Suspension & Lifting

NO headeache at all, it just takes some time and dedication if your are doing this on your own. The Old man stuff is great and havent seen or heard of anything bad from them. Putting spring and coils are not hard at all just need a couple of simle tools if no air tools are available. spring compressor and jack/jack stands You are not going big on lift you would be getting 2 inch. But that is significant appearance change, but no cause for concern on Rollover... no worries. I have had my E pretty side ways on street and back roads and never a care for rollover. Even in my old 98 Ranger I had a wicked 5 inch lift on it and same thing, I had no concern for rollover and even worse cause that was my baja machine. OH and the CV joints, little to no concern but once again your only going 2 inches if you were to go over 4 then there would be a huge cause of conern.

Good Luck in your lift.

The struts that are OE will have no extra travel in them however the springs will extend the struts all the way out givng the appreance of a lift. So in this case you would need springs not just struts & shocks

bchunter said:

You will have to pardon my ignorance, I am new to the modding Escape scene. I have lifted other Ford trucks and wrench and mod motorbikes, but never an Escape.

What is teh difference between the struts and going with a set of four springs? I am presuming there are struts in the front along with springs and shocks and springs in the rear? So if I just get the struts like you have, do I need some springs? Pardon my confusion, lifting an Escape is all new to me.

Thanks for the help.

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Quality question is for MEGA. I went with canuck and they are ok. I cant wait to find the next best thing. Yes you can buy the springs and keep the old stuts and NO brake line extension.

Heres my take on things...Suspension travel will be limited and little stiff in everyday driving, You have to think that those springs want nothing more than to hold your vehicle up. Unless offroading, Im not talking about creeping and crawling. I mean having some speed with it. Where your chassis is constanstly wanting to work with gravity and force you to the ground. Other than that it will feel stiffer for everyday driving, not a bad thing as that will reduce pitch and roll. Traction will be fine. On braking I dont find myself pitching to one corner or the other. Where as the old set up I would find myself "diving the front end" or on turns pitching to one corner or the other. :beer:

Let us know on your progress.

:beer: :beer:

Let me know when things get goin, I would/will do business with you two. Just give me feedback as soon as you get those TOP-R tested.

Thats a 1.18 inch spring lift :thumb:

3001SKAPE said:

So ive been reading all this and up until now my plan has been OME springs and not messing with the struts,mainly because my escape is a daily driver that doesnt see dirt too often.I wanted more the looks aspect vs. actual trail preformance,but now i think ive decided to change everything and go with this OME kit
http://www.sierraexpeditions.com/index. ... tail&p=853

its quite a bit more expensive but im hoping this will give me the best all around daily driving quality and best off roadability....what yall think?? And my math isnt that great this is a 1.75 lift kit right??

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Your correct on the limiting factor, a spring itself can only expand that shock as much as the strut will let it. When the vehicle is down on the ground the front end weight takes away from the full expansion of the strut/spring. By adding a bigger spring you can eliminate that with the strut being fully expanded. YOU ARE CORRECT that it gives your MORE OF an apperance of a lift than actual suspension lift that would give you positive and negative expansion of the shock.

bchunter said:

Looking at the struts on the front, to me it appears that the limiting factor is the bracket that the spring sits on more so then the amount of lift that any spring will give you. So I am starting to think that really all the springs will do is lift the body up the said amount to give it the appearance of being higher. Am I correct in this assumption?

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I had the spring lift from Canuck, I dont know if thats what you are refering to. But if it is it was a little firmer but well worth it. Not only in apperance but hadling.

For anyone interested I have the GIZ lift kit for sale make me an offer,

GIZ INT'L Lift Kit 2" front 3" rear for Gen I II & Definitely 08 Escapes $1000 $550 +shipping is negotiable. Comes with all that is in this link, but it isnt the one with adjustable shocks
http://www.giz.com.tw/product_detail.php?pid=2&ppid=7&Id=43