2003 Expedition Face Lift Begins

[Vancouver Bob]

After spending months looking at what others have done to their Expeditions I've finally decided to take the leap and go for the lift, bigger wheels and tires, and a new front bumper. Go for that Off Roader look. I don't get on the trail, although I think I could get into that, but do LOVE driving on the beach and in the sand.

Decided to start off with getting a new bumper so have that on order with WAM. They say all the parts are in and that fab starts this week. Promised me some pictures as they go so I'm excited to see the first one.

While waiting for the bumper I wanted to get her back up to factor ride height so putting on new shocks/struts and springs and figured I'd do the lift all at the same time. Decided to just go with a standard setup of individual springs and shocks/struts vs the assemblies. Primarily because I wanted to upgrade the shocks/struts a bit. Got my eBay lift kit and all the parts I need. Was hoping to find the bottom spring seats so that I could pre-assemble the set and then just swap out the old with the new but I couldn't find anyone that sold them. The instructions that came with the shocks indicated I need to use the old spring seats but it worries me a bit when I don't see anyone selling them and when I look at the shock/strut on the Ford parts diagrams they appear to come with the bottom seats attached. Anyone know if I'm in trouble already or will the old ones come off as promised by Bilstein? If all goes well I'll get these put on this weekend (although I'm thinking of what some of you have said about just paying someone $100 to do it for me and save my weekend. I'll call a couple of places and see what they would charge. I do enjoy doing my own automotive work when I can so wouldn't mind doing it but the springs worry me a bit. The Harbor Freight clam shell type spring compressor I have worked well with the Subaru springs but the Expedition springs are in a whole different league.

 

[Jay87LX]

good luck!!! keep the progress reports coming

 

[ExplorerTom]

On my Expedition, once you unbolt the shock from the axle, you can pull the axle down and the spring will fall out.

Not sure how the 03+ models are.

 

[Vancouver Bob]

With mine, the spring/shock is more like a coil over or a strut... or maybe it is a strut. You need a spring compressor to get the strut out. My hope is that the bottom spring seat comes off otherwise I'm in a bind.

Got a message from Natalie (Wam Bumpers) with photos of my bumper in progress! Looks like it's pretty far along!

 

[prez1967]

Cant wait to see your progress! Love build threads.

 

[Vancouver Bob]

As I was looking over the pictures that Natalie from WAM sent me I was reminded of a picture that I saw of another Expedition with the same bumper...



I didn't like how the ends of the bumper, where it wraps around the side of the vehicle, were open... having the thin edge of the sheet metal exposed. So I shot a note to Natalie along with a picture of what I was thinking... sheet metal welded to the very end of the bumper so that it's essentially closed off.

 

[Vancouver Bob]

That was last night... this morning she gets hold of me and said they could weld a 1 1/2" strip along the edge to close it off but didn't know how it might impact installation. It looks like there's plenty of space so I told her to go ahead. An hour or so later she sends me a couple more pictures...



They're making great progress... she thought it would be ready for paint next week. I think I'm going to go with primer and then have the bumper painted to match the Eddie Bauer trim (Arizona Beige I believe). Went back and forth between that and just black bed liner.

Also went back and forth with the number of lights to put on it. First went with a 5" set, then changed it a bigger, 6" set, then added a second set of smaller lights, then went back to a single set of 6" lights... also saved me a bit. Was getting too carried away

 

[Vancouver Bob]

Tried getting my clam shell type spring compressor on the springs in prep for the weekend. Fit fine on the rear spring but the front spring's windings are so tight I couldn't get the clamps in there. I'll have to go borrow a pair of the other type from Napa or Autozone.

 

[Vancouver Bob]

Got the spring compressor, had to buy a couple of tools I was missing size wise. Needed a 30mm socket for the giant bolt/nut holding the bottom of the sturt/shock in place along with a couple of box ends. Got the spring assembly out pretty easily with the top control arm and tie rod off. Then came the part I was dreading... the spring compressor... dant dant daaaaa. I borrowed it from NAPA and I liked that each compressor had three claws vs only two. I may have been trying to compress the spring too far, but at one point one of the bolts inside one of the claws slipped about an inch and the spring opened suddenly. Startled me. the bottom of the spring was up out of the seat a half inch or so but with the spring compressed unevenly I was afraid to pull the top nut holding the strut shaft. So just unsprung the spring and am now taking a break. The new front springs I bought also look a big different than the original. Tempted to send it all back and just buy the spring/strut assembly. Grrrr.
View attachment 19579 View attachment 19576 View attachment 19577 View attachment 19578

Once I started tightening up the spring compressor it seemed like the bolts were bowing so wasn't sure how much further I wanted to go. Maybe something I need to just pass off to someone else to do.



As I was tightening up the spring compressors it looked like the bolts were bowing in which made me nervous. Perhaps I was tightening them too much?

 

[MikeA]

Try repositioning them on the same coil
, you have it looking wierd