Limited with Rough Ride

[herb craft]

2010 Expedition Limited (150k)

After riding in my son's 2008 F150 4x4, the ride in our 2010 Limited is not nearly as comfortable? When I tried to bonce the suspension both on the front and rear, there was almost no compression on the Expedition???
The limited has all of the options, and the 20 in wheels(with wider tires). We are the second owners, and the shocks are OEM. The rig tows a 5k load with a 4 seat SxS perfectly, and handles fine. Really not sure how to check the suspension on the Expedition, but the ride is just not comfortable and lots of minor vibrations. There are no leaks around the shocks and all of the major suspension parts appear to in good condition.
I have jacked up the front and rear and the move tires back and forth, checking for any looseness, or bearing issues. All of the components appear to OK. Starting to believe the it boiled down to the shocks? Appreciate your feed back and comments, Thanks

 

[07navi]

Does it have the light truck rated tires?

 

[max78]

Tires will make a pretty big difference in ride quality. A 20 inch wheel and tire combo will ride rougher than a 17 inch tire combo. More rubber, softer ride. Tire brands vary in ride comfort, truck rated tires will also ride rougher. The air pressure will also play a huge roll in ride comfort, run them at the door sticker pressure and either do a chalk test, or measure the tire wear after a bit to see if you need to add more air, or less. In my case running at factory door sticker pressure they were under inflated and the outside wore faster than the center.

With your truck being on OEM struts at 150k, I would say that yours are almost guaranteed to be shot. I just replaced my worn OEM struts at 180k with some KYBs and there was a dramatic improvement in ride quality. The ride is firmer, but its also smoother, not really sure how to describe it. Its like it would float over stuff too much and bounce out of control with the worn struts, but it also didn't bounce and bob like a whale over big bumps.

I did the rear struts myself renting a spring compressor in a few hours. I removed the fronts and had a shop transfer the springs because the rented compressor was nowhere near strong enough for the job.

Either way, at 150k, struts is a good place to start.

 

[07navi]

Auto parts stores around here loan compressors free, just grease them up and use an impact on them. If it looks flimsy go to another store............depends on where you live. The tires on smaller wheels have more sidewall.

 

[max78]

Auto parts stores around here loan compressors free, just grease them up and use an impact on them. If it looks flimsy go to another store............depends on where you live. The tires on smaller wheels have more sidewall.

This was a rented compressor form the parts store, it was the biggest one they had, no one had a better compressor. Nowhere near good enough as the screws were bending as I compressed the front springs. I was going to have to spend $200 on a properly beefy compressor if I wanted to do it myself. .

 

[07navi]

This was a rented compressor form the parts store, it was the biggest one they had, no one had a better compressor. Nowhere near good enough as the screws were bending as I compressed the front springs. I was going to have to spend $200 on a properly beefy compressor if I wanted to do it myself. .

Wow, and I was planning to borrow one from Oreillys, good info.

 

[fuzzmanmatt]

Holy cow! For that price just get the Quick Strut. I once watched a guy change all four of his in the parking lot at Advance in under an hour using borrowed tools and his car's jack. GM products, how could you go wrong?

 

[Gary Waugh]

I changed the 4 struts on my 2008 EL expedition using the O'rielly spring compressor and it had no trouble at all. Was a very easy job, I was very happy with the new ride (installed Bilsteins), took about 2 hours to change all 4 shocks, re-used stock springs.

Gary

 

[Jose Palacios]

Is there any YouTube videos that have step by step for the install? I want to do my 2011 shocks soon.

 

[Thunderbirdsport]

Is there any YouTube videos that have step by step for the install? I want to do my 2011 shocks soon.

None at all.




(I kid)
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=2011+expedition+shocks