Ronin8002's 4th Gen custom coilover conversion

I'm going to be doing a project over the holidays to convert from the stock OEM style struts in the front of my 2008 4x4 Explorer to Fox coilover shocks.

The goal is to get a mild amount of lift (around 2.5") and increase the front suspension travel.

In stock form, the 4th Gen OEM front suspension with the OEM type struts has a bit over 4" of wheel travel.

I will be using Fox 2.0 Emulsion coilovers with 5" of travel. If my math is right, this should result in about 8.5" of wheel travel available (will probably be slightly less than that since I'll need to run limit straps)

I am going to do everything possible to make this a bolt on installation as far as the way the shock brackets are designed. So far, I've just gotten the shocks and springs (10" 750lb spring rate eibach coils) and extended lower shock eyelets.



I think it would be possible to run a 6.5" travel shock, but the front diff might have to be dropped down a bit with brackets in order to reduce the stress on the CV axles at full droop. So for now, I'm staying with a 5" travel shock.

More to come.

 

[corkey]

looks awesome,
, glad i could help,,

let us know how the drive went too,

 

[Ronin8002]

Test drive went well. Mostly just drove around the neighborhood and ran over some speedbumps. Feels at least as good as an un-lifted truck on stock type struts, a little less stiff for sure. Ran up on some curbs with one front wheel to test the flex a little. Before, where the truck would lean over a lot in situations like that, it appears the suspension flexes better now and the truck sits more level when on off camber bumps, so that part seems to work as planned.

After the drive the springs settled in about 1/4", so I'll be adjusting the preload a bit to fix that and also get both sides equal (there's about a 1/2" difference in height between left and right).

I didn't want to go on the highway yet since I know the alignment is way off. I can see excessive camber in the front. I tried to put the BTF upper control arms right where the stock ones were for a starting point. After fixing the preload I'll get the camber close as I can by eyeballing it.

After all that I'll get the rear truxxx spacers in and take it to the shop to get aligned.

 

[Brandon96]

dude, awesome!

 

[corkey]

CONGRATS, this is a sticky now,,

 

[Ronin8002]

CONGRATS, this is a sticky now,,

Thanks!

I got the rear truxxx spacers installed. Here's how she sits now:

Driver's side front is about a half inch too low. Will even that out with a little preload on that corner, and also fix the way too positive camber angle.

With the preload corrected on the drivers side front, the measurement from the center of the wheel at the ground to the highest part of the fenderwell is:

36" front, 36.25" rear. 12" from ground to the bottom of the front crossmember.

Nice mild lift, and I am loving the ride so far.

 

[rangermidtn]

Thanks!

I got the rear truxxx spacers installed. Here's how she sits now:



Driver's side front is about a half inch too low. Will even that out with a little preload on that corner, and also fix the way too positive camber angle.

With the preload corrected on the drivers side front, the measurement from the center of the wheel at the ground to the highest part of the fenderwell is:

36" front, 36.25" rear. 12" from ground to the bottom of the front crossmember.

Nice mild lift, and I am loving the ride so far.

Looks good, I got my 750lb springs on today, what a difference. I also have a 1/2" difference from driver to passenger side.

 

[Ronin8002]

Played around with the preload today to get the driver/passenger side evened up. Took about 3/8" of preload to make up the 1/2" of lift. Also did a quick and dirty alignment to fix the camber, at least as far as my eyeball and level can tell.

With that done, I felt better about taking it on a longer drive on some faster roads. What I noticed most was things like potholes and rough patches in the road definitely feel different now. In those situations the suspension feels sort of firm but not jarring at all. With the stock struts it would feel like the front would start to get jounced around on potholes, now it just feels like the bumps are soaked up and the truck is staying firmly in contact with the ground.

 

[The Electrician]

Congratulations James

can you list parts numbers

 

[Ronin8002]

Congratulations James

can you list parts numbers

Thanks! I will post part numbers in the morning.

 

[Ronin8002]

Parts List

Here are the parts I ordered. I got everything from www.polyperformance.com I got the fasteners from my local hardware store.

FOX-980-02-000-A : Fox 2.0 5" Emulsion coilover shock, Qty 2
FOX-213-01-238-A : Fox 2.0 Extended lower eyelet 3.75", Qty 2
213-18-009-A: Fox 2.0 Shock spacers, 1.5" tab width, Qty 8
ERS-1000-250-0750-S: Eibach 2.5" ID 10" long 750lb coil spring, Qty 2

For the brackets:

1/2" x 3" Grade 8 bolts, Qty 4
1/2" Grade 8 nuts, Qty 4
1/2" Grade 8 washers, Qty 8
3/8" x 5" Grade 8 bolts, Qty 6
3/8" Grade 8 nuts, Qty 6
3/8 Grade 8 washers, Qty 6

The brackets were all made of 1/4" steel, mostly plate but I used 2 x 3 .25 wall box tubing for the upper mount.

Essentially you need to make a bracket that will mount the shock 3" from the top strut mounting surface to the coilover mounting hole. You will weld this to a 3" x 5" flat plate with 3/8" holes drilled in it to match the stud holes for the strut. I welded the 3/8" bolts into the plate also to make installation easier. The lower bracket needs to mount the coilover 3" straight up from the original lower strut bolt in the lower control arm. If you make a bolt on setup like mine, the distance from the center of the strut bolt hole in the lower control arm and that flat open area on top of the control arm is 1". The hole drilled needs to be 18mm.

If you wanted to use a 6.5" travel shock instead of a 5", just shorten either the upper or lower bracket by 1.5".

 

[The Electrician]

Thank you James

 

[Ronin8002]

After looking it over and taking a few more measurements, I think I have found some improvements to the lower brackets:

-The lower strut bolt starts to bend in the rearward wall of the lower control arms when you torque it down. Normally this doesn't happen because the OEM strut assembly lower eyelet has a steel bushing in it that the bolt and nut squeeze against, so I will slide a bit of tubing in there over the bolt to prevent that

-when I designed the lower bracket, I simply measured 3" up from the lower strut mounting hole, when the strut was level. This works OK but since the new setup angles the lower control arms downward,it puts my lower tabs at a greater angle than I want and also a steeper shock angle than I want. The bolt head does clear the CV boot in this position but is quite close. What I need to do is measure 3" up from the strut bolt hole when the arms are angled downward. This will give me the true effective extended length I am looking for and move the lower shock bolt more inboard to have greater clearance from the CV boot. Right now the coilovers plus brackets have an effective extended length of 23", I am looking for something closer to 24". This also means that the lower mount tabs will have more of an isoceles triangle shape (like in Corkey's setup) rather than the equilateral shape that I have now.

-I will try and incorporate the lower limiting strap mounting tab into the new lower mount design.

Once I have all this worked out I'll post up pics.

 

[The Electrician]

why don't you consider what we have disused before? would be much easier to do? and it will preserve OEM geometry

 

[Ronin8002]

why don't you consider what we have disused before? would be much easier to do? and it will preserve OEM geometry

It's actually easier for me to cut and weld brackets (now that I know the measurements of everything) than to cut up my OEM struts and have parts machined.

But...it might be useful to cut off just the OEM strut eyelet and weld the plate/tabs to it to make a lower mount. I'll have to consider that.

I will get you those measurements soon...was out last night.

 

[Ronin8002]

Ok figured out whats going on. By installing the new shock tabs right over the old strut mounting hope, I created a different arc for the shock pivot point as the suspension travels, which accounts for the lower amount of droop travel I am seeing. So, when i make the new mounts i will just offset the hole inboard 11/16" and that should bring the new lower shock mounting point back into the same arc that the oem lower strut mount followed. This should give me the expected amount of downtravel and also raise the ride height a bit more.

 

[Ronin8002]

finished cutting out and drilling all the pieces for the new lower mounts today. Should have it all welded together in the next day or two...I'll take some pics when the brackets are done.

 

[DominicanX]

Looks good man!

 

[Ronin8002]

New lower brackets are welded up:

I improved the joint design on the lower strut mount tabs...the front one is now an open outside corner joint, and the front coilover tab was beveled at the bottom to allow for a groove weld on the front side (still did a fillet weld on the back). Then I made a final pass and weaved the bead to tie in the coilover tab and the open corner joint on the lower strut tab for a good strong connection. I also have put a gusset between the two tabs on the inboard side for extra reinforcement.

The holes in the coilover tabs are now offset about .5" inward from the OEM lower strut mounting hole to correct for the change in the movement arc caused by the height of the tabs. I also drilled the correct size hole this time (18mm) in the lower strut mount tabs for a tighter fit. The pieces of 1.5" square tubing will go inside the lower control arm between the two lower strut mount tabs to give the OEM lower strut bolt something to squeeze against when it gets torqued down.

I looked at including a limit strap tab on the mount but either the shock or something else would end up getting in the way of the strap, so I'll have to figure out something else for that. Looks like the best place might be to put the lower limit strap tab over near where the swaybar link goes.

Just need to paint and install. The decreased shock angle should give me a bit more lift and downtravel. I'll make whatever adjustments I need for the camber from the altered setup...probably will also try and do some toe adjustments also. The rear wheels have some negative camber from the truxxx spacers so I'll fix that too. After that I'll get it professionally aligned...hopefully it won't need too much adjustment since it should pretty much be in the ballpark by then.

 

[rangermidtn]

New lower brackets are welded up:

I improved the joint design on the lower strut mount tabs...the front one is now an open outside corner joint, and the front coilover tab was beveled at the bottom to allow for a groove weld on the front side (still did a fillet weld on the back). Then I made a final pass and weaved the bead to tie in the coilover tab and the open corner joint on the lower strut tab for a good strong connection. I also have put a gusset between the two tabs on the inboard side for extra reinforcement.
Looking good. I wish the 3rd gens arms were flat enough that I could make some like that. So how's it riding?
The holes in the coilover tabs are now offset about .5" inward from the OEM lower strut mounting hole to correct for the change in the movement arc caused by the height of the tabs. I also drilled the correct size hole this time (18mm) in the lower strut mount tabs for a tighter fit. The pieces of 1.5" square tubing will go inside the lower control arm between the two lower strut mount tabs to give the OEM lower strut bolt something to squeeze against when it gets torqued down.

I looked at including a limit strap tab on the mount but either the shock or something else would end up getting in the way of the strap, so I'll have to figure out something else for that. Looks like the best place might be to put the lower limit strap tab over near where the swaybar link goes.

Just need to paint and install. The decreased shock angle should give me a bit more lift and downtravel. I'll make whatever adjustments I need for the camber from the altered setup...probably will also try and do some toe adjustments also. The rear wheels have some negative camber from the truxxx spacers so I'll fix that too. After that I'll get it professionally aligned...hopefully it won't need too much adjustment since it should pretty much be in the ballpark by then.

Looks good, I wish the 3rd gens arms were more like the 4th gens, I really like this setup.

 

[01STrunner]

This is an amazing writeup. I like how you listed out everything all in one post well supplies at least. The ex is looking sweet. I remember when you'd said you weren't going to do much with this one haha.