volver
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- November 27, 2008
- Messages
- 254
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Milan, IL Quad City area
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1998 XLT AWD
f-150 spring conversion is awsome!!!!!!!
I bought a set of springs from JC Whitny
http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/ItemBrowse/c-10614/s-10101/p-100000272359/mediaCode-ZX/appId-10607752/Pr-p_CATENTRY_ID:10000027235910607752
They are for a 1980's truck, 2.5 inches wide, load of 1600 pounds
Install was not hard
1 jacked car up till rear tire comes off the ground
2 hit everything with pb blaster
3 remove tire
4 dissconect shock at the bottom
5 remove brake line attachment
6 undo U bolts.
7 hit spring/shock/brakeline attachment plate with BFH (big ####ing hammer)
8 hit spring with BFH to knock it out of its pirch
9 remove the springs front eye hole bolt
10 remove the top and bottom shakel bolts if you are going to replace the shackel.
remove the bottom shackel bolt if you are going to use the stock shackel.
11 pull out spring
12 mark which direction is the front eye hole.
13 put C-clamps close to the bolt holding the spring together but leave enough room to fit a dremmel tool.
14 cut the bolt off on the nut side and punch it out
15 remove clamps
16 mark the new spring pack to show were the front eye hole is ( its the beefer looking one)
17 put C-clamps on f150 spring
18 remove nut and bolt with socket (do not damage it. it will be use again)
19 grab spring/shock/brakeline attachment plate, compare the size of the center hole and the nut you just removed
20 use dremmel to make the hole bigger till the nut just fits
21 take the top spring of the f150 leaf and swap it with the top spring of the explorer. Make sure
22 all the leaves are in the correct direction, front eye hole forward
23 aline the holes, clamp, and replace the nut and bolt. the perch mount side of the bolt should be on the inside of the curve.
24 you should now have a spring with the top explorer leaf then 3 f150 leaves and and f150 overload plate
25 attach the front eye hole but, do not make it tight
26 attach the shackel, do not make it tight
27 use a jack to drive the spring into the pirch, this may require a partner to push on the spring to aline the bolt
28 attach U bolts to spring/shock/brakeline plate
29 remove jack holding spring
30 tighten eye hole bolts and shackel
31 attach shock
32 attach break line holder
33 attach tire
34 lower the car off the jack
35 move to the other side and start over
I followed the new springs by doing a torsion twist. Final measurents were 35 inches at the center of the rear fenders and 34.5 inches at the center of the front fenders. I twisted the driverside up a 1/4 of an inch that way it would be level with a full tank and driver. The truck is leaning forward a littel bit which looks aggressive.
The ride is the best part. It handels more like a sports car. It corners level. I used to have to take on-ramps at less than 50 mph, for fear of rolling over. Or i would have to take the corner wide. Now when i use a ramp i can hold 60 and feel safe or drop to 50 and take the corner tight.
What about ride quality? I drove over some bumps that i normally avoid. they were about a rough as they normally were. some roads feel slightly wash boarded. i will trade comfort for cornering.
I am very happy with this mod. It only cost 200 dollars and 4 hours of my time. Well worth the results.
I bought a set of springs from JC Whitny
http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/ItemBrowse/c-10614/s-10101/p-100000272359/mediaCode-ZX/appId-10607752/Pr-p_CATENTRY_ID:10000027235910607752
They are for a 1980's truck, 2.5 inches wide, load of 1600 pounds
Install was not hard
1 jacked car up till rear tire comes off the ground
2 hit everything with pb blaster
3 remove tire
4 dissconect shock at the bottom
5 remove brake line attachment
6 undo U bolts.
7 hit spring/shock/brakeline attachment plate with BFH (big ####ing hammer)
8 hit spring with BFH to knock it out of its pirch
9 remove the springs front eye hole bolt
10 remove the top and bottom shakel bolts if you are going to replace the shackel.
remove the bottom shackel bolt if you are going to use the stock shackel.
11 pull out spring
12 mark which direction is the front eye hole.
13 put C-clamps close to the bolt holding the spring together but leave enough room to fit a dremmel tool.
14 cut the bolt off on the nut side and punch it out
15 remove clamps
16 mark the new spring pack to show were the front eye hole is ( its the beefer looking one)
17 put C-clamps on f150 spring
18 remove nut and bolt with socket (do not damage it. it will be use again)
19 grab spring/shock/brakeline attachment plate, compare the size of the center hole and the nut you just removed
20 use dremmel to make the hole bigger till the nut just fits
21 take the top spring of the f150 leaf and swap it with the top spring of the explorer. Make sure
22 all the leaves are in the correct direction, front eye hole forward
23 aline the holes, clamp, and replace the nut and bolt. the perch mount side of the bolt should be on the inside of the curve.
24 you should now have a spring with the top explorer leaf then 3 f150 leaves and and f150 overload plate
25 attach the front eye hole but, do not make it tight
26 attach the shackel, do not make it tight
27 use a jack to drive the spring into the pirch, this may require a partner to push on the spring to aline the bolt
28 attach U bolts to spring/shock/brakeline plate
29 remove jack holding spring
30 tighten eye hole bolts and shackel
31 attach shock
32 attach break line holder
33 attach tire
34 lower the car off the jack
35 move to the other side and start over
I followed the new springs by doing a torsion twist. Final measurents were 35 inches at the center of the rear fenders and 34.5 inches at the center of the front fenders. I twisted the driverside up a 1/4 of an inch that way it would be level with a full tank and driver. The truck is leaning forward a littel bit which looks aggressive.
The ride is the best part. It handels more like a sports car. It corners level. I used to have to take on-ramps at less than 50 mph, for fear of rolling over. Or i would have to take the corner wide. Now when i use a ramp i can hold 60 and feel safe or drop to 50 and take the corner tight.
What about ride quality? I drove over some bumps that i normally avoid. they were about a rough as they normally were. some roads feel slightly wash boarded. i will trade comfort for cornering.
I am very happy with this mod. It only cost 200 dollars and 4 hours of my time. Well worth the results.
