2016 King Ranch EL Lift and Wheels

[16ranchel]

My wife and I are looking at getting our 2016 King Ranch EL more suited for some off-roading since we just bought an off-road camp trailer and are currently living in the southwest. Based on the little bit of research I've done on my own, we're looking at upgrading suspension (and potentially lift), then new wheels and tires, and then the RCI skid plates for the transmission.

I'd like to increase the height with a suspension lift and avoid the use of a spacer lift if possible. My question is, would we be able to fit 285/65R18 (32.6") tires with no issues if we went purely with a bilstein 5100 install? Current tires are P275/55R20 (31.9"). Local shop recommends a bilstein 5100 install plus a 3" readylift to be able to fit the 285 sized tires but if it's not going to explicitly help with increased ground clearance, I'm not convinced we want the additional 3" (it's my wife's daily driver).

Also open to other suggestions if y'all think there's a better direction we should go in.

Thanks for any advice or recommendations!
-Brandon

 

[BigOleFordFan]

If by "daily driver" you mean to & from work, school, errands etc, on normal roads, then a 3" lift may warrant reconsideration...yes it would work, but that will change the entire ride & handling characteristics of the vehicle, so that may or may not be something you or her are prepared for or able to deal with...

Generally, I'm not sure a 3" lift would be required, since the difference in tire height is only ~3/4", but since you are going wider and taller too, the question of rubbing on the front frame during a hard turn could be a factor...but for off-roading, it would probably be a good choice.

As for the Bilsteins, they seem to have a fairly good following on here, so I think they would be a reasonably good choice in that respect, but I'm not a suspension guru either, so take that for what you will...

 

[LokiWolf]

We had the Ready Lift and stock shocks on both our 15 and 17 with ZERO issues. There are many threads on here discussing this exact lift and the tires they were able to fit. Had Nivomat LL on the rear of the 15, and CCD on 17 so no point in swapping the shocks.

Do the FULL RCI kit first if you are going in this direction. You want the protection first. Don't wait to lift. The stock Engine protection is rigid fabric, and is only good for basic road debris and aero. The trans plate is not enough.

Also search the other threads on tire size, offset, and width. Most of your ground clearance is gained from tire height. The tallest you can run without rubbing the better. Period.

3 inches of lift and a good set of AT tires, and you will probably enjoy the ride, because your sidewall will increase. Will it handle around turns as well, no. My wife daily drove both her 15 and 17 and loved how they rode.

 

[16ranchel]

We had the Ready Lift and stock shocks on both our 15 and 17 with ZERO issues. There are many threads on here discussing this exact lift and the tires they were able to fit. Had Nivomat LL on the rear of the 15, and CCD on 17 so no point in swapping the shocks.

Do the FULL RCI kit first if you are going in this direction. You want the protection first. Don't wait to lift. The stock Engine protection is rigid fabric, and is only good for basic road debris and aero. The trans plate is not enough.

Also search the other threads on tire size, offset, and width. Most of your ground clearance is gained from tire height. The tallest you can run without rubbing the better. Period.

3 inches of lift and a good set of AT tires, and you will probably enjoy the ride, because your sidewall will increase. Will it handle around turns as well, no. My wife daily drove both her 15 and 17 and loved how they rode.

I appreciate the advice. I've looked through everything in the forums regarding the full RCI kit for skids and all I can find is that the F-150 skids are good back to the transmission skid plate. (RCI https://rcimetalworks.com/product-category/ford/expedition-navigator/07-17-expedition-navigator/)

I've not been able to locate any metal skid plate option for the fuel tank or rear diff. Do you have any suggestions?

-Brandon

 

[LokiWolf]

I appreciate the advice. I've looked through everything in the forums regarding the full RCI kit for skids and all I can find is that the F-150 skids are good back to the transmission skid plate. (RCI https://rcimetalworks.com/product-category/ford/expedition-navigator/07-17-expedition-navigator/)

I've not been able to locate any metal skid plate option for the fuel tank or rear diff. Do you have any suggestions?

-Brandon

It has been a while since I did it. I would give RCI a call. They were VERY helpful.

I did not mess with the fuel tank or rear Diff on our 15 or 17. My focus was front protection, cause the fabric was going to do nothing.

Seriously, call or drop RCI a message. They are a great company.

 

[eddytheexpy]

I have the RCI skid package on mine (2011 Limited EL) and would like to tell you about my experience with it. I wound up needing to make spacers out of some scrap metal I picked up. The front plates contacted the front diff and then the transmission plate seemed fine at first but once the exhaust heated up and expanded, it just barely touched the skid plate so it rattled like crazy. If the transfer case plate fit the expy, it would have created the spacing necessary to avoid that but the front diff issue would still exist. I also needed to modify the slots where the plates over lap to make them deeper because it seems there was a tolerance stacking issue. Each plate would fit fine individually (in terms of the holes lining up with the mounting points on the frame) but they wouldn’t line up when mounting as a package. It wasn’t as plug and play as I had hoped but with a little elbow grease I am very happy with the final product.

Keep in mind, I picked them up from FB marketplace (brand new btw!) for like $100 so I didn’t have the option of calling them and asking for help or complaining about it not fitting right. And for 100 bucks I don’t mind having to do a little work, still an awesome deal!

Also, I can confirm that the transfer case skid plate will not fit. It’s not even close to being doable even with modifying the plate.

 

[16ranchel]

Thanks for the heads up. I put the transmission skid plate on last week and had a similar rattling issue that you did. It about drove the wife insane. I ended up putting the metal foil with backing from the OEM fiber plate and it squished between the exhaust and the skid plate enough to prevent the rattling.

Engine plate should ship tomorrow so hoping that one goes on slightly smoother since i've already put some elbow grease in for the transmission skid plate. Either way I'll be happy because Labor Day weekend the weight of our camp trailer pushed me through some mud as I was turning into our campsite and right over some rocks so it'll put me at ease to have some protection down there. Chalked up to a lesson learned with minimal damage.

 

[eddytheexpy]

Thanks for the heads up. I put the transmission skid plate on last week and had a similar rattling issue that you did. It about drove the wife insane. I ended up putting the metal foil with backing from the OEM fiber plate and it squished between the exhaust and the skid plate enough to prevent the rattling.

Engine plate should ship tomorrow so hoping that one goes on slightly smoother since i've already put some elbow grease in for the transmission skid plate. Either way I'll be happy because Labor Day weekend the weight of our camp trailer pushed me through some mud as I was turning into our campsite and right over some rocks so it'll put me at ease to have some protection down there. Chalked up to a lesson learned with minimal damage.

Wow, I'm shocked that RCI didn't provide a spacer of any kind. I know if you call them and tell them the vehicle you're buying the engine skid plates for is an expedition, they'll include an extra pair of the larger speed clips that are necessary to mount the front engine skid plate (if you haven't done that already, I'd call them ASAP since you'll be missing hardware). The F-150 already has 2 speed clips in there but the expeditions don't. I went to like 8 places looking for a clip of that size and finally found it at NAPA.

Again, since I got mine second hand I had no place to call them about issues I was having. It couldn't hurt to reach out and ask if they have a spacer or if they could make one for you. They are selling the part claiming fitment for the expedition so in my opinion they should, ya know, make sure it fits hahaha. Plus, they are a metal shop and have all the dimensions of their product. They could easily crank out a spacer with scrap they have laying around. The shipping would, without question, be the most expensive part of the whole process for them. You paid all that money to get it new from the manufacturer unlike my broke ass so you shouldn't have to jury rig it!

Fingers crossed that the engine plates don't hit the front diff and stack nicely with the transmission skid plate unlike mine. Otherwise, get ready for more elbow grease. If you run into that issue and RCI can't/won't help feel free to DM me. I'm taking the plates off to drop the oil pan as part of the timing job next weekend (10/4-10/6) so I can take measurements and pics of what I made so you don't have to do any guess-work. Not sure of your experience level but, making those spacers was the first metal work I've ever done so by definition, no experience required. You just need an angle grinder, step drill bit, a piece of 10 gauge steel scrap and a can of rustoleum. I've had them on for ~4k miles now and they 100% do the job and have not caused a single issue. I spent about 2 weeks making a plan of how I was going to rectify the issue so if my grief and help you avoid the headache I'm more than happy to help!

 

[LokiWolf]

I did not have any rattling on our 15 or 17. Just saying. I don't remember a spacer, and all hardware I needed was there.

Could it not be the plates issue, and the fact that the exhaust might need to be adjusted?

 

[16ranchel]

I did not have any rattling on our 15 or 17. Just saying. I don't remember a spacer, and all hardware I needed was there.

Could it not be the plates issue, and the fact that the exhaust might need to be adjusted?

I'm not gonna rule that out haha. Engine skids should arrive today so hopefully by tomorrow I have a better idea if any further adjusting is needed. Appreciate all the advice and tips on this guys.

Edit: For the transmission skid plate, it came with a back plate that the directions said to insert into the crossbar of the frame but then there weren't holes that lined up appropriately. I was able to install the transmission skid by just adding a speednut/quick fastener/clamp nut or whatever it's called in 2 holes on the crossbar and it lined up well.