Easy Safe Leveling for Expedition

[Lifted exped]

Hi guys,
I wanted to level the front of my 2007 Expedition. I think everyone knows that the leveling spacers are the least expensive, but the worst way to level if you want to keep your ride quality.

I took a chance and bought the Bilstein 5100 shocks for the F150 that have 3 height grooves machined into the shock body. You can put them in at 0" lift, 2" lift, and 4" lift.

Here is the link that explains why the spacers are the wrong choice:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=tIvOGJwDr4D8dSwj9rUCXw&bvm=bv.74894050,d.eXY

 

[Lifted exped]

The ride quality is same as original. The Bilsteins are great shocks, so a very damped ride. My car had 100K miles, so the original shocks were blasted anyway. New shocks are the least expensive way of getting a huge improvement in your vehicles ride, handling, safety, etc.

You cannot lift the front 4"!!! The top upper ball joints will bind, then break, then you crash and die. With these shocks, the upper b/j do not bind (i checked mine on the lift before driving).

I'm not an expert, but with the weight shifted some to the back, full suspension travel, and high quality shocks, I believe the Expedition rides better than new.

 

[DetroitDarin]

Cool. My truck rides BETTER than stock with spacers installed.

The link you provided; good info - but the author is trying to SELL their product in that piece.

Oh - and do the rear shocks adjust for height, too? Says they 'accomodate' a rear lift - how would one lift the rear of the truck?

Spacer kit - $110 from ebay. (shrug). So the shocks lost two inches of travel? Doesn't hurt my feelings.

Your truck looks a little too high in the front. Just sayin'.

 

[01yellerCobra]

If you get the spacers that go between the mount and strut there's no way it'll change ride quality. You're using the same spring and shock combo. Chances are your better ride came from replacing the worn out shocks. I replaced my front shocks with Bilsteins and it definitly rides better now. But my stock shocks had blown the seals and weren't really working.

 

[DetroitDarin]

excellent point. There's no way the shocks would even know if they had a spacer on top.

 

[Bedrck47]

Lifted exped

kindly update your signature line with year model and engine information. This can be done in the USER CP section as this information helps others give you replies specific to your expy

 

[69Hcode]

Which setting did you put the new struts on? Is that the 2". I think the F150 struts are a little longer the expy ones anyway.

 

[Lifted exped]

The Bilstein data shows that with the spacers, you can easily overextend your suspension in full droop. Means: you bind/break your upper ball joint, over extend your front driveshaft. Losing 2 inches of travel in the middle of the suspension movement doesn't mean anything, but is sure will at full droop.

At first the front looks high. The front wheel arches have more gap than the rears. but, the truck is level. I put the fronts at 2" higher. The F150 strut is about 1/4" longer if I remember right, so essentially nothing.

Bilstein does not offer an adjustable shock at the rear. I was not looking to raise the rear, only level the front. The same issues may exist at the rear if using spacers: full droop over extension of the driveshafts.

If your shocks are more than 50K miles and are low pressure gas or just stock, likely new shocks will make a huge improvement. The spacers are about 1/2 the cost of shocks (Bilsteins), but if you only do spacers with the older shocks, you will still have a crappy ride.

When I hit the railroad crossing now at pretty high speed, the Expedition can take it without blinking. Before, there was a pretty good bump and almost bottoming out.

 

[DetroitDarin]

The bilstein data is wrong. The shock travel happens at the same rate/length as prior to the spacer lift.

 

[FordandPolaris]

The bilstein data is wrong. The shock travel happens at the same rate/length as prior to the spacer lift.

Agreed, the spacers simply push the body/frame higher in the air (I'm not calling them a body lift). They change the angles of things attached to static parts of the truck such as CV joints (attached to front diff) and front axle (attached to transfer case) but there are a lot of people here with spacers lifts and I have never heard of one blowing out a ball joint while flexing their truck. And as Darin said, the shocks don't change in their function, only in their position of operation, but moving down a couple of inches.

Honestly I think you got sold by a Bilstein sales pitch but if your ride is better and you like the bulldog look, that's all that counts.