2001 Expedition - Air Spring Removal / Conversion

I have a 2001 Expedition ,The air suspension has gone out two times in 1 month so i decided to do away with it and convert it to a coil over conversion from Strutmasters .It is a simple bolt in kit and i will no longer have to worry about loosing air pressure miles from home .The kit will be delivered today so i figured i would remove the air bags and have it ready . Going to start with the rear first .

I got it up on the lift and removed the rear tires . I then removed the clip at the top of the air spring that holds it in place .
Next i removed the clip the holds in the air hose and wiring . The fitting turns about 1/4 turn and pulls out .

The bottom of the spring just sets on the mount on the rear end but i had to pry it up with a screw driver and the air spring is ready to pull out .

I then did the same on the other side . Next i removed the ride height sensor on the rear end , it is held in place pretty much the same way as the hood struts . I then taped up all the wire connectors and zip tied them up into the frame
I took the bottom bolt out of the rear shock so the rear will sag and I may have to take the sway bar loose to get the rear end to drop enough to get the new springs in place
but i will wait until i get the kit first ,i don't want to have to remove any more than i have to. The tracking shows the kit will be delivered about 1 oclock to day so i will try to get the rear of the truck done today.The rear is ready to assemble

My Strutmaster kit made it in just before 1 oclock ,right on time . It has 2 stage Eibach coils and coil over gas front shocks . I bought new Gabriel rear shocks. Total on the kit was $436 with shipping ,a lot cheaper than replacing the air suspension.

The first thing i bolted in was the rear shocks ,tops only for now .

It's kind of a tight fit getting the rear coils in but they slipped right in .
The tops of the coils go in first . I had to pry down on the rear end to get the driver coil to seat on the rear housing but the pass side went right in.

I had to use a floor jack and a 2x4 under the rear housing to lift the rear end up so the shocks could be bolted at the bottom, only about 1 inch. The rear springs are finished and i am moving on to the front .

The first thing i did on the front was to remove the front Air shock .They are also gas charged so not a lot of fun to remove ,I would collapse them and they would stretch back out before i could pull them out i should have wired them closed but i couldn't close them and wire them at the same time . Finally got them out .

The instructions say to take the two top bolts out of the upper control arms and swing the control arm out of the way ,However...
if you do you have to realign the front end .I simply unbolted the ball joint from the spindle and slipped in the front coilover shock .
No realignment needed .
I unbolted the front ride height sensor ,unplugged it and taped up the connector and zip tied the wire out of the way
I had to use a floor jack and 2x4 under the front lower control arm to lift it up to get the nut back on the upper ball joint ,about 1 inch and the driver side was finished

The pass. side went a lot faster ,it doesn't have the ride sensor .
Tires back on and ride height looks great . About the same as when in all wheel drive .
I took it for a spin ,the front feels great . The rear is a bit stiff but i have removed the third row seat and that sucka is heavy so that probably makes the difference . The air ride was much smoother but the up keep and cost just wasn't worth it . The new coils are better ride than my Mom and Dads 2001 Expedition non air bag so all in all i am happy with it ,and i should not have to work on it again for some time i hope .
EDIT , the whole disassembly and re assemble took about 3 1/2 hours so it is pretty simple

I have put a few miles on it now ,the front feels really good . For some reason the steering seems a bit more sensitive .The one thing i really noticed is squeaks and rattles inside that where not there before .
It transmits a bit of road noise inside ,but not a lot ,this thing is very quiet inside ,i can't even hear the motor run. I can definitely feel the back end more ,it chatters over rough road that the air suspension just glided over. The front feels pretty much the same .The air ride Was better, but i guess you can't have everything . It handles well and i will be pulling a trailer behind it to swapmeets so the rear coils will be better in the long run.