I am first time visitor. I would appreciate any advice I can get regarding my desire to soften the ride of my 2002, V10 Ultimate Limited Excursion. The ride is just fine with my boat and trailer attached to the hitch. Fortunately I do not drive around with my boat. Unfortunately, my truck feels like a Fred Flintstone mobile when its empty. I was wondering if I can have it both ways, soft ride with and without a heavy load? Any good advice out there?

 

Hey DTB and Welcome to FTE!

Just so you know, you'll get better anwsers if you ask this in the Excursion forum. This forum is just for general non-tech talk. Feel free to join in conversations as there's much you can learn on this great site.

 

Roger that Matt. I appreciate the guidance. I just found and posted a message on the Excursion site.

 

Soften the ride, huh...

Well for starters you can adjust the tire pressure to the minimum required to safely carry the truck and normal passengers. This will require you weighing the truck & getting EACH axle weight, not just the total weight. Do so and I'll post how to get that figure.

The X has been softened up quite a bit (from it's SD brethren)...almost to the point of it being a wallowing beast. I believe that the soft suspension is the root cause of the problem. It is not a hard ride you experience but that of suspension that lacks travel (front). And the travel that it does have is not controlled (dampened) very well (front and rear).

You would do well by an addition of a Hellwig rear anti-sway bar. This will immediatly change your perception of the ride.

Upgrading your shocks will help control the ride better. Bilsteins are notoriously "stiifer" than most. Rancho RS9000s and others can give you adjustability on the fly, if you wish. Edlebrocks IAS seem to be a good, high quality, popular choice.

You did not state if you had a 2wd or 4wd.

You will have to understand that you are driving a solid axle truck. They are not known for their ride quality but more their ability to handle large loads and articulate on rough terrain. Hence, it is the only fullsize SUV (actually any SUV) on the market with a solid axle and with it's demise apparent, it will be the last.

Oh and one more thing...welcome to FTE!!

 

Thanks guys.

I am running the tire pressure at the low end of the scale. The lack of dampening seem to be right. There is almost no travel in the front end before the jarring happens. I will check on the sway bars and shocks. I love the 2wheel drive, V10 beast and I want to adjust the minor problems. This truck makes extremely easy work out of trailering a +5000lb boat at highway speeds.

I have one more question....can I remove the speed limiting device? This thing kills the gas flow at 96 mph. There are some roads in this country where you can go as fast as you like, except when your car has a governor. I can hardly wait for the responses I will get to this question.

David

 

David,

you'll need to chip your truck in orde to remove the speed limiter. Best place to find what works best for YOU is down in the chip forum.

What tire pressure(s) are you running?

 

Ken,

I will check on the chip forum. I figured this limiter was in the electronics. This is all new to me. I have bought new vehicles for more than twenty years and have never modified one of them. My previous F150s kept going until I maxed the rpms. Thanks for the suggestion.

I am running 45lb in the front and 55lb in the rear. That has helped the ride alot.

David

 

I definitely side with the opinion that the front springs are WAY too soft. I upgraded mine to "U" codes from a SD truck and my ride improved since I wasn't hitting the bumpstops. What I did that helped this before I swapped out the springs was to use a Timbren load booster on the front. It is a high density rumber spring to help increase the spring rate AND it replaced the stock rubber bumpstop. This improved my ride quality quite a bit.

I too have done shocks all around as well as a rear sway bar. My Ex is much more nimble than it ever was and it rides much better to boot. It feels like the truck lost about 2,000lbs! You would be amazed at what a few simple mods can do to the truck. Ford set up the suspension so that it would feel "plush" on the highway (where most people might test drive it) so it wouldn't get its but kicked by a Suburban or Yukon XL. Even though I bought the Ex, the GMC products easily out handle and out ride a stock Ex. I am sad to say. I have had a lot of Suburbans before buying the Ex.

 

Please remember that the Excursion is a truck. You can make it ride better but it will always ride like a truck. (super duty platform).
If that bothers you; you're basically just out of luck. I don't know any other way to put it.
I think Ford decided to cancel the exc instead of completely redesigning the suspension to ride nice and smooth over a variety of road conditions.

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 01-Nov-02 AT 03:31 PM (EST)]wav
I've been running Timbrens for about 40K miles now the truck has 50K and ride over rough roads has worsened. Also have had Edelbrock IAS on since 7k miles. The Timbrens do help, but I think the stock springs are worn out. I get alot or creaking and groaning from them. How much did the U-codes raise the front end? Would depend on if you have a V10 or PSD. I have a V10. Are you still running the Timbrens with them or did you switch back to the stock bump stops for increased travel. Do the U-codes help with handling like the Timbrens do? Am about ready to order springs, let me know how much the upgrade cost you. Thanks