How to Lift a 2007-2014 Ford Expedition or Navigator Rear Air Suspension

How to Lift a 2007-2014 Ford Expedition or Navigator Rear Air Suspension:

How to Lift a 2007-2014 Ford Expedition or Navigator Rear Air Suspension (might be the same too for newer models)

Simple to do. Cheap. Takes about 1 hour with simple tools.

Here is the link to the ongoing post I created earlier on how to lift the rear air suspension.

As there are several ways, this way is the quickest and cheapest. And of course if anyone has better suggestions, please feel free to suggest....

Currently its about a 3.5-4" lift front and rear (about 13" from top of wheel to fender).













Here is my lift with a 2007 Ford Expedition Limited.

I looked at many options but the easiest seemed like making another hole just above the OEM hole.

Steps I did: Before doing anything DISABLE the rear air shocks from inside the cab!!! (turn them off)

NOTE:

1. Before doing anything DISABLE the rear air shocks from inside the cab. Next, before Drilling I removed the rear air shock sensor from the lower mount.

2. To remove: simply take a small flat head screw driver and insert into small grove just below the metal band and barely pry up to disengage the metal band and pull off at the same time.

On the lower part of the lower connection you will see the groove to insert the small flat head screw driver to then gently lift up the band (do NOT remove band) just gently lift it up and at the same time pull the lower connection off the ball joint.









3. After popping off the lower mount I then used around a 18mm socket to remove the Ball Joint stud bolt. Use a deep socket to fit over the ball joint.

4. Once the ball joint stud bolt is removed I then used a small flat head screw driver and removed the bolt clip which is what the ball joint stud bolt screws into.

5. The rear air shock sensor is now just hanging there and can easily be moved around. I then tested my location to drill by simply taping the sensor lower mount about 1" above the OEM hole on both sides with Gorilla tape or use any type of tape. There is no pressure on this mount so it barely needs to be held in place to test. (make sure where you tape it that the OEM bolt clip can still be used by placing over the lower suspension arm (see below pic).

6. Once taped you can then go back inside the cab and TURN ON the rear air suspension.

NOTE: the rear air suspension ONLY works if the front doors are closed. If the doors are open it will turn off and not work.

So once you turn on the air suspension, get out of the cab and close the door. The air compressor will then turn on within 10 to 30 minutes and the rear will raise about 2-3 inches and stop once the top of the rear air suspension top leveling arm is level (it is black and about 3" long and it is what is holding up the rear air suspension bar when you disconnect it).

7. If you like the height then go back into the cab and TURN OFF the air suspension.

8. If you do not like the height, go back into the cab and TURN OFF the air suspension and re-adjust the rear taped rear sensor locations. Once readjusted go back to step 6. and test again.

9. Once happy where the rear height is at TURN OFF the rear suspension. DO NOT adjust rear sensors with the air suspension on! It can in fact deflate on you!

10. Once the rear suspension is turned off go back under the car to start drilling the new hole.

Drilling tips:
Notch the drill spot with a punch or whatever you can
Start with a small drill bit and slowly work up to a 5/16" drill bit. Use oil to cool the drill bits down.





11. The new hole eventually needs to be 5/16" large.








Here are some pics of the new hole I drilled above the OEM hole.

Drivers side sensor:



Passenger side sensor (the clip is simply moved out of the way and will later be used on the new hole.




Cont...
12. Next slide the bolt clip over the top of the suspension arm and over the new drilled hole.

13. Screw in the ball joint mount

14. Lube the ball joint mount with grease (I used white grease as you can see on the ball mount)





15. Attach the lower sensor mount back onto the ball joint. Use the small flat head screw driver to barely lift the metal band that holds the sensor onto the ball joint and while barely lifted, pop back on. Do it to both sides of course ;-)









16. Turn back on Air Suspension in the cab or you can leave it off.

17. My end result of lifting the front and rear was exactly 12" from the top of the chrome wheel to the bottom of the fender well both front and rear, so I was able to balance out the front and back exactly the same.

19. Pics when done at night:


12" from top of chrome wheel to bottom of fender well.






12" from top of chrome wheel to bottom of fender well.



Front and back 12" from top of chrome wheel to bottom of fender well.

End Result:

Here are some day photos:

I inserted a 2" level puck on the front which raised it quite a bit, about 3.5" lift because it changes the steepness of the suspension arms.
Here is a similar one on Amazon: It says 3.5" lift but the lift puck itself is only 1.75".
Amazon.com: Supreme Suspensions - Ford Expedition Lift Kit 3.5" Front Suspension Lift CNC Machined T6 Aircraft Billet Expedition Leveling Kit (Black) PRO: Automotive




Tires: 275-65-20 BFG All Terrain TA KO2 which are 34" tall.

Rear: raised about 3.5 inches to match the front

Front and rear are exactly 12" from top of chrome wheel to bottom of fender well.































I am sure there are many other creative ways to re-mount the lower air sensor arms. This way that I posted is only one way. At first I did not want to drill another hole but after examining the lower suspension arms I found them both quite strong and was not worried about drilling a small hole in each one.


However, for those that do not want to drill, here might be another way:
Another thought that I was originally going to was to use a different mount with the OEM hole so I did not have to drill another hole. I found this mount on Amazon and it works perfectly if you want to bolt it on somehow (just enlarge the holes). With this mount you would just have to make sure that the mount would not swivel on you if used so you will have to be creative on making sure it does not rotate with using two bolts.

Here is the link for that mount:
Amazon.com: JR Products BR-1020 10mm Flat Gas Spring Mounting Bracket: Automotive






Also........ For those that do not want to Drill or mount anything you can always simply remove the lower air suspension mounts and set the suspension higher and then simply turn off the Air Suspension and tie the hanging mounts out of the way or try to reattach if possible. But note, once the Air Suspension is turned back on and if the mounts are not attached the rear suspension will deflate all the way to the bump stops. So I don't exactly recommend it.


OFF ROADING:
NOTE: It might be best if off roading in harsh rocky conditions to find way way to shield these rear air suspension sensors as they can easily be damaged. One thought is to simply turn off the Air Suspension when off road and remove the sensor arm from the ball joint stud and tie out of the way.

Currently however I am researching a way to install some metal angle strips on the OEM holes to help guard the sensor arms. If anyone has suggestions please do suggest.



Any questions feel free to ask.
Thanks.

The ride height in the above photos is about 12" from the top of the wheel to the fender and that height still feels close to stock (front is a tad more).

I did however play around with the rear and I raised it even more and the rear did get a little stiffer if raised for a total amount of 13.5" from the top of the wheel to the bottom of the fender. I do however run 60psi in the tires on the street (which is extra stiff), so I can always take some air out of the rear tires to around 40psi to compensate for the extra raised height. (my tires range is between 17psi for sand, 24psi for rocks and 40-60psi for street) (max tire psi is 80psi).

The tire wear in the front and rear so far is even (I of course got a wheel alignment after I raised the car so that naturally helped and that cost $80 for all 4 wheels).





Update:

Raising the rear air suspension to 13.5 inches above the top of the wheel was too stiff. I believe it was probably maxing out the air shock.

I adjusted the air suspension mount with using washers in the new hole and the old hole (the old oem hole washers adjust the angle of the mount which can greatly affect the lift or drop) which can help to lower or steepen the angle of the ball joint mount on the new hole I drilled.

I lowered it just a tad to about 12.5 inches and it rides great. I also let some air out of the rear tires to 52psi instead of 60psi.


Thought:
Just a thought as I was examining the top of the rear air shock.

It looks the same as the front shock, meaning the top of it with the three bolts. So my guess is a leveling puck could be placed on top of the air shocks.

Now obviously if you left the rear air shock sensor in the stock location, then the added leveling puck would do nothing as the shock would adjust to level out, however, being that I can now move the air shock sensor mount to the new drilled hole and now that I have control over the angles of the ball joint mount with using various sizes of washers, I can raise it as much as I want (it maxes out around 13.5-14" above the top of the rear wheels), so in essence I should then be able to raise it to 13.5 inches above the top of the wheel and then still have 2" of cushion room if I had stuck in a 2" leveling puck.

Anyway, sounds like a lot of work just to try it out, but one day I will. As of now I am quite pleased with the current set up.

I am also installing some angle iron (1/4" aluminum) guards just below the sensors to guard them when off road. Or..., another thought is to remove them from the ball joint mount and simply zip tie them up (the air suspension would have to be off).

At least then a big rock would not be able to damage the little air suspension sensor arm that hangs down.













Update:

Ok I had some time and added leveling pucks on top of the rear air suspension.

It will add more height or cushion after you adjust to the higher height that you desire.

When I first adjusted the rear to 13.5" above the wheel top it was too rough of a ride.

After adding the spacers / leveling pucks it gave it back the travel for more cushion and now it rides awesome with being that high. I can even raise it a tad higher and it's still great.

The leveling pucks needed are the Daystar polyurethane pucks as you will have to slightly retrofit them and using the polyurethane ones make it very easy to do.

Here is the Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001GH1NNO?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_sfl_title_1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER


This is how you do it:

Here are the pucks not yet worked on.





Next cut out the areas of the puck with a cutting tool, saw or rotary tool. Very easy to cut.

Cut at the blurred areas: cut the three holes on each puck all the way out like a horseshoe. That will enable the puck to fit perfectly on top of the rear air shocks.





After done installing you will have that much more room of travel to then manually adjust the rear air shocks how you want.

You can now raise the back as much as 14" above the top of the wheel and the ride will still be completely comfortable.

I will post some more pics later of the final look.







I am done for now with the lift.

Total lift is 13" from top of wheel to bottom of fender. My goal in the future is 14" with using Rancho Quick lifts in the front which will give me another 1" (I can now easily adjust the rear to about 14" due to the puck insert), but right now I have some fairly new shocks up front, KYP High PSI shocks and they are great.

The rear lift is awesome. After sticking in the rear leveling pucks (mentioned in above post) it gave the air shocks more travel room after I did the higher lift of the air shocks.

It now feels exactly like an OEM firm but NOT jarring ride, but of course much higher. (about 4" higher than OEM).

I did have to do another wheel alignment and now I am good.

Below are the final pics for now.....


I will also post more pics of the guards that I am installing after I am done.


Here is the final lift of just over 13" from the top of the wheel to the fender (about 4" over stock).

nice work

The easiest way to lift these is to buy inexpensive adjustable ride height links.

http://www.expeditionforum.com/f47/how-lift-07-up-expys-rear-air-strut-suspension-27148/

I would also never recommend over a 2" rear lift without adding strut spacers to the top of the air struts, this would bring them back into their factory operating window.

Any rear air strut spacers that fit without modifying the spacer?

gixer2000 said:

Any rear air strut spacers that fit without modifying the spacer?

Click to expand...

My strut studs were long enough to get a piece of 3/8" UHMW plastic between and still get good threads. Cut two circles and drilled 3 holes.
I might figure out how to machine up some stud extensions so the struts don't need to be turned 120 degrees, I don't think the air hookups would work.

Miekk said:

My strut studs were long enough to get a piece of 3/8" UHMW plastic between and still get good threads. Cut two circles and drilled 3 holes.
I might figure out how to machine up some stud extensions so the struts don't need to be turned 120 degrees, I don't think the air hookups would work.

Click to expand...

How much did you gain adding the 3/8? I know the puck thickness doesn't always match the lift amount

gixer2000 said:

How much did you gain adding the 3/8? I know the puck thickness doesn't always match the lift amount

Click to expand...

Nothing. You will get no lift adding to the top of air struts. The ride height is completely dictated by the position of the sensor arm (this is why we change the length of the link).
The strut is half way between the suspension pivot and wheel center, at 2" of lift the strut is expanded 1", the 3/8" spacer just collapses the strut back down so it operates more in its designed range. In my case: 1"-3/8"=5/8" expanded.
Even at 1" expanded strut (2" lift), they are no where near topping out.
The only time it comes close is if you pull something with tongue weight (extra air added to level the load) and unhooking it or crossing a heave in the road that throws the rear up. Even then, I've never had any issues.

Miekk said:

Nothing. You will get no lift adding to the top of air struts. The ride height is completely dictated by the position of the sensor arm (this is why we change the length of the link).
The strut is half way between the suspension pivot and wheel center, at 2" of lift the strut is expanded 1", the 3/8" spacer just collapses the strut back down so it operates more in its designed range. In my case: 1"-3/8"=5/8" expanded.
Even at 1" expanded strut (2" lift), they are no where near topping out.
The only time it comes close is if you pull something with tongue weight (extra air added to level the load) and unhooking it or crossing a heave in the road that throws the rear up. Even then, I've never had any issues.

Click to expand...

I understand that but I bought your adjustable links and was thinking about adding a spacer above the air strut then adjust the links so the bags ride on the natural ride height but I am still lifted