2017 Off-Road build - Phase 1 - The Basics

[tri650]

The vehicle: 2017 Ford Expedition Limited 4WD. Purchased 1 year ago. 80K miles.

Background: I am retired (age 70). I am bored. I need a project. I just retired from motorcycles after 35 years of riding due to failing eye sight. Off-road, on road, racing, cross country, etc. Basically everything you can do on 2 wheels. I am using my "motorcycle" money to finance improvements on my Expedition. Some may suggest just buying a cheap jeep and make it into an off-road dedicated vehicle would be a better option but I have ruled that out. Don't want a third car - limited space, expense, etc. So, the Expedition is the vehicle. I live in St. Louis, MO. Here is the plan:

Phase 1 - The Basics:
I want to focus on the suspension (which I don't like) and brakes (tend to shutter when applied) and lighting (stock headlights are horrible). This will take care of the basics and then I will determine if I want to go to Phase 2 - The Off-Road Build. I will still use this for my everyday car and it will still be used for highway/distance trips.

Suspension: Planning on replacing the struts with Bilstein 5100, front and rear. I want the ability to add height for off-road. Keep stock springs. Read many posts on this option and it will set me up for Phase 2. Either way this stock suspension is scary. The back end wants to travel when going over washboard or bumps in road. A few high speed, butt puckering situations have made this a necessity. I plan on doing the work myself. Plenty of video's out there. I also plan on adding a front sway bar (Hellwig). I have a Hellwig on the back and that has helped some with the rear end sway.

Stopping power (brakes): The brakes tend to shudder when applied hard and I don't like this either. I want to replace the front and rear with Powerstop drilled rotors, calipers and pads. I am thinking the sport version over the towing version but will do more research. Opinions are appreciated. Keeping current brake lines.

Basic Lighting: Nothing new here. Stock headlights are weak and barely know they are on. Looked at Fuzed options and will go with LED's. Off-Road lighting will happen in Phase 2

Other Considerations: Regardless of which way I go, I wanted to get the basics done. Phase 2 - Off-Road Build, will look at dedicated off road tires and rims, bull bars, skid plates, extra lighting, recovery tools, etc. Plus, anything else that I come across that will make this off-road worthy. My off road riding would be primarily rock and gravel. Plenty of that around Missouri. Plus planning a trip to Buena Vista, CO in early September and would like to do some of the trails and passes. If I get into this then maybe the Continental Divide trail. Guessing this build will take a few months. Plan on doing the suspension and brakes at the same time and will do the work myself. Once I get Phase 1 complete I plan on doing some light off-roading to see how if feels. Then make decision on moving to Phase 2.

Any and all help, suggestions, opinions, etc., are welcome. I will share all of my experiences as I move along. This site has a ton of info and has been very helpful in setting up this plan.

Wally

 

[timbits588]

Interested to follow along. Do the Bilsteins work with a Limited? I wasn't sure if they are compatible with the electronic adjustable suspensions that the Limited models come with.

 

[darkmatter]

Wally, I'm near STL too and working on a similar project with a 2024 Expy Max Limited with the Stealth Performance Package. I just finished a set of 17x8.5 wheels and a combo of Ready Lift and Rough Country kits. I've dropped the back about 1.5" since the spring preload plates were a bit too much.

 

[Mark Buckner]

I'm in St. Louis as well and would be glad to get together to let you have a look at our 2012 Expedition. I have not thought about making a full list, but here are some things I have done:

- Ready-Lift 3/2 leveling lift
- Swap 20" stock wheels for 18" -
- 285/65R18 for more sidewall (10 ply) Currently Falken Wildpeak, but have also run Nitto Terra Grapplers as well.
- Replace all incandescent interior lamps with LEDs from Diode Dynamics (except those require pulling the dash)
- Replace all exterior lights (backup, tail & front/rear turn + side markers) with LEDs from Diode Dynamics
- Replace headlight bulbs with LEDs from superbrightleds.com (VERY bright but street legal) NOTE: Diode Dynamics does not make a HI-LOW Beam LED, unfortunately, but the units from superbrightleds.com are great.
- Replace front bumper with custom steel winch bumper from Iron Bull Bumpers
- Warn Zeon 12-S Platinum Winch
- Diode Dynammcs Stage Series LED Fog Lights
- Black "FORD" Raptor style grill

On the lighting side, both Diode Dynamics (St. Charles) and SuperbrightLEDs (Earth City) are local STL companies.

We do some fairly serious off-roading every fall in Colorado, and I am a pretty avid duck and upland hunter, so I get off the pavement for those activities as well. Otherwise it is also my daily driver.

Just let me know if you have questions or would like to see the vehicle.

 

[Mark Buckner]

I hit "post" a bit too soon. TO address your brake issue:

I have replaced the front rotors with drilled and slotted rotors. I think they are Powerstop, but I can't remember for sure. Rear rotors previously replaced with Bosch OEM style (no holes or slots). I noticed a definite improvement in stopping distance with the new front rotors. I think the pads are Bosch or Wagner, front and rear – nothing special.

 

[tri650]

Mark - I sent you a PM. Would definitely like to see your expedition and get your thoughts on taking it off road.

 

[Mark Buckner]

Just replied, and look forward to meeting you!

 

[dsmless]

I offroad my 2008 pretty good (not rock crawl) its not the extended length version. I have never had an issue or gotten stuck. I have beat up my OEM running boards but I just patched then up.
Just have the readylift 3/2 spacer kit on OEM struts. Running method 18” wheels on cooper all terrains 295/70r18.
I use this for hunting and camping. For lighting I just added a bunch of amazon 4”square lights to the roof rack. So since you said you were into motorcycles then your handy and have tools, so just an idea that you can due.

 

[ExplorerTom]

I’d skip the bull bar in whichever phase that was going in. Those take away from approach angle and usually bolt where the tow hooks go. The tow hooks are actually useful- the bull bar can be used to mount lights at best.

Bilstein 5100 are fantastic struts. Love mine. I’ve had them for over 4 years and about 80k miles.

Tires. Probably go with whatever size is the 33” size. The stock size is 32. Go with a nice all terrain: Falken, Toyo, BFG, etc.

Brakes. I’m a huge fan of Hawk brakes. I run their LTS pads and Talon rotors front and rear. Great cold bite and really good heat tolerance.

I’d get skid plates sooner than later. RCI Metalworks has a full set. Since these Expeditions are kinda big and the Bilstein 5100 lift doesn’t lift it THAT much, that underbelly is hanging low.

 

[eddytheexpy]

I’d skip the bull bar in whichever phase that was going in. Those take away from approach angle and usually bolt where the tow hooks go. The tow hooks are actually useful- the bull bar can be used to mount lights at best.

Bilstein 5100 are fantastic struts. Love mine. I’ve had them for over 4 years and about 80k miles.

Tires. Probably go with whatever size is the 33” size. The stock size is 32. Go with a nice all terrain: Falken, Toyo, BFG, etc.

Brakes. I’m a huge fan of Hawk brakes. I run their LTS pads and Talon rotors front and rear. Great cold bite and really good heat tolerance.

I’d get skid plates sooner than later. RCI Metalworks has a full set. Since these Expeditions are kinda big and the Bilstein 5100 lift doesn’t lift it THAT much, that underbelly is hanging low.

Just want to touch on that RCI skid plate package comment and fill you in on my experience with it. I managed to stumble across the full 10 gauge steel skid plate package for 09-14 F-150s on marketplace for $125 which was an absolute score but I had a few issues with it.

1) the transfer case skid plate absolutely will not fit. It interferes with the gas tank, does not reach the frame on the driver’s side and even if it did, you’d have to drill into the frame to mount it.

2) the rear engine skid plate made contact with the front diff (I do not have a dropped diff)

3) since the back end of the transmission skid plate didn’t have the transfer case skid plate spacing it further from the frame, it sat very close to the exhaust system. After driving for a few miles and heating it up, it expanded just enough to make contact and was vibrating against it.

4) idk if I the dude making them just did a bad job or what but once everything was on and hanging loosely and it was time to torque it all down the plates began interfering with each other and didn’t sit properly

Half of the fix for issue 2 and the full fix for issue 3: I grabbed some steel from the scrapyard and cut rectangular spacers for the all the cross member mounting points to lower the skid plates and make a little space

The other half of the fix for issue 2 and the full fix for issue 4: I drilled out the the oval bolt holes even further to elongate the oval and give it a little more play. I ground down the mounting slots deeper so there is more overlap between the plates where they meet.

I gotta say, if I paid full price for that I would not have been happy. I went on quite a journey of trial and error to make it fit right. Also, it was my first time doing any kind of metal work so I probably looked like a toddler operating an angle grinder.

If you’re used to doing that sort of work, I don’t think it would be too big of a deal. But just know, it is definitely not a plug and play situation.

Feel free to PM me about it for more info before dumping $900. I called RCI before buying it to get info about the fitment for the third gen and they had limited information which makes sense since they are more focused on F-150s plus its a bit older.

While I’m at it, I also found an F-150 grill guard for dirt cheap. My expy had the right mounting points on the frame but the front bumper wasn’t designed for it. I just wound up carefully cutting slots in the bumper to fit the mounting arms in. It turned out really nicely looks super clean. I haven’t noticed issues with the approach angle but since I’ve got the EL, I’m more worried about the departure angle.