2011 XLT wallowing on highway

[Wahooslayer]

Purchased a 2011 XLT Premium 2WD (no air suspension) with 68k miles a few months ago to replace a 2003 EB 4.6. Upon driving on the highway I was immediately displeased with the handling, it had a pronounced wallowing, floating drive. Around town it bounces over any significant bump. It is nothing like my 2003 was, which had a firm, stable ride even after 170,000 miles on the '03. The struts appear ok, no leaking, tires seem to be wearing evenly, but I took the '11 to the shop anyway, they said the struts were ok and it was just the normal ride for the vehicle. I am not comfortable driving the vehicle at highway speeds, I feel the risk of over-correction is too high. I assume the answer is strut replacement, but is this something others have experienced? And the obvious question, which struts?

 

[quicker]

I had very similar characteristics in my 09 4WD when I replaced the factory rear air struts with OEM non air coils with factory shocks. The truck floated around like crazy and felt unsafe almost.

Come to find out one of my shocks was completely toast and we could not tell until I dissembled the coil strut.

I replaced both rear shocks (need a coil spring compressor) with Bilsteins and the truck rides great now.

 

[sjwelds]

Yep, shocks.

Big fan of Bilstein.

 

[deweysmith]

Yep, 68k miles is pretty new for needing new shocks but a bouncy ride like that is definitely shocks. It's possible for them to be toast with no visible defect, the only way to be sure is to pull them out.

 

[Wahooslayer]

Do you replace the entire strut assembly including the spring, or just the gas shock?

 

[deweysmith]

If you don't have a spring compressor (a big one, the rental ones at AutoZone or the ones at Harbor Freight typically aren't big enough) then you can order them preassembled online and replace the whole assembly. I used to drop the shocks on my Tacoma by using the control arm and a bottle jack to compress/decompress the spring, but that might not be advisable on a bigger vehicle and spring like the Expedition.

 

[Wahooslayer]

I don't intend to do the work, I'm just buying the parts.

 

[Adieu]

To test the shocks in each corner just open a door, stand on the door sill holdong the grab handle and bounce up and down on it.... you'll see if the shock is good or toast.

Wallowing can also be alignment, unbalanced tires, out of round wheels etc


You could also check to make sure opposing corners have identical shocks installed, theyre supposed to be done in pairs but you'd be surprised


Oh and if you have LT tires and have been to an incompetent mechanic lately, they may have "helpfully" aired you down to 32-35 psi (matching weight ratings on LT tires of the same size are only achieved somewhere between 45 and 55 psi)

If you don't have a spring compressor (a big one, the rental ones at AutoZone or the ones at Harbor Freight typically aren't big enough) then you can order them preassembled online and replace the whole assembly. I used to drop the shocks on my Tacoma by using the control arm and a bottle jack to compress/decompress the spring, but that might not be advisable on a bigger vehicle and spring like the Expedition.

On an expedition you need a 2x6 acting as a lever cupped in a floor jack just to get the ASSEMBLED shocks and springs and a dropped control arm back position.

 

[deweysmith]

Oh and if you have LT tires and have been to an incompetent mechanic lately, they may have "helpfully" aired you down to 32-35 psi (matching weight ratings on LT tires of the same size are only achieved somewhere between 45 and 55 psi)

Yeah, 32-35 warm is ridiculously low. I keep mine at 45 warm.

 

[Adieu]

Yeah, 32-35 warm is ridiculously low. I keep mine at 45 warm.

No thats cold pressures.

With LT tires any door sticker recommendations for P tires go right out the window, except the rated weight you're inflating them to.

In the case of my size, 35 psi P tires translates to 52-53 psi LT load E tires....

 

[Plati]

Very interesting discussion on the LT tires psi. I have Kumho Road Venture AT51 LT tires on my 2014 and Falken Wildpeak AT3W LT tires on my 2003 Expy. 35 psi. Never noticed anything unusual with the ride. I was thinking you only increased the pressure if you were carrying or towing heavy load. I'll look into this and try higher pressure once the blizzard stops. Those AT3W's are really Falken nice with 18/32 tread depth!

 

[Adieu]

Very interesting discussion on the LT tires psi. I have Kumho Road Venture AT51 LT tires on my 2014 and Falken Wildpeak AT3W LT tires on my 2003 Expy. 35 psi. Never noticed anything unusual with the ride. I was thinking you only increased the pressure if you were carrying or towing heavy load. I'll look into this and try higher pressure once the blizzard stops. Those AT3W's are really Falken nice with 18/32 tread depth!

Nope. Bump it to 50-ish, maybe more if you often load her up or overload her.... ride, handling, and mpg will improve.

At 35 it's barely holding your empty weight and putting it at risk of premature wear and possibly catastrophic faulure, also handling is adversely affected.

Its not EXACTLY linear, but running a 60 or 80 max psi tire at 35, you're getting around half of its weight rating, maybe less

 

[Plati]

Nope. Bump it to 50-ish, maybe more if you often load her up or overload her.... ride, handling, and mpg will improve.

At 35 it's barely holding your empty weight and putting it at risk of premature wear and possibly catastrophic faulure, also handling is adversely affected.

Its not EXACTLY linear, but running a 60 or 80 max psi tire at 35, you're getting around half of its weight rating, maybe less

YES. I started googling after this and learned a lot! The door panel plate recommended inflation pressure is for the OEM P rated tires. I changed out to 10 ply rated LT tires so that goes out the window. One guy had a good analogy that regular octane gas is owners manual recommended but if you put a superchip in your vehicle you need to go to 91 octane gas.

I just put the nice Falken tires on the 03 a few days ago. Drove around and noticed rubber smell from tires. Thought that was weird. Tire tread was noticeably warm. Odd. One guy on a google search result said you can check the tire tread temperature with an infrared thermometer and that's a proper way to determine best inflation pressure. Hmmmm. I would say at 35 psi my LT tires are underinflated which might be OK if I was running off road for increased traction but not appropriate for interstate travel.

Others talk about the chalk test or you can buy strips that show you your tire contact with the road. I think the idea is to inflate to whatever pressure gives you the right road contact.

Those Falken nice tires are superb for my winter driving conditions. I've never had people notice my tires before but after installing these I have gotten several remarks. One guy said "that's not a tread, its a crevasse"

 

[Tripletail]

My 2012 EL 4x4 was riding really bad. I changed out the front shocks with Bilstein's. Great ride now, and the job was not bad. I ordered heavy duty spring tool for the job.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M0UT55Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[ExpeditionAndy]

Purchased a 2011 XLT Premium 2WD (no air suspension) with 68k miles a few months ago to replace a 2003 EB 4.6. Upon driving on the highway I was immediately displeased with the handling, it had a pronounced wallowing, floating drive. Around town it bounces over any significant bump. It is nothing like my 2003 was, which had a firm, stable ride even after 170,000 miles on the '03. The struts appear ok, no leaking, tires seem to be wearing evenly, but I took the '11 to the shop anyway, they said the struts were ok and it was just the normal ride for the vehicle. I am not comfortable driving the vehicle at highway speeds, I feel the risk of over-correction is too high. I assume the answer is strut replacement, but is this something others have experienced? And the obvious question, which struts?

I agree it sounds like shocks and it could also be the tire pressure. My 17 has standard suspension my 05 had air suspension. The 17 is just a tiny bit more floaty than the 05 with the air suspension but still rock solid on the highway. I've had it up to 90 on the high way and I could just cruise at the speed if I wasn't worried about getting a ticket.

Some where on here is a chart that shows proper inflation for LT tires based on the load capacity of the vehicle.

 

[Plati]

.........Some where on here is a chart that shows proper inflation for LT tires based on the load capacity of the vehicle.

I think maybe you meant actual load, not load capacity?

This is turning out to be more complicated than I thought now that I'm really thinking it through and looking up charts for my tires etc. Who knew tires were so complicated?

This article isn't specifically for LT tires but seems to hit the topic hard.
https://www.4wheelparts.com/tire-wheel-package-guide/tire-pressure-checker.aspx

One aspect of the idea seems to be to achieve the proper tire/road contact area for wear etc. I noticed as I increased the pressure today to 44 psi, much less of the tire was "touching the pavement". But I don't really know how much should touch so ??? Now I'm going to be looking at everybodys tires in parking lots for the next week! I was doing that at Wegmans today and a nice lady stopped to make sure I was OK. She thought I had fallen. It almost worked out great for me! LOL

Also interesting discovery was finding out that one tire was down to 22 psi when I started out. This is with the new install last week. So I guess I might a slow leak and need to monitor. Or maybe the tire shop failed to inflate properly? Will monitor that and find out.

 

[Adieu]

If you got A/T M+S, mudterrain, offroad, etc. type tread, it is NOT supposed to be splayed flat across the pavement like a low profile zrated summer Pirelli....

The side profile is for clawing your way out of mud or packed snow that you sank into....and isn't supposed to be touching tarmac

 

[quicker]

Do you replace the entire strut assembly including the spring, or just the gas shock?

You just need the shock. I think this is the one for your application but double check.

B6 4600 Series Rear (24-197724)

 

[Adieu]

You just need the shock. I think this is the one for your application but double check.

B6 4600 Series Rear (24-197724)

Bilstein has two different options, 4600's and 5100's

 

[quicker]

Bilstein has two different options, 4600's and 5100's

I was pretty sure only the 4600s were the only ones available for the Expy. Maybe not. Regardless I used the 4600s and have had great luck.