7.3 excursion 4 link rear lowered.

EPA

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I will add as I have time... I also have some youtube videos I will link... I will make more videos if I get requests just let me know what you want to see... Also video kinda sucks still getting the hang of it haha.

This is my 03 excursion... Finally decided to give it a proper setup. 4 link rear. Air bags. Will also be doing some interior and performance mods... Not rich, hate credit cards and looking to buy a home in the near future... so at times progress will be slower haha. Not a garage rig... It tows, drives on and off road rain or shine haha.
 

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EPA

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Unfortunately I didnt take pictures of the old leaf springs or the diff before 4 link brackets..

Total cost so far is right around $500
This is all .250 wall 2 inch dom... Ballistic joint on the pan hard along with a Barnes 4wd bushing on the frame end.
4 link bars have bushings on the frame side and 1 1/4 heims on the diff side... Zero bind at any articulation... Tried Bushings on both ends I could feel some binding during certain articulation tests with the floor jack, so decided on heims... And it worked out great.. Bags are re8 slam specialties rated to 200psi... Also 8000lbs of lift each at 200psi.... Did some calculations on spring rate all technical boring stuff but I should be able to achieve ride height at a low psi (lower spring rate) and being I still will be using shocks (adds some spring rate) the ride should be nice. Pan hard is level with diff at ride height this is what you should always to achieve with a pan hard. Couldnt loaf pictures I will try to later tonight.
I suck at this, I usually just build and never take but a couple pictures.... so if you have anything specific you want to see or know let me know asap before she's back on the road haha.
The cardboard is how I mocked everything up before cutting steel I cut all this with a grinder haha.. Notice the steel plate next to the tire looks like my cardboard stencil.
 

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EPA

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I will post a break down of material/specs and cost once its all complete.
 

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EPA

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Gets close to the gas tank fully compressed but not close enough to raise concern... Could have used a smaller bar size as all aftermarket kits do including kelderman but I hate seeing a diesel truck with wimpy pan hard bars on air ride. A bit over kill never hurts.
 

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EPA

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Thanks.... If you want to see anything specific feel free to ask.
These are some cardboard stencils I made for mock up... Also used abs pipe as the link bars to get measurements.
 

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Strokersace

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How long is the panhard bar? How much side to side movement is there between fully inflated to ride height as well as the inverse (fully empty to ride height)?

How long are the 4 link bars? How do they mount to the frame?
 

ja_cain

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Awesome job! I would love to do something like this. Your mig welds look beautiful too!

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 

Zeb

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How many psi will you need in the bags at ride height?
Will you have a leveling valve to automatically adjust ride height?
What compressor and how much storage tank capacity?
 

EPA

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How many psi will you need in the bags at ride height?
Will you have a leveling valve to automatically adjust ride height?
What compressor and how much storage tank capacity?

The plan and calculation is 40-50ish.... We will see haha..
I won't be doing any leveling switches at the moment just because of funds... But the plan is to add some later.. I would like to set up some sort of ecu to control the air ride this way at a flip of a switch I can choose from different suspension characteristics...
Looking at a 5-8 gallon tank... No compressor yet... Other then the crap tire inflator I carry at all times haha... Should get me out of a pinch if I ever have an issue. Once again funds start to run low... I know I need a transmission soon and that will wipe out my play funds.... Plan is dual 100% duty cycle 480cc viar or similar compressors... At that time I may add a ridiculous train horn. Haha.

Once again thank you all for the comments!
 
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EPA

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How long is the panhard bar? How much side to side movement is there between fully inflated to ride height as well as the inverse (fully empty to ride height)?

How long are the 4 link bars? How do they mount to the frame?

Pan is 40-41ish still adjusting it all haha.. Could have gone an inch or 2 longer but I wanted to leave room to be able to mount the shocks on the back side and outer ends of the diff... Max side to side I see is a bit .250ish max extension Normal driving won't see that amount of travel...Compressed I see about .20.
Pan is flat at ride height I just have way more rise.
Bars are 30ish on centers. I bought some 4 link frame brackets to weld onto the frame. I'm working on some additional overkill brackets for that as well haha... Axle didn't warp, slid in a solid diff bar to check, I jigged the frame with some scraps I had to keep it from doing any tricks on me haha. Setup is very similar to another truck I built... Worked great for it long bed 4 door... Only difference is the type of airbags and the heims.
Noticed my wheel was loose so I took the measurement again haha. But roughly 1/4 inch.. Side to side.

Random picture of bags im using... For anyone who is curious. Nice thing is that they do not balloon... So 8 inches is the max diameter no matter how much load or air they have.
 

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Zeb

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The plan and calculation is 40-50ish.... We will see haha..
I won't be doing any leveling switches at the moment just because of funds... But the plan is to add some later.. I would like to set up some sort of ecu to control the air ride this way at a flip of a switch I can choose from different suspension characteristics...
Looking at a 5-8 gallon tank... No compressor yet... Other then the tire inflator I carry at all times haha... Should get me out of a pinch if I ever have an issue. Once again funds start to run low... I know I need a transmission soon and that will wipe out my play funds.... Plan is dual 100% duty cycle 480cc viar or similar compressors... At that time I may add a ridiculous train horn. Haha.

Once again thank you all for the comments!

:thumbsup:
 

EPA

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So thanks to Zeb I decided to buy a nice aluminum tank, AVS controller and solenoid... Compressor coming soon. Still waiting on some hardware... Fastenal is crazy expensive and big box stores don't carry what I need haha.
Tank is slim 5 gallon rated to 250psi... No welds on the tank... All lines will be 3/8... Smaller is too slow bigger is too fast haha. Wanted 8 gallon but didn't fit unless installed inside and I dont want to take up that flat space.
 

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Zeb

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So thanks to Zeb I decided to buy a nice aluminum tank, AVS controller and solenoid... Compressor coming soon. Still waiting on some hardware... Fastenal is crazy expensive and big box stores don't carry what I need haha.
Tank is slim 5 gallon rated to 250psi... No welds on the tank... All lines will be 3/8... Smaller is too slow bigger is too fast haha. Wanted 8 gallon but didn't fit unless installed inside and I dont want to take up that flat space.

Very nice!
What are the tank dimensions?
Where will the tank be mounted?
 

EPA

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34 inches in length with a 7 inch diameter. Will be mounted on the frame rail inner drivers side basically sits right under the driver seat and rear passenger.. Fits over the transmission cross member aswell... Wanted longer but the fuel lines were in the way haha.. Didnt want to mess with all that at the moment.
 

Zeb

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34 inches in length with a 7 inch diameter. Will be mounted on the frame rail inner drivers side basically sits right under the driver seat and rear passenger.. Fits over the transmission cross member aswell... Wanted longer but the fuel lines were in the way haha.. Didnt want to mess with all that at the moment.

10-4. That seemed like the most logical mounting place to me, but was curious what you had planned.
What compressor are you going with?
 

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Quick update... Havent had much time to mess with the excursion... I did test out the 4 link on some coils I had sitting around. Huge difference in keeping the wheels planted. Drove it around for a couple weeks with coils just to get a feel for things. Today I finally finished my frame/ airbag bracket.... 1 of 2... Still working on the 2nd.
Truck lifts to ride height with 55ish psi...
Here are some pictures of the brackets with bags in place. I ran out of washers fyi... Also need to sand and finish painting the removable bracket... The bolts on the bracket do not hold the weight of the truck... I have square tubing in between the angle iron and air bag top mount so the weight rests on the angle iron not the bolts located at the gussets.

Also the pump is a viair 100% duty cycle think it was 480cc. Was going to install a belt driven pump a friend has from an old 7.3 box truck but decided this would be enough for a non show purpose set up.
 

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Zeb

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Quick update... Havent had much time to mess with the excursion... I did test out the 4 link on some coils I had sitting around. Huge difference in keeping the wheels planted. Drove it around for a couple weeks with coils just to get a feel for things. Today I finally finished my frame/ airbag bracket.... 1 of 2... Still working on the 2nd.
Truck lifts to ride height with 55ish psi...
Here are some pictures of the brackets with bags in place. I ran out of washers fyi... Also need to sand and finish painting the removable bracket... The bolts on the bracket do not hold the weight of the truck... I have square tubing in between the angle iron and air bag top mount so the weight rests on the angle iron not the bolts located at the gussets.

Also the pump is a viair 100% duty cycle think it was 480cc. Was going to install a belt driven pump a friend has from an old 7.3 box truck but decided this would be enough for a non show purpose set up.

Nice update! Been wondering about this project.

Really curious about the ride at 55psi. Seems a little high, but the only air ride I have any experience with was my semi. Much larger diameter bag, but I only had 18psi on the (4) bags with the truck empty, and 65 psi with 34,000 lbs sitting on the drives.
Keep us posted!
 
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