Stock Replacement Front Springs

[TedJ]

So it seems it has come time to replace the front springs on my 94 Sport. I think they are saging, especially the driver's side. Measuring the tire-body gap, the rear is almost equal, but the front is about 1in lower on the driver's side. I have to do the shocks too anyway so I figure they can't hurt.

I basically drive on-road, lots of crappy hole-laden NJ roads and highways, so ride comfort and handling are what I am looking for.

I was thinking about getting these springs:

Moog CC868, described as heavy duty variable rate.

Are these a good choice? What other options do i have?

 

[Anime]

Usually the body lean is caused by the wearing out of the driver side leaf spring.

You might try and free up the rear leafs first, then swap them side to side to fix the problem, rather than attacking it from the front.

It might not make too much sense at first, but the weight of the gas tank over the driver side rear makes the passenger side rear go up, and consequently the driver side front goes down.

It's tough to ever really have a completely level Explorer without having enough gear (or a bumper-mounted spare and gas can) on the rear passenger side, or just always running a half tank of gas. Also, when you swap the leaf springs, consider buying new spring pads (the nylon spacers sandwiched between the ends of the main and second leafs), since they usually wear down to nothing and new ones give smoother performance, quieter springs, and a tiny bit of height restoration.

It can be a bear of a job to get the leaf spring bolts out, especially in front if they have rusted themselves into the spring eye bushing, but some work with a cutting wheel or sawzall, and a urethane bushing kit, plus new 14mm bolts, and you can do it.


As for new springs, the Moogs are pretty good if you can get them at a decent price. Progressive springs have their place, but I tend to prefer matching springs front and rear, and from my experience so far, the factory coils and leafs are quite nice for both on and off-road. New leafs are quite expensive, so sometimes a better option is just getting the passenger side leaf off a donor Explorer (being sure it is a multi-spring leaf and not using a monoleaf) and putting it on the drivers side. The same can be done with the coils as well, although it's debatable on whether or not the driver side coil is affected much (or even barely as much as the leaf is) by the weight of the driver and gas tank over time to require swapping out.

 

[ricco750]

So it seems it has come time to replace the front springs on my 94 Sport. I think they are saging, especially the driver's side. Measuring the tire-body gap, the rear is almost equal, but the front is about 1in lower on the driver's side. I have to do the shocks too anyway so I figure they can't hurt.

I basically drive on-road, lots of crappy hole-laden NJ roads and highways, so ride comfort and handling are what I am looking for.

I was thinking about getting these springs:

Moog CC868, described as heavy duty variable rate.

Are these a good choice? What other options do i have?

I put these springs on my Ex two years ago when I replaced ball joints and tie rod ends. They are excellent, and made a very noticeable difference in reducing "dive" when hard cornering. No regrets on this mod.

 

[TedJ]

Anime, some really good info there. The Moog springs are under $100 shipped (pair) at Rockauto so its not much for them. I agree that the leafs do sag. I have my 50lb toolbox on the passenger side of the cargo area for exactly that reason.

I think just as the leafs can influence the front end coils the coils can influence the leafs the same way. Since the leafs are very very expensive, I think that swapping them or finding a replacement passenger side would be a good idea. I did look at the leafs after seeing how much the coils were and i was very much at that time.

I'm not really sure how to explain it, but even with a 1/4 tank of gas the front left always feels soft on cornering to me.....

Being that I also plan on maybe adding a brush gaurd which is another 50lb on the front end, and ricco's recommendation (I love hearing from people who have used the parts, thanks), I think I will toss a set of the springs on and see what they do. I'd LOVE to reduce that dive in hard cornering. I don't see any reasons not to do so now. The thing that was scaring me was the heavy duty part, and I wasn't sure if that meant they were going to be very stiff.