98 Expedition XLT upgrades and feedback

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

Brock2087

Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2010
Posts
7
Reaction score
0
Location
Charleston IL
Well I figured I would start a thread for the truck and the upgrades that I am doing.

1) Engine Rebuild - New: Main bearing, rod bearing, valve seals, rings and all gaskets. This is now complete and the engine is in the break in process. It is very smooth and seems to be running alot better.

2) Summit Truck Headers - They were easy to put on (especially with the engine out) with a little bit of trouble with the oil dipstick. I would say that it would be a pain to do with the engine in. Another negative thing was that the paint on the headers was burnt off with 50 to 75 miles, but they were under $200 and seem to help but I need to upgrade the exhaust.

3) 4.56 Gears - Installed the rear (Richmond Gear) There was some trouble here that I think should be noted. The Pin that holds the spider gears had to hit in with a hammer(the ring gear stuck out to far) after going to the new gears...it will be next to impossible to take out I hope that is never needed. But it was a complete drop in no shims or anything required. Backlash was great too! And they help quite a bit! With 36 inch tires and 4.56s I am just under 2000 rpms at 65 MPH.

I still have some upgrades to complete... 4.56s in the front, upgrade exhaust(not sure what I am gonna do with exhaust yet),rebuild the suspension componets, and fix the 4 wheel drive......the transfer case is fine which is good, I am just hoping for something stupid like one of the vaccum lines or something. This was a project truck that I picked up and it just need some love!

I will get some pics up shortly.

Thanks,
Brock
 

fiveohpoepoe

Full Access Members
Joined
Jun 8, 2010
Posts
265
Reaction score
7
Location
NC
Thats alot of work for a 98. What gears were you running prior and what if any, mpg change did you see?
 

nvycrmn

Full Access Members
Joined
Feb 15, 2010
Posts
1,622
Reaction score
10
Location
Springville, IA
if you plan on doing lots of offroading, i would pull that cover you have on your grille off. your radiator needs to breath!
 

panda24619

Full Access Members
Joined
May 18, 2010
Posts
5,485
Reaction score
43
Location
San Diego
if you plan on doing lots of offroading, i would pull that cover you have on your grille off. your radiator needs to breath!

agreed. it needs air unless your electric fan is pulling enough air.
 
OP
OP
B

Brock2087

Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2010
Posts
7
Reaction score
0
Location
Charleston IL
I had 355 gears in there from before. It looked like someone had been in there before but I dont know what all they did. I havent been driving it enough yet to see any gas mileage difference.

The truck isnt going to be a big offroading machine, maybe everyonce in awhile, so I will keep that in mind about the grille cover.

The truck needed the work. I had no idea what had been done, how it was drove before, or anything really. Figured it was best to redo it all!
 
Top