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Can anyone tell me what they have done to increase front supension travel alittle bet more. I notice the bump stop clearance is only about 1/2 a inch. I was told to drill holes in the stop? is this ok to do
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What is the rationale for this modification? The Excursion bottoms out due to the lack of spring travel. Check out this site. www.timbren.com
Be very care full when modifying suspension travel on large 4x4 trucks. These big trucks still use steering gear boxes and very long inner and outer tie rods and link arms. The steering system is designed to function robustly in a certain suspension travel range and changing that range could effect steering geometry at full jounce or rebound.
Also the leaf spring front suspension does not have the travel ability as coil springs do.
My gues would be to "soften" the bump stop and make it into a spring. Thanks for the www.timren.com tip I may try a set of these at least in front. I never thought a 3/4 ton truck would bottom out out on the express-way but it does.
My 2000 Excursion 4x4 has 46K miles on it and I don't notice the front suspension bottoming out on the bump stops. I don't take it off road or pull trailers and I drive it like a big slow U-Hall truck so that might have something to do with it. At first glance of the bow in the front leaf springs it seems like they are over loaded because there is only about 3 inches between the top leaf and the bump stop (or jounce bumper). But I have inspected several new 4x4 Excursions and 4x4 Super Duty F-250/F-350's and they all have the similar bow in the front leaf springs.
All I can suggest is checking the condition of your shock absorbers. The shock absorber will slow down rapid suspension travel by absorbing the downward force to help minimize the impact on the bounce stop. I would not suggest modifying the bump stop because this represents the point of no return when related to suspension travel. The front leaf springs may not seem it but they are very stiff and designed to function with in a predetermined travel distance. If the bump stops were removed or re-designed to allow more suspension travel it might be possible to over extend the springs under full jounce (downward travel). Once a leaf spring is sprung it will not return to it's design position and must be replaced or re-arched. As you know coil springs don't have this problem because they will go into a coil bind condition under full jounce but at this point something else in the suspension will break next.