That Lriga 🐊

It happened finally I’ve been sitting on a code for a little while waiting to see what happens, but lately it seems like engagement on here dropped HARD and feels like this app is finally dying So if this post graces your timeline, please follow Lriga on da blu-ski :)

@ExitioRegem Yeah, this is it with a 1” front level, I added 3 more inches to it

@Lriga_ Oh shit, thats 4 inch?

“Why would you lift a Ford Flex?” Idk look at it 😍🧱

@6loodyfuckface Haha yeah it was too much toe in the suspension. I fixed it in like 3 minutes.

@Lriga_ Did you figure out that issue with the suspension rising when you get going?

@ExitioRegem 4” should technically be a massive lift, just on a Ford Flex it brings it about on par with other stock SUVs lmao

@Lriga_ Tbh, it does look good with a small lift

@ndgo1370 I wanted six spoke wheels on it and this was an inexpensive way to do it. Briefly looked into the new wheels off a GMC terrain but cheap take-offs are MUCH harder to come by

@Lriga_ the ranger black appearance package wheels and tires are like wildly disgusting.

@BreadedNeds @ChosenWorks Omg I wondered what those threaded holes were for. Idk anything about dynamic ride, but I might look into airbags or something for the rear if I get a lot of sag when I tow

I absolutely love mine. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I wanted to try swapping in the dynamic ride system from an MKT. I can find the struts easily, but the ride height sensors don't show up in any parts diagrams. I'd practically have to buy a donor MKT to get all the sensors + vdm + harnesses, plus new struts. The Flex already has the bosses in the LCA and body for the ride height sensors, I've noticed.

@BreadedNeds @ChosenWorks Yeah Tbf I’m doing a lot of things to it that are obscuring the trim haha! I got a good deal on this ecoboost and it was cheaper to have the engine gone over than to even find one for sale at a decent price

@Lriga_ @ChosenWorks Oh good. I didn't see the rear shot. In my defense, that's 18 posts down on your timeline. Love the Titanium taillights, absolutely ridiculous that Ford dropped that option.

@BreadedNeds @ChosenWorks Or you could just… look for the badge

I hope so but I'm leaning towards no 😞 Can't tell what year it is, only that it's a 2013-2019 Limited without the tech package (no front bumper sensor). 2017-2019 required tech package for EcoBoost. Normally it also includes 20" tires but these are clearly swapped for more meat. And the video of it pulling forward and back, it doesn't *sound* like a direct-injected motor, but that could also be the microphone or the phone trying to noise-cancel.

@eddiebrannan @ABOVEtheCLOUDS8 It is the same platform used on the Ford Explorer! Everything can be swapped between the two, including readily available off-the-shelf lift kits for the Explorer, which is what I installed! Idk why nobody has lifted them!

@ABOVEtheCLOUDS8 @Lriga_ As a Flex owner since 2015 I was always told you couldn't lift one. Something about the suspension/struts design preventing it (I don't recall the details, but I remember searching for info about it years ago).

Ok I’m baffled. The lift is in, but when I drive forward the front end picks all the way up, and when I reverse it sinks back down. Aka, almost the entire weight of the car is being picked up by the front axles??? I’ve never seen this before

its cool how cars have blood and guts

@Sleepfuly I think in the modern age of engineering and mechanical expectations that we can be caught off guard and find wonder and bewilderment in something simple as seeing a car lift itself up 4” in the air for seemingly no reason, because magic is just science we are yet to understand.

@Lriga_ “let me show twitter how retarded i am”

Why it doin that

@polarheart_ That was my first thought but all the backlash in the drivetrain should release when I shift from drive to reverse. I’m now 90% sure it’s because I haven’t corrected for toe-in on the alignment, and the grip from the tires is pulling the control arms in and pushing the car up

@Lriga_ Absolute spitball here but i wonder if the front axle joints are all geometrically fucked up now and its starting to apply forces at weird angles to the knuckles.

@icedoutdale Realistically are you an AI bot because how did you exactly describe the function of a sway bar but totally miss that a sway bar is for stabilizing left to right movement and not front to back movement

Newbies to my account unfamiliar with my game lol I’ve been lifting cars for 10 years guys I think I’ve got a handle on it Though I do appreciate the input and it’s actually very funny that it’s because the alignment is just a little off lmao

@Spottyroo Pretty sure it’s an alignment issue. All explorers have factory 1.25” subframe spacers, I’m not sure it’s obvious unless you see one next to a flex or Taurus in a junkyard. I cycled the suspension and steering during the install and things are pretty tight in there without them.

@Lriga_ Oh ok we had to take a lift off of an explorer but they didn’t do subframe spacers like they should have. I’m wondering if the struts are actually binding. Any other weird angles like the sway bar? It’s not super toe’d in is it?

@LeviBetz Yeah it hasn’t been aligned yet and I had this revelation as well

@Lriga_ Probably when you drive forward the toe is pulling the arms inward jacking the car and in reverse the opposite happens. Probably some crazy control arm angles causing lots of horizontal scrub in the tires through the travel.

@SPDeezNuts Haha the control arms didnt have any play that I could tell but one of the ball joint boots is ripped so some new ones would probably help. I realized it only looks that way when I first take it off jack stands and the suspension hasn’t settled which makes sense

@Lriga_ That kinda toe in or out could definitely do that! I’d just start with an alignment first and see if you can get it close to spec as far as toe is concerned, and then work from there. Binding the arms under inertia can exacerbate worn bushings and the like, so it’s worth a look.

@loosenedspirit I have 2 other unibody/macpherson strut vehicles that are lifted 4” and this is the first time that I’ve ever seen this. I’m pretty sure it’s excessive toe-in in the alignment that I have to address, but I’m installing subframe spacers soon to level out the suspension components

@Lriga_ Real talk, you probably cammed over the natural anti-lift/anti-squat with that lift and now instead of being a 0.5x multiplier on movement it’s a 2x

@SPDeezNuts The spacers did have an offset, but it was only for camber and not caster. On my other cars I drilled relocation holes in the body to pull the struts back but I was hoping to not have to do that here 😓

@SPDeezNuts I think this is the closest so far because I haven’t done an alignment yet and it might be 1 or 2 degrees toe in, I think the wheels are pulling the control arms down & in which is lifting the car up. If it was caused by the axles then it would drop the second I changed gear.

@Spottyroo I had to compress the struts a couple inches to get them installed. I have subframe spacers that I pulled off an explorer but it turns out the bolts are thinner on the Flex so I ordered them and hopefully when I install them it will give me more ideal axle angles

@Lriga_ Also, did you have to compress the springs just to install the struts to the vehicle or was that for something else?