6 inch suspension lift ???

[ShotgunSamurai8]

Ok so I have a 98 with air ride. I want a 6 inch lift kit but what I want to know is since I have air ride, will any 6 inch lift work or do I have to find an air ride to coil over conversion kit? Also at what point does drive shaft issues start occurring? And lastly some sweet pics of expys with alot of lift would be nice!

 

[Thermo]

Shotgun, due to the air ride, your suspension lift options are really limited. I might be wrong here, but there are no kits currently in production for air ride Expys. So, you have to either go custom or toss the air ride setup.

As for a 6" kit, there wasn't ever a true 6" kit made. Fabtech had what they called a 6" lift kit, but it was truely a 5/4" kit. If you can, you can also get a Rocky Mountain kit, but that was a 10" kit. BUt, I have heard some good and bad things about that kit.

I guess I have to ask the question of what you are trying to get out of the truck that requires that much lift? I am running 37's with a 4" lift (97 Expy, non-air ride). Now, I am pushing the limits of what the truck can handle, but that gives you an idea of what can be done.

 

[SOLISIMO]

Welcome!

 

[ShotgunSamurai8]

Well I know I'll have to ditch the airbags for the lift, but I just want a big truck! I love my expy and I already have 35's on it with a 3 inch body lift. But now I want to go BIGGER!!! lol Ive seen a couple like this and I love the way they look, now I want one

 

[thebeast1190]

I also have the four wheel air and am having a suspension lift installed. Its a custom job. Try to locate a four wheel drive shop near you, they should be able to help. I contacted fabtech and they recommended a place. Its costing me about $4500 for the kit and install.

 

[Thermo]

Shotgun, your best bet would be to see if you can find a Fabtech 6" lift for the front end of your truck (can get a kit for an F-150) and then see if you can find the rear kit from Rancho (kit it out of production, so, that may be a harder find). If you are lucky, you can find a Fabtech kit for the Expy, but that is probably an even harder find. Your limiting thing will be getting the longer arms for the rear axle (4 of them, 2 on each side) and then getting a drop bracket for the 5th member. Getting the taller rear springs should be able to be done by any 4x4 shop. That is pretty much all there is to the rear lift kit other than longer sway bar ends. But this is a cheap modification if you have a welder or can be taken to a weld shop and they can extend them for you. Just tell them that you want the bars extended by how much lift you are adding in the rear.

As for tire size, if you are going with a true 6" suspension lift and already have the 3" body lift, you can squeeze in 38x13.5's on 9" wide rims. You may still end up modifying the rear of the front wheel wells to give you a little more clearance there and will probably result in a good trimming of the plastic valance too. But, worst case, you may end up having to cut the front bumper a little bit (1" at the bottom corner, tapering to nothing at the top). I had to cut the bumper to make my 37's fit.

 

[ShotgunSamurai8]

Wow thanks guys! You know wen I bought the expy I thought the air ride was the coolest thing ever! Hooked up a 4 place covered snowmobile trailer up to it filled with atvs and it squatted quite a bit, turned on the key and it leveled right out, didn't squat an inch. Now that I want a lift it seems to be causing quite a headache. Well since there are no 6 inch suspension is there maybe a good 4 inch out there that someone could recommend?

 

[jacks3am]

all you have to do is get a six inch lift and lower the front shock mount down four inches and get standard suspension torsion bars, and be done!

 

[masterhacker]

Ive been doing quit a bit of research into lifting a air ride expedition What Ive came up with is that the front, top top shock mount will need to be dropped 4",
and there is a traction bar that needs to be extended 8". (heard this from one source anyways)
also the air ride expeditions have weak torsion bars, so you will need a set from the standard susp exp/f150
You will also need a coil spring isolator

I talked to my buddy who works at a ford dealer, and he says that the air ride suspension is pretty similar to the standard suspension, (same control arms, ball joints, tir rod ends etc) and he said it shouldn't be that hard to put a lift on it

I plan on tackling it this spring, and im going to do a very thorough write up, with many pictures, and then no one will ever have to ask this question again

Also Lookie here:
http://expeditionforum.com/showthread.php?t=5922
that guy did it, he dont anwser pm's though, i tried asking him about it
I managed to lift my old Golf cart with some scrap metal, so i figure i can probably figure this out

Heres a pic of what im pretty sure that guy said he had to extend:
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll269/masterhacker1989/Expsstuff2.jpg

 

[walnuts4x4]

was gonna say look for that link you posted was one of the only lifted 4 wheel air expies I have seen but hope you get a 6" kit they are cool....lol

 

[garyankrom]

6 inch lift. on 97 to early 03 expeditions

Ok so I have a 98 with air ride. I want a 6 inch lift kit but what I want to know is since I have air ride, will any 6 inch lift work or do I have to find an air ride to coil over conversion kit? Also at what point does drive shaft issues start occurring? And lastly some sweet pics of expys with alot of lift would be nice!

I got a 2000 awd 5.4 expedition non air ride.
I did not custom build my lift by any means but i did have to use f150 parts, expedition and f250 parts.

First airbagit.com was the only place i could find 6 inch lifted coils for the rear. $149 for the pair.
I bought the rest of my front suspension parts from stylin trucks... Which i will never buy from again. The parts i did recive were either wrong or mis matched. 2 diffrent upper control arms. 2 diffrent hub assemblies 1. 14mm stud 1. 12mm stud.
How does that work?
Back to the build. Ended up doing a lot of ebaying that month.

Air bagit.com for the 6 inch lift coils for the expedition. $149 turned out to be just over 5 inch diffrence over stock.
I ordered 3.5 inch torsion keys for an f150.
From airbagit.com $129 they were the cheap off brand but they have been cranked for about 4 years now with no problems.
At their lowest point they are about 3 inches over stock. Mine are cranked a bit and im about 4.5 inches over stock.
Drive shaft issues... Not really but cv angle issues for sure.
I had to custom make diff drop brackets for the front. I ended up lowering the front diff 4 inches for about $20 at menards and a couple hours of measureing and fab.
Rear drive shaft issues did not present them selves right away. But to not keep eating rear u-joints i ordered a 1 inch driveshaft spacer for an f250.
Off ebay $79.
Direct to pro comp for my shocks
4 es9000's about $190

Going to be doubling up shocks at all four courners this summer. Doing a much needed dual steering stabilizer kit.. Pro comp of corse for a f250.
And a 3 inch pa body lift.

I can easily fit 35s which is whats on the expedition now. And with minor rubbing last year had a set of 37s on it for a bit. Keep in mind this is my wifes daily driver/kid mover...and she beats the hell out of it.

 

[Wickedclowny313]

Hey guys I have a 1997 Expedition and I went to the local 4x4 shop and wanted to get a 6in lift for mine and they told me they can't that you can't lift expeditions no matter what when I know damn well you can any ideas or thoughts on how to lift it or what to do ? Everything in mine is stock right now