looking at upgrading the x with some v codes up front and thinking some f's on the rear(the specs from another post are b's--320/670,f's--334/776)

anyone tell me how the unloaded ride is in either of these spring combo's is dont want a lumber wagon(maybe i should stick with the b's??)

also should i change my factory sway bar out if so anyone have the 30mm part#
thanks in advance
pete

 

come on guys, no one with the long term test results?????

maybe you put in the b's and wish for a little more or you put in the f's and wish you had went with the b's all i can find are first inpressions by searching.and sometimes they are skewed by newness!!!!
mostly i travel loaded with 300lbs of weight in the truck but dont want a really rough ride,truck like is fine but spine tingeling is not
pete

 

After seeing the pictures of the F's and the way they lay on the support leaf in the front, I'm glad I got the B codes. I won't be changing them. It looks to me that the f's have a little more arch, but are just too soft, IMO.

 

Which code would give you more height and weight capacity?

 

i've searched all over where did you see the pics(housedad)i thought the f codes were stiffer after reading some more maybe i want the u's up front and the b's in the rear.

like i said i mostly use this rig for towing and family traveling so dont want the wife complaining abouit the ride.

pete

 

It one of the pictures of Benjoman's F code springs

Here is the link:

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/558111238bzRiOW

I have been thinking about it, and maybe I should post a pic of my setup with the modified B's. I guess I'll go out theis afternoon and take the shots.

 

i have no problem modding the b's(by adding spring from my stock pack) if you dont mind i have a few questions

1--why cut off the anti wrap spring when you add it back in??(if nothing else space the jounce block up if necessary--or are you running radius rods??)

2--the numbers i have show the f's to be stiffer than the b's both in rate and pounds per inch yet you say they are softer do you have some different info??

3--don't you think that spring design may be inplementing some anti wrap into the spring from the get go??it would seem to me by having the front stiff spring touch the pac it wouldent allow the axle to wrap.

4--do you have any pics of your modded pac as i'd be interisted in how it looks.
thanks
pete

 

1- There is no reason to leave the rest of the leaf in place. I was using it as a spacer block only. It just adds useless weight. Yes, I am using radius rods now.

2. Only going by what pictures I have seen of the F code and B code installs.

3. As the load increases on the B or F code springs, their design allows them to resist spring wrap more and more. If the front or rear of the 4 leaf spring pack lays fully on the thick bed leaf, that is the limit of the load capability for that part of the spring. The pictures of the F code show the front of the spring at maximum load with a empty Excursion. Yes, it will increase the anti wrap properties, but there is not a lot of wiggle room left for cargo before the entire spring lays down front and rear. I wonder what it looks like with a 800 to 900 lb WD tongue weight on it. I do not know. The entire spring action of the vehicle is being done by the rear of the spring, and not the whole spring.

4. The link below has pictures of my springs, as you requested. My landyots are off for now while I test their effectiveness with my spring setup for towing. The truck has 300 lbs of fertilizer and grass seed in the rear and a full tank of gas.

http://community.webshots.com/album/558151806gThoCI

 

i think now i too agree that the b's look like the way to go.i see from other posts some think the v's are a little too stiff for the x v10 so i may go with the u's

thanks housedad for the pics they truely are worth a 1000 words
pete

 

Yes. If I was going to do it all over again, I would have bought the U code fronts for my V-10.

Have fun and enjoy the new ride!!!

 

Housedad, why would you have chosen the U codes instead of the v's? I'm actually gathering opinions on this very situation because I am trying to to decide on U's or V's myself.

 

i just looked at my neighbors truck a 03 psd and it came with u's in front and a's with helpers in back and that psd is quite a bit more weight up front than a v10.this sealed the deal for me i'm going to the u's with the b's in back as i wouldent want any stiffer ride than that.i'll hopefully be getting them in next weekend
pete

 

I bought the V codes over a year before I finally installed them. At the time, most folks were still experimenting with the different springs, and there was not all that much info. So I got the V's.

The ride is a bit stiff, but not harsh (now that the Bilsteins have worn in). However, It could use some more give up front.

To put it into perspective, let me try this:

Basic info:
Excursion OEM V10 spring capacity---4300 lb
Excursion OEM PSD spring capacity---4700 lb

Superduty spring capacity:
T---4400 lb
U---4800 lb
V---5200 lb

Ford, when they give a Heavy Duty Spring upgrade, merely installs spring with the next higher load rating.

So, to match a set of Super Duty springs as close as you can to the OEM Excursion springs, and showing a 'Heavy duty spring package' spring, which would be the next size up, look at the following:

Engine----OEM--------SD---------SD Heavy-----difference from OEM
---------------------match-------duty match
V-10------4300-----4400(T)-------4800(U)--------500 lb
PSD-------4700-----4800(U)-------5200(V)--------400 lb

Here you can see that the U's are heavy duty springs for the V-10, and V's are the heavy duty springs for the PSD.

While the SD springs have spring RATES that are 10 to 30 lbs heavier than the Excursions, I think the ride will still be comparable.

From searching, I have only found one thread where a person put T codes on a V-10 Ex, and he did not give any feedback after the job was done. They might give the height shown in the chart from Bruce1954, (1.42") but I have not found anything else about it. They most probably would have given near OEM ride quality, Just as the U codes will give near OEM Ride quality, minus the bottoming out, to a PSD and has been reported as such several times.

So, for the V10, for me to have a heavy duty front suspension, all I really needed was the U codes, and I could have had a slightly better ride.

I will not change what I have now, as the money is spent and the non towing ride is fine with the bilsteins and stock tire air pressure. When towing, It smooths out like a dream. It feels almost like my old Expedition with the air springs.

Having the V's does have one benefit, that if I ever want to hang a monster bumper on like CHMustang, I don't have to worry about the weight sagging the springs. I also have VERY little body roll in the front.
It also means very little (like next to nothing) front sag when a heavy weight distributing hitch and trailer is installed.

 

Great information Housedad! I will have to consider this more. I do tow a 9000# TT about 2000 miles per year which has a loaded tongue weight of 1050# and use a dual cam WD hitch and I may add a snow plow to my X at some point either this fall or next fall so perhaps the V's would be a better choice for me. What confused me however is something I've seen in the front spring chart that has been posted several times in the past. It mentions "travel to max cap", can you describe what this is referring to? For my stock C code spring this figure is 5.01, for the U code it's 4.89 and for the V code it's 5.13 What is confusing to me here is that this number, whatever it represents is less with the U code than the stock C code but higher for the V code. Please help me understand this. Does this mean the U code springs actually have less travel than the stock C codes?

 

Sorry it took a while to get back to you. There has been a death in the family, my wifes mother. Things are a little nuts around here.


The chart you mentioned was made by Bruce1954 from another Website/forum. The travel distances he shows there are from the way he calculated the travel. I do not agree with his math, as it does not really show a meaningful relationship on that number.

The travel to max capacity is how far a unloaded eliptical spring can bend under load until it reaches maximum published load. (design load)

Basically, what he did was to determine very closely that the front unsprung weight (axle, brakes, tires, wheels, etc) is abaout 790lbs, and subtract that from the spring rating, which is 4300 lbs per pair for the v10 with OEM springs, or with a spring rate of 700 lbs per inch per pair.

4300 -790 = 3510 lbs

3510 lbs divided by 2 gives 1755 lbs per wheel

Now, divide the 1755 lbs by the spring rate of 350 lbs per inch

1755 lbs / 350lbs per inch = 5.01 inches.

Using this method of calculation, the superduty springs do indeed seem to have less travel.

But let's look at it a different way:

V-10

Each spring has a 4300 / 2 = 2150 lb rating.
2150 lbs / 350 lbs per inch = 6.14 inches, or the total travel of the spring.

The published front axle curb weight of a V-10 Ex is 3252 lbs. NOW subtract out the unsprung weight of the axle and you have:

3252 - 790 lbs = 2462 lbs. Divide by two and you get 1626 lbs per spring sitting on it.

Divid 1626 by the spring rate of 350 lbs, , and you get

1626 lbs / 350 lbs per inch = 4.65 inches of compression from the curb weight.

Now subtract the curb weight compression from the total travel:

6.14 inches - 4.56 inches = 1.58 inches of travel left until max capacity is reached on the V-10.

PSD

To do the same math with the psd and standard 4700 lb springs, We would have a front axle curb weight of 4012lbs, spring rate of 380lbs per spring. This gives us a maximum spring travel of = 6.18 inches, and
((4012-790)/2)/380 = 4.24 inches. 6.18 - 4.24 = 1.94 inches of travel.

These figures are for brand new trucks with springs that have not had any time to sag from fatigue.

No wonder the OEM springs suck, since they give less than 2 inches of travel when new.

So, what are the figures with a set of U codes and V- codes for your v-10?
I'll skip the math (you can relax now) and here are the figures:

--------------------------------------spring rate
Front axle curb weight----3252 (V-10)
U code max load---------4800----------410
Vcode max load----------5200----------430


Spring-------max-------compressed-----spring travel----height gain
------------travel---------travel-------------left--------over stock

U code------5.85----------3.00-------------2.85----------1.27
V code------6.05----------2.86-------------3.18----------1.60


(Height gain over stock is done by subtracting the stock spring travel left of 1.58 inches from the V code spring travel left of 2.86 inches giving us 1.60 inches height gain.)

Enjoy!

Bion