Friday fanaticizing: I love my 1st gen Ridgeline, but other than a 2" lift package and one very pricey set of aftermarket struts, there's fundamentally zero suspension bits out there for the thing. Honda had a short-lived off-road program for them and they actually did quite well (I suspect that IRS helped with that). Now I have some fab skills, but very little experience with strut suspension. It seems to me that if you were willing to move your top Chassis interface location you could use a strut off another more popular vehicle to get some variety and adjustability in terms of spring and dampening rates. The question is, what might a good candidate for that be? I looked at the Ridgeline sister vehicles: Pilot and MDX, and that doesn't seem too promising.
Any suggestions?
Honda seems to have figured things out for the current generation. Maybe you could try this.
Sure, I'll take one just like it!
Because nobody builds many suspension kits for minivans. 
Vigo
UltimaDork
4/26/19 10:46 p.m.
I don't really understand the question. What are you trying to accomplish? Spring rate adjustability comes from coilover spring conversion. Damping adjustability is the hard part, but i'd say it's likely that there is an adjustable strut insert out there that will fit the diameter of the stock strut housing. Might be shorter, so might have to have its bottom attachment point thingy lengthened. Might have a different threaded section on top, so minor lathe work (i have actually used a bench grinder to modify struts to fit different top hats. Depends how picky you are about looks!). But, a strut insert would save you from having to modify attachment points and would get you some kind of adjustability, and stiffer damping out of the box regardless. The strut inside diameter will be nearly impossible to find on the internet, but the length of the body section and the travel are pretty easily available because you can just look up the part on Rockauto and click the Info button on each manufacturer's part until one of them coughs up the specs. I did that for an 06 Ridgeline and got this info (scroll to bottom). I'd recommend buying the cheesiest piece of crap stock replacement strut off amazon or rockauto for like $20 and just cutting it open to get I.D. and then calling Koni to see if they have an insert that will more or less fit that. I've heard of people making bushings to fit smaller diameter inserts into larger housings. If they have something workable, you already have a strut housing or pair of struts you can 'bench build' and then swap in.
Also you might want to try to get in contact with the team that is racing Accords, Odysseys and MDXs, Team HMA. They seem pretty responsive on Instagram, at least. There are also a fair number of just 'slammed' Odysseys out there whose owners will know something about fabbing different setups in. Again with the Instagram, i follow VanKulture and they post slammed Odysseys semi-regularly. Even if you find a coilover setup that gets you spring rate and adjustability but is still lower than stock height when you crank the spring perches up all the way , it might be easier to buy that and fab a set of spacers for the upper strut mount (very common in the half-ton truck world, look up leveling kits) than put the work in to get a homebrew setup that has the height to begin with.
Either way, there is a solution out there and one of these people has done it. Just gotta find the info.
To get more than 2" out of a strut-type independent suspension arrangement without resorting to $$$ is the issue. Beyond that, redesigning the geometry seems to be mandatory. The higher you go, the more the wheels are pulled in under the vehicle and the control arm angle relative to the shock starts to reach a point of binding up. Even double wishbone designs can get silly with components wanting to occupy the same space at the same time. My truck's front suspension is double wishbone independent with struts. Any more than 2" of lift and the upper a-arm wants to be where the spring perch is at top-out.
My think is, for all of the R&D required to lift independent suspension, maybe the R&D can go into some sort of portal axle lift arrangement. However, unsprung weight and track width and spiraling out of financial control there too. However, they're now available for sxs atvs.
2" suspension lift is going to be at the upper limits of everything without breaking out the cubic dollars. Even with a puny 2" lift, expect to be burning through CV axles and balljoints at an alarming rate, the big bro wheels and tires needed to fill out the wheelwells will kill the MPG, the car-like ride will go to pot, and the turning radius will decrease quite a bit.
Essentially the reason there are no parts to do it is it is kind of silly to lift a Ridgeline. They are a car-based manvan for guys who want to look like they own trucks in the Home Derpot parking lot but still appear non-threatening at soccer games.
If the lifted cute truck is what you are after, Ranger Raptor, Colorado Z71, or TRD Taco is where its at these days. And those all come with their own sets of compromises.
I can get the sentiment. But I’ll equate it to my current situation. I drive an EM2 civic (nonSI version of the much maligned 01-05 series) and have had some money to start messing with it. While it’s possible to make it interesting with K swaps, coil overs, etc. the reality is that beyond better tires and TSX sways (done) there’s not much to be gained from it without costing the equivalent of a new car. Instead, I’m just enjoying it as the appliance it is and saving money to get something more sporting. Lifting a Ridgeline seems just as fruitless as putting coil overs on my Civic and the best solution is drive it and enjoy it for what it is, then save the money for a rig that takes to modding well.
Edit: just my 2 cents. I don’t really know anything.
