Aftermarket Upgrades for 3rd Gen

[bigsouthexped]

Good evening everyone, just looking for advice on aftermarket upgrades for my 2016 Ford Expedition Limited 4WD. With new vehicle prices, I’m driving this until it dies. So far I have a 2 inch suspension lift, cold air intake, high flow cats, slotted and drilled rotors, and that’s about it. I’m interested in everything: interior, exterior, or longevity. Not interested in trying to get 500 hp or anything, but if you have something you’ve done where you think “man this is great” I’d love to hear it. Thank you in advance.

 

[BigOleFordFan]

Well, there's TONS of things you could do, but it just depends on what your goals, abilities, funding, and comfort levels are for modding things....

Some more popular but simpler & less costly things like "deleting" or blacking out all the chrome trim pieces (if yours has any) with a vinyl wrap or other material, adding LED bulbs to the lighting fixtures, changing the tires & rims (either bigger or smaller etc), and installing fender flares, high(er) tier mud flaps, floor mats, bull or light bars ect..

Since you have the lift kit & upgraded rotors, those are also some of the more popular mods, but are obviously more involved than the cosmetic stuff...(hopefully you also have switched to ceramic pads, and maybe even colored calipers too!)

So search around the forums, there are a buttload of things that the members here have done and/or are willing to discuss & help out with

 

[eddytheexpy]

Things I’ve done on my 2011 Limited EL 4x4 that you haven’t already listed:

1) grill guard: keep an eye out on marketplace/craigslist for F-150 guards, they fit with minor mods. I picked a big ol F-150 grill guard up on Craigslist for $40 and just had to cut 1/2” slits in the bumper for the frame mounts. Even if you’re looking for it, you don’t notice the cuts if you take your time getting it just right.

2) after market radio with car play:
Here’s my thread for what I did.

3) light bar: I couldn’t find a purpose built mount for my rig so I bought a mount for a F-150 and just spent a little time bending it to fit right. I hit it with rustoleum since I chipped a little paint on the mount during the shaping process. This has changed the game when driving on forest roads Friday nights after work while heading to my weekend camping spots.

4) skid plates: I scored a full F-150 RCI skid plate package on marketplace for $125. The transmission plate WILL NOT FIT! Once it cools down here in Phoenix I’m going to spend a weekend making a transmission skid plate with a scrap piece of steel I picked up. <— will create a post about how I wind up making it.

5) full size spare: I’m rocking 275/65R20 tires, so 34” tall and that wound up being the biggest size that’ll fit where the spare lives. I like knowing that if I have a blowout I can slap the spare on and it have zero impact, especially important when I’m out in the back country.

6) wheel spacers: I tossed on 1.75” spidertrax spacers on all four hubs. Tbh, this addition made the tires look like they are sitting where they’re supposed to be. I have a 34” tires so I spent sometime measuring the scrub radius and it’s a very reasonable value, it actually helped the scrub radius haha.

7) modded upper control arms: since you’ve got a lift, this may be helpful, it definitely helped me out with my 2.5” lift. No more coil or brake line contact. I put on some cheapo tubular ones from Amazon. I’m ~8k miles deep on them and they’re still treating me well!

8) greasable Moog suspension components: though it’s extra maintenance items, it gives you the piece of mind knowing that you don’t have to trust the “lifetime” greased components.

10) alignment camber kits: idk if your rig doesn’t come from factory with it but my didn’t. So I put on moog alignment kits so now my alignment stays where it’s supposed to be after hitting the first pot hole outside the alignment shop.

I think that’s the full list of mods I’ve done but I’ve done so much playing around with this thing that I’m probably missing a few hahaha I’ll edit the post if anything else crosses my mind.

 

[JamaicaJoe]

On my Gen 1 I stipulated that all the front suspension and steering rack be replaced with Moog with Zerk fittings. They were unable to replace the upper control arms with them for some reason (COVID?) . But yes definitely do this because the "lifetime" of the OEM tie rod ends is like only 15 K miles. I intend to carry this through with my Gen 3 as well.

8) greasable Moog suspension components: though it’s extra maintenance items, it gives you the piece of mind knowing that you don’t have to trust the “lifetime” greased components.

 

[eddytheexpy]

Lolz, just realized I’m a goober and used the “piece”. Let’s try again, “peace of mind”* hahaha

But that’s exactly why I wanted greasable. Like, there is definitely some quantity of wear on the ball joint so if you’re not moving the grease with metal particulates out of there, it just hangs out and causes more wear!

 

[Trainmaster]

Since you say you'll be driving this until it dies, save some money for coming repairs to keep it on the road. The time for "mods" and silliness is when it's new, so you get the most miles out of your buck.

My 08 hit 175,000 miles this summer and in the past months I've replaced four shocks with two broken springs, two upper control arms with ball joints and one lower ball joint, a brake line and exhaust manifold stud.

This might not be glamorous, but it keeps it on the road and running like new.

 

[KLExpy2009]

Which tubular arms did you get if you remember

 

[KLExpy2009]

Things I’ve done on my 2011 Limited EL 4x4 that you haven’t already listed:

1) grill guard: keep an eye out on marketplace/craigslist for F-150 guards, they fit with minor mods. I picked a big ol F-150 grill guard up on Craigslist for $40 and just had to cut 1/2” slits in the bumper for the frame mounts. Even if you’re looking for it, you don’t notice the cuts if you take your time getting it just right.

2) after market radio with car play:
Here’s my thread for what I did.

3) light bar: I couldn’t find a purpose built mount for my rig so I bought a mount for a F-150 and just spent a little time bending it to fit right. I hit it with rustoleum since I chipped a little paint on the mount during the shaping process. This has changed the game when driving on forest roads Friday nights after work while heading to my weekend camping spots.

4) skid plates: I scored a full F-150 RCI skid plate package on marketplace for $125. The transmission plate WILL NOT FIT! Once it cools down here in Phoenix I’m going to spend a weekend making a transmission skid plate with a scrap piece of steel I picked up. <— will create a post about how I wind up making it.

5) full size spare: I’m rocking 275/65R20 tires, so 34” tall and that wound up being the biggest size that’ll fit where the spare lives. I like knowing that if I have a blowout I can slap the spare on and it have zero impact, especially important when I’m out in the back country.

6) wheel spacers: I tossed on 1.75” spidertrax spacers on all four hubs. Tbh, this addition made the tires look like they are sitting where they’re supposed to be. I have a 34” tires so I spent sometime measuring the scrub radius and it’s a very reasonable value, it actually helped the scrub radius haha.

7) modded upper control arms: since you’ve got a lift, this may be helpful, it definitely helped me out with my 2.5” lift. No more coil or brake line contact. I put on some cheapo tubular ones from Amazon. I’m ~8k miles deep on them and they’re still treating me well!

8) greasable Moog suspension components: though it’s extra maintenance items, it gives you the piece of mind knowing that you don’t have to trust the “lifetime” greased components.

10) alignment camber kits: idk if your rig doesn’t come from factory with it but my didn’t. So I put on moog alignment kits so now my alignment stays where it’s supposed to be after hitting the first pot hole outside the alignment shop.

I think that’s the full list of mods I’ve done but I’ve done so much playing around with this thing that I’m probably missing a few hahaha I’ll edit the post if anything else crosses my mind.

 

[eddytheexpy]

Which tubular arms did you get if you remember

oh dude, turns out they were so cheap the item doesn't even exist on amazon anymore haha. The brand was Philtop (garbage, I know) and they were pretty much the only ones I saw that were blue. So if you see cheap blue tubular UCAs that's probably the same just rebranded. Also it's worth noting that they had rubber bushings, not PU.

I'm at ~12k miles on them and they are holding up just fine. Keep in mind, this is my adventure mobile so it's covered a decent amount of ground off the pavement.