1st Gen Off Road capabilities?

[SnuffThePunkz]

Hey so I'm new to the forum, long time lurker.

I recently had a daughter so my current DD 92 F-250HD Diesel has become horribly convenient for lugging the family around, and after looking around at a mess of vehicles and ended up where I kinda felt I would.

I like the vehicle on paper.
4 full doors (No more ****ing folding down front seats!!!)
3 Rows for when she gets older and has friends or family trips
Solid link'd rear axle (Years of stiff as hell leaf packs)
Simple IFS to maintain/tweak (No Dana 50!)

How are these things off road?
I'm a long time luster of the lifted Expedition thread. The problem is 99% of the photos are of guys parked in their parking lot. I've scoured youtube and come up with maybe 1/2 a dozen video's of guys actually doing more than driving on gravel trails and most of them are just dumb kids trashing their parents trucks in puddles and mud.

I love trail riding, we have great forests and mountains where I live, old mines, ghost towns and I want to explore them with the family without hesitation.

There will be no real rock crawling other than the off rock slide (Maybe 3-5 in almost 10 years of hitting the bush), lots of loose rock/mud, slick rock etc. Nothing I couldn't handle in my truck when it was stock with a factory rear locker.

Long term it'll get a RCD 5", winch, bumpers etc. Short term it'll get 7700 torsion bars, some cranked torsion keys and longer springs in the rear. If it comes with air bags those will be ripped out. Maybe a Body Lift if I find I don't have the axle clearance I'm satisfied with.

Tell some stories if you got them, or share photo's video's I'd love to geek out.

 

[ExplorerTom]

Mine is virtually stock. It has some 18" wheels with tires that are around 32" tall. I've done some trails with mine. And because the vacuum system in the front axle disconnect isn't working like it should, I did the trail completely in RWD.

It's not a great offroader- but nothing in this size category is going to be IMO. It's wide. It's long. And mine has running boards. My 2nd gen Explorer is MUCH more capable offroad but can't haul the family + 2 dogs camping.

Since you aren't expecting it to do too much, the Expedition should work out fine for you.

Here's a pic of the last trail I did. Roughly 12,500 feet in elevation.

 

[SnuffThePunkz]

After wheeling for years in my truck, the width and length of an expy will probably seem like and improvement.

I was looking at the Exploders and I ran into the same issue I had with the Nissan Xterra's. I'm just not comfortable in them being a larger guy. So I'm kinda stuck with the bigger vehicles.

Some fun pictures


Departure angle lacks a bit before I lifted it. We were kindly asked by the local RCMP to leave the town and get on our way after this though.


It was a fun quarry to drive up, buddy didn't want to in his stock Jeep.

Starting the make the 35's look small.

 

[Mediamonkey11]

I was impressed with the capabilities of mine with a 2" lift and 33's, for its overall size of course. The running boards proved bothersome though I didn't taco them. The LSD in the back seemed to really help especially in the sandy/muddy areas. I'm now wanting to back out hahaha

 

[sitruc_btb]

I took my first gen up to a trail around the New River area. It did pretty well, although it was a tight fit.

 

[sitruc_btb]

It was pretty mild, as far as trails go, but the Expy did fine. I got quite a few pin stripes in the narrow bushy areas. I wouldn't take one out to Moab. Haha.

 

[SnuffThePunkz]

It was pretty mild, as far as trails go, but the Expy did fine. I got quite a few pin stripes in the narrow bushy areas. I wouldn't take one out to Moab. Haha.

Where I live I can 'avoid' most of the crazier trails if I so choose, all forestry roads here that Semi's at one point traveled so they had to be up to a certain standard at some point. But that eliminates half the fun, and if my 8800 lb 23 ft diesel pickup can handle them I'm sure an Expy would be fine.

What do you have lift wise? There is a suspension shop nearby that makes custom coils for the Expy new 0-3" for like $250, or just talk to them for taller. Then level the front out.

Speaking of Moab...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HYSM0DyIxY

 

[sitruc_btb]

I have a Rancho box kit. 4" lift. 35" Toyo M/T's.

That is a good video. looks fun! The last part made me cringe a little.

 

[reece146]

I can't speak to how well these trucks are off-road but so far I am impressed with how short the turning radius is for such a large vehicle. I had no issues maneuvering my tent trailer around the campsite. I was worried about it since I am coming from a overbuilt Jeep Cherokee (freakishly tight turning radius).

FWIW, I just ordered some 305/65-18 tires and wheels to go with along with some rear spacers and will turn up the front T-bars. I figure that will be more than enough hardware to go any place I'm interested in going to explore the ship wrecks and abandoned towns that we tend to do. Similar to you we travel abandoned roads and sometimes they are washed out. That's where a bit of flex and height comes in handy.

 

[reece146]

Speaking of Moab...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HYSM0DyIxY

That's a stock Expedition...

Someone needs to build a proper 8000lb rated rear bumper for these trucks.

Are skid plates and proper rocker guards available?