Any Off-roaders / wheelers in Expedition ELs? Can we expand the parts aftermarket?

[shinysideup2]

Does anybody out there go wheeling (off-road) with your Expedition EL ?

I've got a 2017 Expedition EL 4WD that I purchased a few months ago with the intention of towing and camping as my first priority (hence the long-wheelbase EL model), and off-roading with my family as a close second priority. I previously built a '96 4Runner 4WD to do most of my wheeling, but had to sell it to help pay for my Expedition. It was not the best tow rig (4,000 lb travel trailer), but the 4Runner was very capable off-road and easy to build as such since there is a substantial aftermarket parts marketplace for all things 4Runner. With late model Ford Expeditions - not so much.

The off-road parts aftermarket is very thin for the Expedition EL. I'm looking for the following:
- Rock Sliders (preferably bolt-on) for < $1000
- Skid plates front to rear diff
- Upper Control Arms
- Suspension lift kits (not spacers)
- Body Lift kits
- Fender (cut & extend to clear larger tires)

I'd like to approach a few aftermarket vendors to help prototype parts, and will be more successful if we can demonstrate some market demand by committing to a multiple initial purchases together during their prototype stages.

Does anybody else out there with a 3rd gen EL have the desire to build your rig into a more off-road worthy vehicle? Willing to make some purchase commitments and work with prototypes (imperfections)?

Thanks.
Jay.

 

[Patsfan4lif]

You can find UCAs spacer kits. That’s it. They aren’t marketed as off road vehicles and companies would rather spend the money to build stuff for actual off-road tucks such as the F series. Get a good set of Readylift 3/2 spacers, throw on some 35s and have fun. That’s what I did seein as how no company has or will be making a legitimate lift kit over 4”

 

[Black]

I have already reached out to a few Bilstein, Fox, and Icon and aren’t much interested.

Skid Plates are already covered by RCI
https://www.rcimetalworks.com/07-17-Expedition-Navigator_c50.htm

Upper Control Arms are the same as the F150 so you have a whole slew of options there with options from beefed up standard ball joints, uniballs, and Icons Delta Joints.

Front end is somewhat shared with the F150 as well so any F150 coilover lift will work just fine.
The issue is a rear set to match with any lift.

Your best bet is King but will cost some pretty good coin. Buy their F150 front 2.5 Coilover kit for $1,500 and gain up to 3.5” of lift (may be slightly less since they are built to F150 specs).
I have spoken to King Suspension and the will make you whatever you want with some dimensions. So having them build a rear set will likely cost you another $2,000 maybe less.
I need to call them again with dimensions to get a price. But a coilover rear will be too much coin for me to play at the moment with them.
Having them build me emulsion shocks is a possibility but will have no lift.

My current plans are as follows and hope to be done with it all in 2 years. My goal is to drive the ALCAN Highway from Seattle to Anchorage so I need to beef up the Expedition a bit first.

Bilstein 6112 Coilovers from an F150 set an 1” higher for the front. With BPS Upper Control Arm since it uses a beefed up ball joint. We have a lot of road salt which is not good on a uniball. Need to do a little more reading on Icons Delta Joint to see if it will work for me.

Bilstein 4600 for the rear with a 1” collar from the 5100 series.

285/65/18 BF Goodrich All Terrain T/A K02s. Or as big as I can fit though not sure with just an inch lift I’ll be able to do any more.

Have a buddy bringing over his F150 tomorrow to see how much one would have to modify sliders for them to fit ours.

Will also be adding a Wilco Tiregate Hitchgate with 2 Jerry Can carrier spare mount for the rear.
https://www.jegs.com/i/Tiregate/393/HAT2000-GK/10002/-1

RCI skid plates

Should be pretty good.

Need to look into lighting some more too for the ALCAN.

 

[AllBoostNoEco]

Does anybody out there go wheeling (off-road) with your Expedition EL ?

I've got a 2017 Expedition EL 4WD that I purchased a few months ago with the intention of towing and camping as my first priority (hence the long-wheelbase EL model), and off-roading with my family as a close second priority. I previously built a '96 4Runner 4WD to do most of my wheeling, but had to sell it to help pay for my Expedition. It was not the best tow rig (4,000 lb travel trailer), but the 4Runner was very capable off-road and easy to build as such since there is a substantial aftermarket parts marketplace for all things 4Runner. With late model Ford Expeditions - not so much.

The off-road parts aftermarket is very thin for the Expedition EL. I'm looking for the following:
- Rock Sliders (preferably bolt-on) for < $1000
- Skid plates front to rear diff
- Upper Control Arms
- Suspension lift kits (not spacers)
- Body Lift kits
- Fender (cut & extend to clear larger tires)

I'd like to approach a few aftermarket vendors to help prototype parts, and will be more successful if we can demonstrate some market demand by committing to a multiple initial purchases together during their prototype stages.

Does anybody else out there with a 3rd gen EL have the desire to build your rig into a more off-road worthy vehicle? Willing to make some purchase commitments and work with prototypes (imperfections)?

Thanks.
Jay.

I have already reached out to a few Bilstein, Fox, and Icon and aren’t much interested.

Skid Plates are already covered by RCI
https://www.rcimetalworks.com/07-17-Expedition-Navigator_c50.htm

Upper Control Arms are the same as the F150 so you have a whole slew of options there with options from beefed up standard ball joints, uniballs, and Icons Delta Joints.

Front end is somewhat shared with the F150 as well so any F150 coilover lift will work just fine.
The issue is a rear set to match with any lift.

Your best bet is King but will cost some pretty good coin. Buy their F150 front 2.5 Coilover kit for $1,500 and gain up to 3.5” of lift (may be slightly less since they are built to F150 specs).
I have spoken to King Suspension and the will make you whatever you want with some dimensions. So having them build a rear set will likely cost you another $2,000 maybe less.
I need to call them again with dimensions to get a price. But a coilover rear will be too much coin for me to play at the moment with them.
Having them build me emulsion shocks is a possibility but will have no lift.

My current plans are as follows and hope to be done with it all in 2 years. My goal is to drive the ALCAN Highway from Seattle to Anchorage so I need to beef up the Expedition a bit first.

Bilstein 6112 Coilovers from an F150 set an 1” higher for the front. With BPS Upper Control Arm since it uses a beefed up ball joint. We have a lot of road salt which is not good on a uniball. Need to do a little more reading on Icons Delta Joint to see if it will work for me.

Bilstein 4600 for the rear with a 1” collar from the 5100 series.

285/65/18 BF Goodrich All Terrain T/A K02s. Or as big as I can fit though not sure with just an inch lift I’ll be able to do any more.

Have a buddy bringing over his F150 tomorrow to see how much one would have to modify sliders for them to fit ours.

Will also be adding a Wilco Tiregate Hitchgate with 2 Jerry Can carrier spare mount for the rear.
https://www.jegs.com/i/Tiregate/393/HAT2000-GK/10002/-1

RCI skid plates

Should be pretty good.

Need to look into lighting some more too for the ALCAN.

@Black more or less hit the nail on the head. Aftermarket interest in our trucks is basically nonexistent. Especially in the off-road department.
The 15-17 trucks are almost worse than the 14-under trucks due to the facelift and minor changes in the suspension. I’d love to have more choices besides my spacer lift, but I’ve never confirmed F-150 struts are a direct fit into our trucks (@Black can you confirm they fit and which year? 09-13 or 14?). Haven’t had an issue with fitting my 35s at least, so that’s a major positive, and with 35s I see no need to cut fenders to go bigger. If I can’t get there with those tires, I’m not going there.

I already have RCI engine and transmission skid plates on my truck, though the transfer case skid does not fit an EL. It has an extra crossmember and the frame is different behind it. But RCI was pretty amazing if you can make it to them, they cut my fuel tank skid on the spot for my old F-150.

I’d be happy to hop on board, as my 12K winch sitting in my garage really bums me out. The only option for a bumper I’ve seen is much more bulky than I can deal with.

 

[Black]

NASCAR Mike gets credit for confirming the F150 struts work.
https://www.expeditionforum.com/threads/bilsteins-installed-on-my-17-limited.36886/

The only hiccup is lower spring perches. Mike destroyed his OEM strut to take the perches off.
I was able to source the perches from super special order from NAPA.

The Bilstein 6112 coilovers will work for sure as you reuse your OEM top mount.

Any others should work from an F150 as their top cap shares a part number with the Expedition so the bolt pattern will be the same.

 

[shinysideup2]

Awesome information. Thanks @Black and @AllBoostNoEco . I especially appreciate your notes about F-150 parts and what works/doesn't work on our rigs.

A couple additional notes about my intent:
- I'd like to avoid too much suspension lift (1.5"-2" max, ideally) due to our Independent suspension, as I don't want to limit down-travel nor stress the CV joints too much.
- I favor function/reliability over form (to a fault sometimes ). I just want to get places (off-road) without damage/breakage.
- I've got Method wheels 20x9 on a +18 offset with 33" tires (275-60-20), which pushes the edge of the tires out about an inch. Even with this mild wheel/tire upgrade, I'm rubbing the fender trim, and have already cut some out. To really clear the fenders (full stuff, eventually with wider tires), I'll have to start cutting the metal portion of the fenders, which is why I'm seeking fender flares.
- With this self-imposed limit on suspension lift, I'm very limited on mods to make such a long vehicle off-road friendly. I understand this is not a 4Runner (goes pretty much anywhere). Best I can do would be armor, body lift, bigger tires.
- I'd love to custom fab a body lift with Grade 8 washers or hocky pucks... just don't have the time. For this reason, I do wish there was a kit made for our bodies.
Here are my wheels/tires. Good looking, functional combo IMO, though i'd like to go bigger with the next round of tires.

I just sold my 4Runner over the weekend and already miss it...

 

[Black]

Can you post some pics of your full rig?
I really like those Method wheels all except for those center caps. Just seem so small and draw away from the wheel’s overall look for me.
If it had a flat cap I think it would look so much better.

Looking at a couple Fuel wheels but not sure I have a need for new wheels.

I came across a set of sliders that looks nice minus the ridiculous logo emblazed on the steps.
Made by Tyger
https://www.tygerauto.com/i-50165-t...side-step-rails-nerf-bars-running-boards.html

I contacted them about making them for the Expedition and this was their response

“Thank you for your notice. We will discuss about it. ”

Straight out of China that is for sure. Not too terribly concerned as long as I can get them to fit and bolt up. I’d have them coated in LineX and they are then almost indestructible and any blemish or crap weld would not be visible.

Good looking 4Runner my good buddy has a 2000 that has been 100% pampered and dealer serviced. Has 150k and he is going to sell soon. I have already called dibs and it will be done full out off road.

 

[Muddy Bean]

I feel you shiny. I sold my 100 series Land Cruiser triple locked, armored etc. I miss the capability but found I needed it rarely. But my EL does have BFG KO2’s on it just in case






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[shinysideup2]

Can you post some pics of your full rig?
I really like those Method wheels all except for those center caps. Just seem so small and draw away from the wheel’s overall look for me.
If it had a flat cap I think it would look so much better.

Looking at a couple Fuel wheels but not sure I have a need for new wheels.

I came across a set of sliders that looks nice minus the ridiculous logo emblazed on the steps.
Made by Tyger
https://www.tygerauto.com/i-50165-t...side-step-rails-nerf-bars-running-boards.html

I like the machined face on the white body. There are so many black wheels available these days, but I didn't want to do black on white. The only downside to these wheels is that they are only rated for 2,500 lb load each. This is enough for the GVWR and both GAWR's... but makes me leery to abuse them much (e.g. high-speed pre-running, or steep 2- or 3- wheel crawling). To be honest, the primary reason I went with these wheels was the price. They're on closeout right now... https://www.methodracewheels.com/co...tte-black-machined-face?variant=9129287581732

Photo with the running boards (now removed). It almost looked lowered...


More pics here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/a7eBUo7ZGuxqR9vv6

Those Tyger bars look more like running boards/steps - may not be robust enough to be used as sliders?

 

[shinysideup2]

I feel you shiny. I sold my 100 series Land Cruiser triple locked, armored etc. I miss the capability but found I needed it rarely. But my EL does have BFG KO2’s on it just in case

How would you rate the K02's in the snow on the heavy EL compared to other A/T or snow tires you've used?