do I need to lift my Expo?

[walnuts4x4]

damn if it was a different weekend I would be there... already have too many plans and wife would kick my @$$...lol

 

[walnuts4x4]

haha nice.. I bet ya pick up all the ladies in that car.

yup... my wife and daughter.... the pink car seat is the ticket to picking up chicks...lol

 

[SOLISIMO]

I dont think chadharper liked the answer

 

[panda24619]

yup... my wife and daughter.... the pink car seat is the ticket to picking up chicks...lol

no its all about all the dog hair on the leather. thats how you get the chicks. haha

 

[LastExpo2000]

Yes I have the power pedal option. Do you make things similar to the superchip for the expo as they do for the f250 powerstroke? Is that how I would recalibrate the speedo? Im sorry for all the question I just want to find out as much as I can

 

[Thermo]

LastExpo, yes, what you would need is a speedo calibrator box if you are looking at any tires over 33" (that is about the limit of the factory adjustments). They are not hard to install, but it does involve cutting wires and splicing them together to make it all work. So, if wiring is not your cup of tea, may want to consider finding someone that has that ability or paying a shop to install it for you. If you can find a speedo calibrator for an F-150, that will work for your Expy.

I would much prefer you to ask a bunch of questions now than to jump feet first into a major mod and then find out what all you have to do at that point. I did a lot of investigation with my truck prior to stepping up to bigger tires. But, I still had a lot of unknowns as I was probably one of the first to make a change like this (37's on only a 4" lift).

 

[LastExpo2000]

Okay this is what got so far:

Speedo calibrator I found online for 207
K&N cold air intake
HID projector headlights
3" body lift with 2" coil spacers
35" all season tires, brand depending

Thats the order in which I'm going to perform the mods too

Do I have everything right or close to?

 

[walnuts4x4]

depending on the year of your expy... 99+ expys can adjust the speedo with a programmer... I am partial to edge but they all do similar things...

if you want a cheap functioning air intake... look up the "Gotts mod"

besides that everything should work out for you... could also get 3" coil spacers if you want a little more lift

 

[walnuts4x4]

damn i'm slow... but if your expy is a 2000 like your name says... any programmer will adjust your speedo for tires up to 44" tires and different gears up to 5.13s... again I would recommend the Edge CS... many of us are running them on here and all have had good luck... one guy is selling spacers/edge in the classifieds

 

[Thermo]

Last, I would move the calibrator/programmer to the end of the list and simply buy the tires and the calibrator/programmer at the same time. But, that is my line of thinking.

 

[KWT2000]

after you do your tires and gears or either one you can get the gear that goes in the tail shaft of the t case about 20$ and your speedo will be correct

 

[LastExpo2000]

Last, I would move the calibrator/programmer to the end of the list and simply buy the tires and the calibrator/programmer at the same time. But, that is my line of thinking.

It wouldn't kill me to hold off on speedo calibrator, right? Im kinda wanting that lift. And yes I do have a 2000 expo. Originally my dad was going to give me a set of his Yokohama all terrains to hold me over until I can afford new ones, but the set he was going to give me were 35 and 5/8 inches which I guess round up to 36. Would I need to do trimming of any kind to fit those since they are not full on 36s? Also I called some places and they were unable to find a body lift for my model and when I mentioned coil spacers they called it a leveling kit, is that right?

 

[Thermo]

KWT, the gear in the tailshaft (VSS Gear) only applies to 97-98 vehicles. In 99+ vehicles, it is a fixed gear and then the computer calculates the speedo signal based on other variables (has a value for Revs/mile). SO, you are correct, but not for this year vehicle.

Last, all tires that you are going to see that state the tire size in inches (ie, 36x12.5) are going to actually be around 35.5"x12.5", not a true 36.0"x12.5. This is true of about every manufacturer out there. ONly when you get into the metric sizes do you get an exact measurement. But then, once you get over about 33" tires, the metric system goes out the window as they don't measure the tires that way except in limited cases.

As for the programmer, you don't need it until the very end. I ran my truck for 2 years without reprogramming (in my case new VSS gear) with 35" tires on the stock stuff. It just causes the truck to shift funny and hold gears too long going up hills and whatnot.

As for the levelling kits, keep an eye out. From my experience, when you see a leveling kit, all you are going to get is 2 spacers, not 4 like what you are wanting to get overall lift. The spacers would only be meant for the front end. I am not a big fan of the spacers for one basic reason, they start pushing the CV axles to near their limits. Atleast with a body lift you are keeping the suspension at its factory geometry and with a lift kit, while it does put the CV axles at a higher angle, it isn't as much as what a 2 or 3" spacer is going to do. But then, the price difference between spacers and a suspension lift kit are dramatically different.

 

[SOLISIMO]

KWT, the gear in the tailshaft (VSS Gear) only applies to 97-98 vehicles. In 99+ vehicles, it is a fixed gear and then the computer calculates the speedo signal based on other variables (has a value for Revs/mile). SO, you are correct, but not for this year vehicle.

Last, all tires that you are going to see that state the tire size in inches (ie, 36x12.5) are going to actually be around 35.5"x12.5", not a true 36.0"x12.5. This is true of about every manufacturer out there. ONly when you get into the metric sizes do you get an exact measurement. But then, once you get over about 33" tires, the metric system goes out the window as they don't measure the tires that way except in limited cases.

As for the programmer, you don't need it until the very end. I ran my truck for 2 years without reprogramming (in my case new VSS gear) with 35" tires on the stock stuff. It just causes the truck to shift funny and hold gears too long going up hills and whatnot.

As for the levelling kits, keep an eye out. From my experience, when you see a leveling kit, all you are going to get is 2 spacers, not 4 like what you are wanting to get overall lift. The spacers would only be meant for the front end. I am not a big fan of the spacers for one basic reason, they start pushing the CV axles to near their limits. Atleast with a body lift you are keeping the suspension at its factory geometry and with a lift kit, while it does put the CV axles at a higher angle, it isn't as much as what a 2 or 3" spacer is going to do. But then, the price difference between spacers and a suspension lift kit are dramatically different.

Thermo what are your thoughts on a 60k mile truck changing the gears. Would you the rebuild kit or is it really needed.

 

[Thermo]

solisimo, I believe you are talking about the master install kits or simply a shim kit. My personal feeling is that if you can afford to get the master install kits, go for it. It should only add about $200 to the whole modification (when you are spending near $1500 for the gears and install, this is fairly insignificant) just to have an axle that you will have no questions about. Do you have to? No. But, I believe a little bit of prevention will save you a lot of hassle down the road.

Of note (I found this out the hard way), you have gears for pre mid-2000 and for post mid-2000 (there was a machining change that occurred in mid 2000, so there are slight differences. So, when you get the gears you need to know what kind of gears you are getting as they have kits to fit pre mid 2000 gears into pre mid 2000 axles, pre mid 2000 gears into post mid 2000 axles and every possibility out there. How do I know, I ended up buying post mid-2000 gears and have a pre-mid 2000 axle and I got the pre-mid 2000 install kit. Needless to say, the shop had to eat the price of a set of install stuff to get my truck up and working.

If you need me to go into more detail about this, let me know. Most shops will take care of this for you. BUt, if you are looking to do this yourself, just something to watch out for.

 

[Lane24]

Thanks again, how much do those procomps run and about what would it cost just to lift it for the parts only? Could it be done without going to a body shop? Do you have any pics of your expedition that you wouldn't mind posting for me to get an idea of how it would turn out

Hers a pic of mine with the 3 inch Body lift, and 2 inch rear spacers and 2 inch torsion crank in the front. I have 315/75/16's which are around a 34.5 inch tire. This is before Gap guards, just so you can see the space in the rear.



And with the gap guards...

 

[LastExpo2000]

Hers a pic of mine with the 3 inch Body lift, and 2 inch rear spacers and 2 inch torsion crank in the front. I have 315/75/16's which are around a 34.5 inch tire. This is before Gap guards, just so you can see the space in the rear.



And with the gap guards...

The gap guards are pieces that go inside the wheel wells to prevent any debris from getting through, correct?

I'm going to go with a 3" body lift for now to hold me over for now. I'll post a pic of mine and post follow ups to show how it is coming.

Do you know if the stock rim size on my 2000 expo is 7.5? And if I wanted the tires to come out a bit from underneath would I need at least a 10" rim or does that have to do with width of the tires

 

[Lane24]

Mine are 8 inch rims, so they pretty much tuck under the wheel wells. Almost like a stock wheel. A 10 inch rim with similar backspacing will protrude out from under the fenders a bit more. Next set of rims I get will be 16 x 10's.

 

[nvycrmn]

my 16x10's that i had stuck out, nothing ridiculous. looked good. now my 18x9's pretty much sit in the wheel well, maybe out a llliiiittttllleee, but not much at all. less backspacing will put you out a little further if that is what you are going for. if you are keeping your stock rims but still want them to stick out a little, just get a wheel spacer....

 

[clardy]

thermo,
i have read your posts and also went and checked out some of your stuff on the fordtrucks forum as well... i have listed pretty much my entire setup under my vehicle profile i am about to purchase tires for this vehicle and i am kicking around either 37s or 38s as i have stated i have what amount to 2" spacers on my rig so that will change the turning aspect as far as hitting torsion bars "a" frame and such i am also going to be running a 17" rim with 4.25" backspace which is slightly less than stock of 4.5" backspace
on here you mention getting 40s under one with only 4" essentially i should have 5-6" of lift after all is said and done do you think that with some cutting i will be able to clear the 38s