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Ford Explorer Community - Maintenance - Modifications - Performance Upgrades - Problem Solving - Off-Road - Street
Explorer Forum Covers the Explorer ST, Explorer Sport, Explorer Sport Trac, Lincoln Aviator, Mercury Mountaineer, Mazda Navajo, Ford Ranger, Mazda Pickups, and the Ford Aerostar
I have been checking into upgrading my leaf springs because any time I am pulling a trailer the back end sits really low and that is with an empty trailer. While I was looking into springs I noticed there are two types spring under axle which is what I have and spring over axle. I would like to know what are the pros and cons of the different mounting types. Also can you change the from one mounting type to another?
First things first, your best bet overall is gonna be to just pick up a set of helper springs to fix that sag while towing. Hellwig makes a pretty good set and i think you can find them of ebay or amazon pretty easily. To answer your question about the two styles of spring mounting:
Honestly there isnt much difference between spring over axle (SOA) or spring under axle (SUA). If youre just towing, theres no need to worry about ground clearance issues with SUA. Thats only of concern if youre crawling or doing serious offroading. I take my mounty out all the time, SUA = no problem.
Now, with Explorers, since they are built with the SUA design, if you were to mod yours into SOA, you would gain about 4.5 inches of lift in only the rear of the vehicle. Which im sure you dont want to do. So unless you mean to lift yours in the future, scrap that idea.
If you search "leaf springs" on the site, i remember seeing mention of a company that was building customs springs but i dont know if they are still in business.
So, once again, just get a set of helper springs and if youre feeling frisky grab a new set of dorman springs from rockauto.com to replace your tired OEM springs. I was looking at em the other day and they ended up being about $400 for the set and if im not mistaken rockauto also has helper springs on the site as well.
Hope this helps
