Explorer gets bouncy/kinda like floating above 80mph

[joney]

The motorcrafts are for soccer mom comfort. I suggest for a sport especially to get the monore coil over helpers in the back (spring and shock, like others said sports pretty much have a piece of sheetmetal for a spring) and probably KYB monomax in the front. I have Reflex but you would probably have to find NOS. The ride will stiffen up and you have better control, it is still is a truck so you have to avoid crazy driving. Those fixes will clean up much of the float and, bodyroll, but you may have more "road feel." It will ride more like a sportscar. It also makes the car safer in some ways because it don't allow the roll center to move and cause tilt (but may affect oversteer).

I actually have "A" rated torsion bars in the front, which is a stiff spring rate. (there are 3 grades, there should be a letter visible where your sway bar comes out of your control arm). You can still get new swaybars because they were used till 2012 in the Rangers. Probably a very optional mod.

Replace all the sway bar end links with a poly kit, very easy mod and cheap.

2wd sports have the worst rollover rates of almost any car (this is from gov't statistics). I wonder if it that is because of the low spring rate, short wheelbase, and no extra 4wd weight down low. (or maybe bad drivers :lol.

So, just wondering, if you carried 200 lbs of kitty litter sacks on the back seat floors, would it stabilize or lower the center of gravity enough?

 

[Mbrooks420]

So, just wondering, if you carried 200 lbs of kitty litter sacks on the back seat floors, would it stabilize or lower the center of gravity enough?

Enough for what? You’d never carry it low enough. Pretty much all the weight you carry in the cab will raise its center of gravity and increase braking distance.

 

[C420sailor]

That, and you have to consider moment of inertia in a dynamic system. Any mass you add has inertia. In some cases, adding mass above the CG can actually increase “stability”, contrary to popular belief. It’s why many sailboats without masts installed are actually less stable, colloquially speaking.

The opposite can also be true. You can add a ton of mass to lower the CG, but once that mass starts moving (like in body roll), Sir Isaac Newton and his pesky law of inertia becomes a factor. It will want to keep rolling...

In short, be careful using loads, especially unsecured, in an attempt to change handling and stability characteristics. Beware unintended consequences...

 

[CDW6212R]

The 1st and 2nd gen trucks have relatively soft suspensions in new form, with lots of sway due to the high CG and pliable suspension.

You can help it slightly by keeping new stiffer shocks on it, but stiffer springs and sway bar bushings will help much more. So will lowering it a little which brings the CG down, reducing more body roll.

FYI, the rear fifth shock should be replaced and make it a stiff one like Bilstein sells. Off road trucks of course need more pliable suspensions, so all of this is contrary to what those need for their usage.

The best answer is still not to be going 80mph or more.

 

[swshawaii]

Good points Don. IIRC, two door Sports weren't equipped with the axle damper "fifth shock". Would love to see the OP find and install a larger REAR sway bar. Too bad the Explorer Express X-Spec, Addco 633, and Hellwig 7648 have all been discontinued. Made a HUGE handling difference on mine. Not just cornering, but at highway speeds or when windy. Best handling upgrade I've EVER done, nothing else comes close.

 

[CDW6212R]

Ditto, the bigger rear sway bar helped mine a ton also. I had a rear end link bushing come apart, and I could feel the difference and that's how I found it. It was sloppy in any hard cornering and I looked under it and spotted the bad end link. That's the only rear end link I've ever had go bad, it was not long after I bought that truck.

The EE rear sway bar is the big one.

 

[swshawaii]

Don, you're lowered correct? If so, are you going to install the beefier and shorter K80268 rear end links? L/R bottom pics if you haven't seen them.

Modifying a 99 just for me

I have finally convinced my self that keeping the old girl is the way to go. I purchased her on October 28 2016 with 146,329 miles and I've only added 6300 miles since then. It begin as a purchase of necessity, I owned a low mileage 96 F150 5.0 short bed, but could no longer drive it. Two years...

www.explorerforum.com

 

[CDW6212R]

Yes, my Mercury is lowered with the EE kit. I haven't needed the shorter links badly, but I do have those saved in a watch list for later.

 

[El Predicador]

Probably wouldn't experience any problems on a 1/4 mile race track @ 80 mph.

 

[Mbrooks420]

Probably won’t make it to 80 on a 1/4 track.

 

[Orrsa]

Thank you 96eb96, I'll get some monomax shocks in the front, and get those nice monroe coil-over ones in the back. Which will help since I get this a good bit of weight in the back most of the time. I'll also get a poly kit for the front sway and rear stabilizer. I don't care how hard it rides as long as it will stay planted (for an SUV).

 

[donalds]

Probably won’t make it to 80 on a 1/4 track.

Makes me wonder what my time would be

 

[94Eddie]

Makes me wonder what my time would be

There are phone apps that work reasonably well for 0-60 and 1/4 mile runs. They will get you in the ballpark as to what is possible.

 

[Orrsa]

The motorcrafts are for soccer mom comfort. I suggest for a sport especially to get the monore coil over helpers in the back (spring and shock, like others said sports pretty much have a piece of sheetmetal for a spring) and probably KYB monomax in the front. I have Reflex but you would probably have to find NOS. The ride will stiffen up and you have better control, it is still is a truck so you have to avoid crazy driving. Those fixes will clean up much of the float and, bodyroll, but you may have more "road feel." It will ride more like a sportscar. It also makes the car safer in some ways because it don't allow the roll center to move and cause tilt (but may affect oversteer).

I actually have "A" rated torsion bars in the front, which is a stiff spring rate. (there are 3 grades, there should be a letter visible where your sway bar comes out of your control arm). You can still get new swaybars because they were used till 2012 in the Rangers. Probably a very optional mod.

Replace all the sway bar end links with a poly kit, very easy mod and cheap.

2wd sports have the worst rollover rates of almost any car (this is from gov't statistics). I wonder if it that is because of the low spring rate, short wheelbase, and no extra 4wd weight down low. (or maybe bad drivers :lol.

I have recentyly upgraded shocks to the KYBs and added the poly kit. I also have Michelin LTX (oversized) and now have a good tight ride with minimal pothole rebound .
1993 4W Explorer 150k miles

 

[Mbrooks420]

Makes me wonder what my time would be

You’d break 80.

 

[CDW6212R]

Makes me wonder what my time would be

Your truck is probably in the 15 second range, that might be 90mph+.

I have a VC2000 test device to use if I ever get another worthy car to use it for. Those are very good, but they require a level road or the incline affects the times. It's cheating to test going downhill, and it hurts a lot to test going up an incline. I learned that with my first Mark VII, it was about 1/2 second faster on the downhill section of an interstate spot I used to like, versus the other direction. it was a nice safe long stretch that looked flat, but testing it the other direction pointed out the issue.

 

[CDW6212R]

I had to take a trip down the interstate in my 01 explorer sport, at over 260000 miles now. I get that it's a barn door, after I hit 80mph and over it got really "floaty" and when I would hit a bunch of bumps it bounced (long bounces) 6 times before getting steady again. Kinda like an old classic car when it hits a bump, just like a land boat. It has 15000 miles on the shocks (motorcraft front, monroe rear) and front end. Is this a normal thing for these explorers? I'm use to it being so much more planted so it was a scary experience when it started handling bad. Under 80 it handles fine.

Go through the suspension and replace the main items mentioned in here. Plus change the tire sizes, choose a lower profile tire, that will make a bunch of difference in handling at all speeds.

 

[239]

As far as shocks go, I’ve had RS9000XL’s for two years now and they’re the best shocks I’ve ever had on the X. I have the front torsion bars cranked and it still feels like a comfortable ride. I like that you can adjust them too if you need to make them more stiff.

 

[LJM's98Exploder]

I had to take a trip down the interstate in my 01 explorer sport, at over 260000 miles now. I get that it's a barn door, after I hit 80mph and over it got really "floaty" and when I would hit a bunch of bumps it bounced (long bounces) 6 times before getting steady again. Kinda like an old classic car when it hits a bump, just like a land boat. It has 15000 miles on the shocks (motorcraft front, monroe rear) and front end. Is this a normal thing for these explorers? I'm use to it being so much more planted so it was a scary experience when it started handling bad. Under 80 it handles fine.

Okay, i just wanted to make sure it was somewhat normal. Believe it or not though I get 19.8 mpg running long fast highway trips.

I have a 98 xlt 4.0v6 I picked this one up cheap cheap and it had the same ride quality SCARY ! is a good description with 4 BAD Shocks oh by the way don't forget that 5th shock (Rear Diff to frame) that's supposed to lesson body roll (made a big change in mine) I went with a matching set of mid grade Monroe's now I'm going to switch the rears for some coil overs in hopes of fixing a rear sag and lean to one side I also replaced the upper control arms, (complete) lower ball joints, hub assembly's the ball joints were REALLY bad all this resulted in a car that bumped steered , wondered the lane after just a Chore to drive . drives like a dream now with the new wheels & tires 235/60/18 the wheels came from a Chrysler 300 m car but work nicely anyway the point of this rambling is be sure to check those front end parts these big vehicles eat up that stuff I have 297506 miles on mine still runs strong with even comp across the board

 

[Mbrooks420]

The 5th shock does nothing for body roll.