Project Rear End

[BonesDT]

Don't forget to wear your respirator!

 

[BonesDT]

Don't even mention that ring I missed around the diff cover. I ended up rubbing extra Permatex Ultra-Black over it when I sealed the diff up.

By the way, I only used a single coat of POR-15. Again, the patience thing. I'm pretty bad with that, huh?

Here's me being **** about properly masking and plugging up the holes.

 

[BonesDT]

The first pic is a q-tip wrapped in a piece of garbage bag. The third pic are the diff cover bolts being held in a cardboard box.

 

[BonesDT]

Yes, we were very careful about the hanging pieces of heavy wet paint metal. Yes, we still ended up hitting our heads. Yes, we did do it several times.

 

[BonesDT]

painted frame

 

[BonesDT]

This is where the smiling begins:

 

[BonesDT]

This is when you start thinking that it may have been worth it after all

 

[BonesDT]

Sadly, fixing my parking brake was one of the most exciting parts for me, because it has been broken for 3 years and I have a stick shift.

Even more sadly, it still doesn't work after all this. I need new cables, again.

 

[BonesDT]

Part numbers!

 

[BonesDT]

By the way. Those four bolts you see right above that bolts the thick caliper "knuckle" (if you will), Haynes says to torque them to 80 ft-lbs (at least that's what I think they were referring to). Don't do that. Those are some nice high quality bolts factory bolts, and it sucked snapping and stretching them on one side and replacing them with low-grade Home Depot galvanized gear.

Offroaders, listen up. Below are the 4-door 4-leaf spring packs. Unlike the 2-door mono-leafs, these bad boys come with a wedge on the top. I notice the wedge came from the factory favoring the street crew. Turn them around and you got instant improved driveshaft angles for your shackle lift.

I was real worried about these leafs, especially combined with my Warrior shackles, would provide significantly more lift in the rear (which is only a bad thing because it would be going beyond the limits of the IFS). When I saw these things hang when I installed them, I was like "oh, boy". But when I finally dropped the truck on the tires, I don't think I notice any additional lift. You should note that even though there are 4 times as many leaf springs on these than the mono-leafs, the mono-leaf is a thick SOB. These things have a nice cushion to them.

Plus, I was initially installing them strictly for look purposes. I hung my head thinking it would sacrifice flex. I haven't gone flexing yet, but I'm thinking they will improve flex. First of all, they are as soft, maybe even softer than the mono-leafs. Second, I noticed the way the individual leafs separate from each other on the ends, allows the entire leaf spring to flex laterally, which I never saw my monos do. I don't know. Maybe someone can confirm this.

 

[BonesDT]

Here's something that shocked me, and I pray it wasn't like this with my old springs.

The rear brake hose is WAY too short for full suspension droop, and I hope I didn't jack the truck up earlier and put the weight of the axle on it.

I also noticed the full droop was too tall for the stock shocks by about 2 inches too. So I had to jack the axle up and put the tires on ramps to install the shocks and bolt up this brake hose.

Just make sure you guys remind me to unbolt this stuff before I jack the truck up by the frame again on my next project!

 

[1993fordexploere]

Here's something that shocked me, and I pray it wasn't like this with my old springs.

The rear brake hose is WAY too short for full suspension droop, and I hope I didn't jack the truck up earlier and put the weight of the axle on it.

I also noticed the full droop was too tall for the stock shocks by about 2 inches too. So I had to jack the axle up and put the tires on ramps to install the shocks and bolt up this brake hose.

Just make sure you guys remind me to unbolt this stuff before I jack the truck up by the frame again on my next project!

hey just bend the extention peice down a little. this will help for now

 

[Premier]

nice work bro

 

[BonesDT]

hey just bend the extention peice down a little. this will help for now

I know, I was thinking that, but that bracket is too thick to bend with pliers, and it required bending the hard line behind it and I wasn't in the mood to deal with a cracked brake line.

You can also add a simple extension bracket that bolts to the 3-way brake hose joint and to the axle, but that requires bending the hard wire laying on the axle a little too.

I think I'll just look into the extended stainless steel line. Who makes that again?

 

[Ohm]

BonesDT -

A couple of questions if you don't mind, but first let me thank you for putting together such a well document thread. I have been searching on this forum since the beginning of this year and today is the first time I have come across your post.

1) Did your new springs from LMC come with the Front / Rear Spring Eye Bushings included in the $100.00 price you quoted earlier? I am looking in the LMC Catalog right now (http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/fex/full.aspx?Page=33) and they are listing all the parts seperately. From what I see:
a) 4 Leaf Spring Packs = $99.95 / Each / 2 Required.
b) Front Spring Eye Bushing = $44.95 / Each / 2 Required.
c) Rear Spring Eye Bushings = $4.95 / Each / 4 Required.
d) Grand Total = $309.60 for both Springs.
Still not a bad price, but was wondering if maybe yours came with the bushings or if you tried to reuse the bushings from your Mono leafs (I doubt you can do that, but thought I'd put it out there).

2) Being that your Shock Mounts have the UBolts set apart aproximately 3" in width to accomate the mono leafs, have you experienced any lateral movement (in the springs) being that now you have a 1/2 inch space between the springs and UBolts on both sides. I would assume that the center pin from the new springs fits into the Spring perch and resticts such lateral movement, but then is there also such a hole in the shock mount (for the ceterbolt nut) to restict this movement at the bottom of the springs?

3) Lastly how is the POR-15 holding up, and any general comments on the LMC springs (you know ride stiffness compared to mono + settling / sagging after their 5 months in use), and also any general follow up comments that someone like me, whom is considering swapping in similar 4leaf packs for mono leaf, should be aware of?

Thanks in advanced, if your still out there!

 

[BonesDT]

1) Did your new springs from LMC come with the Front / Rear Spring Eye Bushings included in the $100.00 price you quoted earlier?

2) Being that your Shock Mounts have the UBolts set apart aproximately 3" in width to accomate the mono leafs, have you experienced any lateral movement (in the springs) being that now you have a 1/2 inch space between the springs and UBolts on both sides. I would assume that the center pin from the new springs fits into the Spring perch and resticts such lateral movement, but then is there also such a hole in the shock mount (for the ceterbolt nut) to restict this movement at the bottom of the springs?

3) Lastly how is the POR-15 holding up

Thank you!

1) Yes, the LMC springs came with new bushings installed for the $100 each.

2) It seems that you are saying the 4-door leafs are 1" narrower than the mono-leafs. I did not notice or know about this. From the below pic, it doesn't look like the 4-doors are narrower, certaintly not by a full 1". Yes, there is a center bolt that fits in the perch on the axle, but if what you say is true, then I would be concerned a little.

3) Regrettably, I got lazy and only applied a single coat of POR-15 when 2 coats is the minimum. I guess it is holding up OK, certaintly doesn't still look as nice as the pics here, but it may just be dirty.

 

[BonesDT]

any general comments on the LMC springs (you know ride stiffness compared to mono + settling / sagging after their 5 months in use), and also any general follow up comments that someone like me, whom is considering swapping in similar 4leaf packs for mono leaf, should be aware of?

Here's the real issue. I am disappointed by the LMC 4-door leafs. From the first pic you can see that although it has 3 extra leafs than the 2-door mono-leaf, the 4 leafs are thinner than the mono-leaf. When jumping on the 2 springs before I installed them, it almost seemed the 4-door leafs were looser than the mono-leaf.

Immediately after installation, I certaintly didn't get any more lift in the back like most people on this site say comes with 4-door leafs. If anything, it dropped the rear slightly. I've sinced towed a Haulmark 5x10" enclosed trailer and the rear sags big time (I have no comparison since I never towed with the mono-leafs). Presently, the rear is definately sagging slightly with no load.

The 3 pics I will post in the next post I got from the Ranger Station. My LMC 4-door leafs look more like the Broncos, with all leafs arced. Those Explorer 4-door leafs look like it has 4 leafs that are more like the thickness of my mono-leaf, with the 4th spring being an overload leaf that doesn't kick in until you go into some flex.

The second pic in this post was posted by FireZapper from his swap. His old 2-door leafs were not mono-leafs but had 2 leafs and then a 3rd flat overload leaf, while his "new" 4-door leafs also look like the heavy-duty version.

What I'm trying to say is, there are more than 1 kind of "Explorer 4-door leafs". I would blame the light-dutyness of my LMC springs on being cheap aftermarkets, but they are stamped with FoMoCo. It seems most of the people on this site have the experience with the thicker heavy-duty 4-door leafs, which may be an older model. This seems to be just another unexplainable undocumented Ford ploy, which I don't feel like wasting my time on, so I'm ending my research here.

So here's my new plan, which hopefully I will do Saturday. I'm going to remove the 4-doors I have and replace the topmost leaf (the one with the bushings) with the thicker mono-leaf. This will obviously give me at least the same stiffness as the mono-leafs alone, if not more from the additional skimpy 3 leafs.

I may take it a step further and take the topmost skinny leaf I just removed, saw off the bushing ends, and install it right under the mono-leaf making this a 5-leaf pack.

 

[BonesDT]

Old School 4-Door Leafs

 

[Maniak]

One thing that just occured to me...

multi spring leaf packs are progressive rate.. meaning the spring rate changes as it compresses (due to multiple leaves)..

A monoleaf is a single rate spring and therefore is just as stiff at the begining of travel as it is at the end..

That would mean that your test with them on the ground gave you the right results.. the pack should be softer than the monoleaf. Once you get the compressed more the leaf pack should stiffen up.

As for combining the leaves to make one pack you like.. nothing wrong with that. I'm running an old worn out pair of OME-36 springs which were already soft to begin with and replaced the 3rd leaf (I think 3rd) with a leaf from an f-150 spring pack.. I got the height back and the spring rate back that I like.

~Mark

 

[Ohm]

2) It seems that you are saying the 4-door leafs are 1" narrower than the mono-leafs. I did not notice or know about this. From the below pic, it doesn't look like the 4-doors are narrower, certaintly not by a full 1". Yes, there is a center bolt that fits in the perch on the axle, but if what you say is true, then I would be concerned a little.

I mis-spoke in my original post. The Mono leaf is not 1" wider, but I believe that it is 1/2" wider. From my research I believe the 4 Dr Leaf Packs come in around 2-1/2" wide and the mono is 3" wide (2-1/2" wide at the bushings, but overall 3" wide). So if I may correct myself, I think that you would now have a 1/4" space between your Ubolts, and the sides of your springs, as compared to the mono leaf that would have no gap.

What I'm trying to say is, there are more than 1 kind of "Explorer 4-door leafs". I would blame the light-dutyness of my LMC springs on being cheap aftermarkets, but they are stamped with FoMoCo. It seems most of the people on this site have the experience with the thicker heavy-duty 4-door leafs, which may be an older model. This seems to be just another unexplainable undocumented Ford ploy, which I don't feel like wasting my time on, so I'm ending my research here.

Yes, I have heard of different spring codes as well, but I can not say with any confidence which spring codes are the stiffest. I know my monos are a spring code L. I have read somewhere else on this forum that spring code F is the stiffest (I don't if this is true).

Just found this site http://www.justanswer.com/questions/1uswd-find-leaf-spring-code-2001

This site lists all of the spring codes for front and Rear springs for a 2001 Explorer, but does not tell which are the stiffest. I have read somewhere that Stiffness decreases as the spring code approaches Z (Example: spring code A would be Stiffer than B, which would be stiffer than C), (once again I am not sure if this is true).

So here's my new plan, which hopefully I will do Saturday. I'm going to remove the 4-doors I have and replace the topmost leaf (the one with the bushings) with the thicker mono-leaf. This will obviously give me at least the same stiffness as the mono-leafs alone, if not more from the additional skimpy 3 leafs.

I may take it a step further and take the topmost skinny leaf I just removed, saw off the bushing ends, and install it right under the mono-leaf making this a 5-leaf pack.

I would be very interested in hearing how that turns out. I have had a very similar brain storm. Since I have mono leafs on currently I thought that maybe the easiest solution for me would be to pick up another set of used mono's (I am assuming I could find these pretty cheap, being that I read a lot about individuals swapping them for 4 Dr leaf packs). I would remove 1 maybe 2 of the drop plates that are under the mono spring, and install another mono spring (of course I would have to chop off the bushings / curled ends). I am concerned about how stiff the ride could turn out, but my goal is to correct the sag, maybe get 1" of rear end lift, and increase the load carrying capacity of my explorer for my cargo carrier on the back that I load up with camping gear.

If I end up doing this I would document it on this forum and Title it "Double Mono Leaf". I think that would be original.

Anyone have any words of either encouragement or discouragement?