks in advance for your help and advice. Not only are you all knowledgeable, but I love how much you enjoy helping others.

 

Lets start with the simple advice:

take your excursion to an alignment shop and ask them to inspect the suspension and steering and replace all worn components.

once all the worn parts have been replaced with either Spicer or Motorcraft parts have the shop set your alignment to these exact specs:

caster +5*
Caster split up to 1*
camber 0*
Toe In +.03*


1300 lbs tongue weight will sag the rear about 1.5” which will set the static ride height about 1/2” *** low from level.

ride quality, KYB Monomax are a great choice if you have stock size tires.

”tuneable” suspension would be installing air bags in the rear. If you also install an on board compressor, gages and switch kit then adjusting the suspension and rear ride height to the payload is as simple as pushing a button, something any mom can do.

other considerations, Tires and correct tire pressures are critical.

 

Hi camo,

Will these be the alignment specs, and the appropriate shocks for my stock 2004 5.4L 4WD Excursion; stock with the exception of 295-75-16 tires?

...and, what does it mean to split the caster up to 1*


Thanks


.

 

it is the alignment that i have found works well on the Excursion. So yes that is what I would run.

caster split is running more caster on the right side to compensate for the crown in roads, most shops will have a local setting based on the roads in your area. If after they set it you have a significant pull to one side its fair to say they missed the mark and will need to readjust. On my Ex I run 1/2*

your 295s weight about 20% more than the stock tires so the KYB monomax may feel a bit softer or wallow a bit. I would probably run a Bilstein 5100 with those 295s

 

I put Roadmaster rear suspension on. It acts an active component to the suspension versus leaf springs alone being passive (I think) They are very simple to put on. They also act as an anti sway bar. I travel some windy roads and it improves cornering quite a bit. It also helps with axle hop and spring wrap-you hit a pot hole and find yourself in another lane. Bear in mind, I know NOTHING about towing per se other than just the rudimentary factors. Anyway, just something to look at as an idea. Whatever Pirate says do, do. He knows his stuff

 

I hear those Roadmasters are so good they even wash and wax your truck for you

but seriously the reason nobody knows what they are is because the hucksters who made the infomercial use a bunch of made up names and descriptions to WOW the audience, its all a bunch of nonsense.

At the end of the day what they are is a fancy add a leaf made in the form of a coil spring. What it does is increases spring rate. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

Also I would call Junior at ATS springs and ask what he recommends for what you are trying to achieve. He’s very insightful on what people want out of their Excursions

 

They have reduced sway quite a bit which helps it corner flatter. I’m don’t tow. It still sits on bouncy Futura tires on stock rims with some cheap *** yellow shocks. 18 inch SVTs and Michelins on the wish list.This X doesn’t have a rear anti-sway bar so a Hellwig is on my list. Is a front anti-sway bar the same as a track bar or is it a different beast? That’s one of those simple questions you can google til kingdom come and not get an answer

 

The front track bar ties the front axle to the frame to keep it from moving too far side to side, it mounts one end to the frame and the other to the axle housing. The front sway bar (anti-roll bar) helps to control body roll via leverage, it is attached at both ends to the frame via end links and at 2 places in the middle it is attached to the front axle housing. Two very different animals doing different work in the same neighborhood.

 

The fact that anti-roll bars reduce body roll is ancillary to the real purpose of them being to tune under/oversteer.

if you are adding a rear bar or other gadget to “fix” excessive body roll you have other issues that should be addressed

Putting a band aid like a rear bar on may help your body roll problem but it is going to diminish ride comfort , much better off fixing the problem rather than trying to band aid it.

 

your tires are no more and no less bouncy than any other same size tire at the same psi.

if your vehicle is bouncy than your shocks are not sufficiently doing their job.

 

The sidewalls on these tires are crap. You can feel the rear sliding on the tires going through roundabouts. I upped the air pressure to 65 psi in the rear and 50 in the front. Rear was set at 42.and it is considerably better. It felt like the difference between old bias ply tires and steel belted radials. I’ve run Michelins on every X I’ve had and they are vastly superior to these things the dealer put on before I got it. Granted the shocks-even though new-are not the greatest but they aren’t the worst. It doesn’t bounce forward and back. You can get out and shove the X sideways and see these tires flex more than any I’ve seen before. They all do this some but like everything, it’s a matter of degrees. Still fight the steering some. It actually tracks pretty well but hard to do that on reservation roads in MT. I do have shims but have not installed them yet plus I still have to find a good alignment shop. The front sway bar was an idea I found that was suggested to help reduce the wander some by which I mean the tendency to want to go off track on these roads. If it is a flat or new road, I can take my hand of the wheel and it just goes straight as an arrow and you can one hand steer on good roads so in my mind the actual tracking tendencies related to the X’s alignment are pretty good-not perfect. It’s just these roads will pull you off track easily and due to the slop in the steering, you make little corrections-not much happens and then you hit a point-and a lot happens. The steering wheel itself is exceedingly easy to move in the center range but then tightens past a certain point. It’s like you can get in a cycle of overcorrecting one way and then overcorrecting the other way-if that makes sense.On one X I had the steering box replaced and it was not much better albeit it was a new OEM box. Maybe it’s just the nature of recirculating ball steering. Obviously no one has found the secret to make the steering responsive to the same degree throughout it’s range…or at least I have not heard one.