You say you are not interested in Landyot's Radius Rods but they are exactly what you need.

I installed new Billstein Shocks and the Hellwig Rear Sway bar (and upgraded my front sway bar) on my 2002 Excursion and it got better but did not fix the wandering.

I installed the Landyot Radius Rods and the fixed the problem.

Don't ignore the solution in your search for the answer or you will never get there.

 

That's an excellent point, and the more I'm reading about them the more them, the more I'm reconsidering them...

Thanks for your response!

Matty

 

Barry,

Thanks, another great point. I really like the look of the wheels/tires I have now and would hate to loose it...

Matty

 

Ugghhh...

Just the way I wanted to spend the holiday weekend!

I'm doing the V/B spring swap for starters, because at least for me, after all the research, responses to my questions here and looking at other posts, that's the fundamental problem with the X suspension. Around an inch of front end travel in a 9K+ GVWR vehicle before it hits the stop?! That's ridiculous, period. Ken/Landyot got right back to me about his Gen IV radius rods (weld-on) which was great, and it looks like it will be a few months before they're ready. That will give me plenty of time to see how the tire and spring swap shakes out for me.

Since I'm changing the tires (from the 305/50/20s) to the E-load rated Nitto Terra Grapplers in 275/65/20, I'm not quite sure how things are going to shake out as far as fitting is concerned, although with the additional lift with the spring swap (V/B codes) I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be OK.

I'm concerned about how the tire swapped is going to effect gas mileage, etc. with the effective change in the axle ratio. Since the original tires were 265/75/16 the diameter difference between those tires and the new Nittos is around 2.5 inches. With my 31 code axle ratio (3.73 non-LS) that gives me a new effective ratio of 3.47:1. Hope that doesn't cause a whole new host of issues...?

Any more thoughts, comments, etc.? Thanks!

Matty

 

Mileage should go up just a tad with the taller tires. You will be turning a few less RPM.

 

That's what I was thinking (and hoping) too. My lie-o-meter is pegged right around 13+ which is almost exclusively around town mileage. Unloaded, all-highway it will push close to 18 and loaded down with the trailer (again, all highway) it runs right around 11/12. I definitely wouldn't mind a little extra MPG, and I didn't think that the PSD are as ratio-sensitive as the gassers...

Matty

 

have looked to see what size the bars are on your hitch setup and how many links do you have hanging when you tow do you know what you estimated hitch weight might be if you have 1250 bars and are running 850 weight then yes you should not have issues. but the majority of the bars i have seen today's time is 1200 lbs and thats nothing for a loaded tbox and then the springs make a huge difference

 

I have a new truck!

Mind you I only put a little over 100 miles on it, but I mixed it up with highway and gnarly local crappy roads and so far, I couldn't be happier.

The V/B code springs went it with new Bilsteins in the front, and the air-bags came out. New tires are on, Nitto Terra Grapplers (275/65/20) and I currently have them aired up to 60 front/65 rear. I need to do the "chalk test" but figured it be a good place to start. Unfortunately one of the Hellwig sway bar links froze up and broke and they were kind of nice to send me replacements but for now I just left it in place...

My front measurement is now 40 1/2 inches (up an inch and a half) and the rear is 42 even (up 2 inches). The rake is extremely subtle and perfect in my opinion...

It drives completely different. The ride is now firm and a vastly tremendous improvement over the previous set-up, which would lead me to believe that it will be that much better when towing. 80 MPH was a nice and smooth one handed drive. Bump steer and wandering have been dramatically reduced, if not completely eliminated. One the swaybar link gets replaced I'm sure it will improve that much more.

Of course the big test will be with the trailer and my trip coming up in a couple of weeks, but it's looking real good right now...

Thanks for the posts and the help, I'll check back in when I have some more (trailer) mileage under my belt.

Matty

 

Glad to hear your getting it dialed in.

 

Thanks...and I did forget to mention as you previously brought up, the mileage went up because I'm turning less RPMs @ the same speed...

Matty

 

Ronin, please keep us updated after your trip, I am going to do the same mods, v/b spring swap and a helwig. After all the reading I came to the same conclusion as you did, I also think a big thanks should go out to Stewart and Joe, It was there many, many nights of research that has saved alot of people a big headache. If I left anyone out, my appologies, I know there were a couple more that did alot of research.

Brian

 

Ronin,

Glad you got her licked...I had some surgery and was in the hospital until New Year's eve...so I kinda missed your thread...

You got some great advice.

I know the Landyots resolve one specific issue...but I LIKE the solution you went with (Hellwig and V/B springs). Of course I'm convinced thru my testing that the Hellwig and RAS are another option.

I'm not 'anti-Landyot'...I just feel that for folks like us that TOW something with our Ex's NEED spring capacity...that's all.

Again I'm glad you dialed her in the right way (IMO) and now you too can experience what I and others have found out with SPRINGS/HELLWIG alone what a DIFFERENT beast the Ex becomes...kinda like Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde...and now you know what I mean by that.

Let us know how she handles when you hitch up...but I've got a suspicion that all will be just fine!

Good luck and sorry I was absent from helping in this thread...but looks like you were in GREAT hands!

And THANKS for the nod below...Sorry I missed it when you sent it!

 

Brian,

THANKS for the VERY kind words.

joe.

 

X_Hemi_Guy,

Your posts and those of other X owners who tow convinced me that the springs were in fact the foundation of the handling problems the X has, particularly when loaded. For me it was compounded by the fact that I had XL (WTF does that mean?!) rated tires that maxed out @ 50 PSI and needed the proper load rated tires for the job, which I addressed with the Nittos...

Again, and it's no offense to the Landyot's radius rods (which I'm still considering and are very much dependent upon my upcoming tow experience) but I didn't want a band-aid. Now I'm @ a point where I should start; (save my broken sway bar link, but that will be fixed here shortly...) and any changes or adjustments from here can be made in good conscience that I'm starting off right. The overwhelming success that some many members here (and elsewhere) have had with the spring swap just couldn't be discounted, at least by me...

And before anyone says it, I'm well aware of the likewise success of Landyot's extremely satisfied customers, which is why I'm still considering them!

Matty

 

The springs in the Excursion are deliberately softer to give a better ride. They also screw up the geometry of the rear suspension with the spacer block between the rear axle and the springs, which exacerbates the tendency for any leaf spring/live axle suspension to try to wrap on acceleration and braking.

If you look at the well set up lifted trucks and offroad race trucks, you will see they use ladder bars because of the axle wrap problem which is even more exacerbated by lifting the truck.

Stiffer springs is not a bad idea to increase the load capacity of the Excursion. Just realize that while it helps in cannot completely stop axle wrap. Radius rods or ladder bars are what will eliminate the axle wrap.