zac langston
Member
Hello,
I saw another post in here asking about suspension on the expeditions. I was hoping to get some similar help.
I do not know how to use a forum, so hopefully I get it right...
We recently purchased a 2016 Expedition, King Ranch EL, 4x4. I was initially under the assumption that ALL King Ranch's came stock with LLS (Load Leveling Suspension) Much to my dismay, I hooked the camper up this weekend and found that to be not true.
After and incredible amount of research and several phone calls I have discovered there is little to no aftermarket support for any suspension modification to these Expeditions. I only found ONE place in the United States that offers something other than stock stuff. Air-bag-it.com will build a "strut-bag" to replace the spring/strut in the rear of the vehicle and sell you an air compressor and an lcd and/or gauge to regulate the strut/bag from in the cab. While this is an option, I am not a huge fan because it does away with the coil.
I turned to more than one (x3) local Ford dealership for help. That was nearly a waste of time. No one in the dealerships can tell me anything about these vehicles. Nor do they seem to care. It is absolutely amazing to me that there is such a lack of knowledge. All three dealerships referred me to the window sticker to try and determine what I had for suspension.
I wanted to know if it was possible to take off what I have and replace it with LLS. They all told me it would be to expensive and to just go buy an aftermarket air bag and place on the vehicle. I had an overwhelming feeling that they had something better to do and were just trying to get me off the phone. I had to educate ALL of them that was not possible given the independent rear suspension set ups.
My closest dealership finally looked into it for me. I was priced right around $2,000.00 for all the required parts and an unknown amount for labor. Then I was told that it was unclear if the ECM would communicate with the system since the vehicle didn't come stock with it. I told them I wasn't a tech savvy guru nor a gear-head, but that surely that could be done. I called dealership #2 and they told me that kind of stuff was all stored in the BCM and that the BCM was programmable... that you could add, remove, or delete programs into it.
Upon further investigation I discovered these vehicles come with 3 suspension options total. You can choose from stock, LLS (load leveling suspension), and CCS (continuous control suspension). I began looking into the CCS. From what I discovered, it appears to be more complex than the lls, but I am not 100% sure on that. Either way, I think I will be staying away from this. During my research I discovered the Nivomat shocks/strut.
This is what lead me to this website and forum. Someone had asked a similar question and someone on here replied with a part number for that guy and told him exactly what he needed. So, my question is, does anyone know anything about the Nivomat shocks? I cannot find anyone that sells them with any knowledge. The particular one I am looking for has the accumulator in the top of it that builds pressure up and stores it in the accumulator chamber thereby creating resistance and aiding with rear end sag. you have to create bounce on the vehicle to get it to work. When you initially hook up your load, it will sag, the website (and your owners manual) direct you to drive the vehicle for approximately 1.5-2 miles to get the shocks "built-up" and to start working properly.
To clear the air, I believe the expeditions that have a Nivomat shock on them do not necessarily have this particular shock I referenced above on them. The company makes regular shocks/struts, but this one described above seems to be the cats meow. I did talk to one suspension company that had some familiarity with them, but he told me they didn't sell them and to call my local dealership. He explained that they are about twice the diameter of a standard shock/strut... like slightly larger than a pop can. I was told you have to change the coil to a lesser than stock coil due to the fact that the Nivomats work so well. If you retain your stock coil, the ride while not under load will be too rough. I found replacement Nivomat shocks out there, but they appear to be "standard."
My thought here is that if I can figure out this Nivomat shock/strut/coil combination they can be bought; pre-packed and installed in the existing location of the stock shock/strut without any serious modification to the vehicle.
I might be chasing a goose here. Not sure. But if this is doable, this might be a solution for others out there trying to do the same thing.
Any and all help is much appreciated. I apologize for the long reading. But I have done an incredible amount of my own research after the lack of help from the "industry professionals."
I saw another post in here asking about suspension on the expeditions. I was hoping to get some similar help.
I do not know how to use a forum, so hopefully I get it right...
We recently purchased a 2016 Expedition, King Ranch EL, 4x4. I was initially under the assumption that ALL King Ranch's came stock with LLS (Load Leveling Suspension) Much to my dismay, I hooked the camper up this weekend and found that to be not true.
After and incredible amount of research and several phone calls I have discovered there is little to no aftermarket support for any suspension modification to these Expeditions. I only found ONE place in the United States that offers something other than stock stuff. Air-bag-it.com will build a "strut-bag" to replace the spring/strut in the rear of the vehicle and sell you an air compressor and an lcd and/or gauge to regulate the strut/bag from in the cab. While this is an option, I am not a huge fan because it does away with the coil.
I turned to more than one (x3) local Ford dealership for help. That was nearly a waste of time. No one in the dealerships can tell me anything about these vehicles. Nor do they seem to care. It is absolutely amazing to me that there is such a lack of knowledge. All three dealerships referred me to the window sticker to try and determine what I had for suspension.
I wanted to know if it was possible to take off what I have and replace it with LLS. They all told me it would be to expensive and to just go buy an aftermarket air bag and place on the vehicle. I had an overwhelming feeling that they had something better to do and were just trying to get me off the phone. I had to educate ALL of them that was not possible given the independent rear suspension set ups.
My closest dealership finally looked into it for me. I was priced right around $2,000.00 for all the required parts and an unknown amount for labor. Then I was told that it was unclear if the ECM would communicate with the system since the vehicle didn't come stock with it. I told them I wasn't a tech savvy guru nor a gear-head, but that surely that could be done. I called dealership #2 and they told me that kind of stuff was all stored in the BCM and that the BCM was programmable... that you could add, remove, or delete programs into it.
Upon further investigation I discovered these vehicles come with 3 suspension options total. You can choose from stock, LLS (load leveling suspension), and CCS (continuous control suspension). I began looking into the CCS. From what I discovered, it appears to be more complex than the lls, but I am not 100% sure on that. Either way, I think I will be staying away from this. During my research I discovered the Nivomat shocks/strut.
This is what lead me to this website and forum. Someone had asked a similar question and someone on here replied with a part number for that guy and told him exactly what he needed. So, my question is, does anyone know anything about the Nivomat shocks? I cannot find anyone that sells them with any knowledge. The particular one I am looking for has the accumulator in the top of it that builds pressure up and stores it in the accumulator chamber thereby creating resistance and aiding with rear end sag. you have to create bounce on the vehicle to get it to work. When you initially hook up your load, it will sag, the website (and your owners manual) direct you to drive the vehicle for approximately 1.5-2 miles to get the shocks "built-up" and to start working properly.
To clear the air, I believe the expeditions that have a Nivomat shock on them do not necessarily have this particular shock I referenced above on them. The company makes regular shocks/struts, but this one described above seems to be the cats meow. I did talk to one suspension company that had some familiarity with them, but he told me they didn't sell them and to call my local dealership. He explained that they are about twice the diameter of a standard shock/strut... like slightly larger than a pop can. I was told you have to change the coil to a lesser than stock coil due to the fact that the Nivomats work so well. If you retain your stock coil, the ride while not under load will be too rough. I found replacement Nivomat shocks out there, but they appear to be "standard."
My thought here is that if I can figure out this Nivomat shock/strut/coil combination they can be bought; pre-packed and installed in the existing location of the stock shock/strut without any serious modification to the vehicle.
I might be chasing a goose here. Not sure. But if this is doable, this might be a solution for others out there trying to do the same thing.
Any and all help is much appreciated. I apologize for the long reading. But I have done an incredible amount of my own research after the lack of help from the "industry professionals."
