Possible to add factory air suspension to my expy?

[Fasttimes]

I'm curious if it's possible to add the factory air suspension to my 2010 Expy EB? I know there are after market options out there, but I'm just curious if the factory kit could be added without breaking the bank? Anyone ever gone that route?

Speaking of aftermarket, for some reason 2010 seems to be an odd year and many air-bag lift sites don't offer or make clear what kit will work with my model. Anybody add a bag lift kit to their 2010?

 

[star-art]

I'll be curious to see the responses here as it seems 99/100 people go the other way and convert their air suspension to coils. I know from experience the air springs ride much better! (BTW, they are air SPRINGS, not air BAGS. LOL)

Another option you might consider is the self-leveling hydraulic oil shocks used on the newer models (I think 2013 or 2014 and up). I'm considering retrofitting these on my truck. They do improve the ride a bit (probably not as much as air springs though). You'd need to replace the rear shocks, springs, and related hardware. Cost should be about $1000.

 

[Fasttimes]

I know many people convert to a spring system but is anyone out there happy with the air springs system? Still looking to figure out a cost on this if even possible. Curious if it can be installed into the truck and work with the system in the truck already?

 

[limitedex]

I have factory air. When I lifted I thought I HAD to put in coil overs and remove the air ride. Later I found the load leveling indicators on eBay.

I’m back on factory air ride and love it!

 

[Fasttimes]

Well, I stopped by one of the local Ford dealerships just now and they said it would be cost prohibitive and to look for aftermarket. Said the computer would need to be swapped and so forth. So much for a seamless easy upgrade.

Any recommendations for an aftermarket airspring system?

 

[star-art]

Most dealerships won't touch these kinds of modifications. They'll tell you it can't be done or say whatever to get you to go away. It may very well be possible, but you won't get much help from Ford.

As time goes on, vehicle systems become more and more integrated. Even if all the parts just bolt on, often it's the electronics that stand in the way of mods like this. As a result, it's extremely difficult these days to add a factory option after the fact.

Newer trucks are more "software configurable" for making options work. In older vehicles, however, we may have very little info on what has to be done to make an added module function properly.

If you don't get anywhere with an aftermarket solution, there is one other avenue you might explore. Ford used a standalone rear air suspension system for the Panther platform from 1990-2010. I don't know about later years, but earlier systems had a separate control module. This would not need to be integrated into the vehicle network. It could potentially be used to control air springs on another vehicle. The only question would be getting it to work with a height sensor designed for our trucks. You'd need to know the resistance range for the Panther height sensor vs the resistance provided by the Expedition height sensor.

 

[star-art]

Here is some service info I found for 2008. I doubt there were very many changes between then and 2010: