End of an era; Downsizing to an Expedition EL.

[Pele]

Current truck is a 2003 Excursion. I love this thing.

I have four teenage nieces plus two of my own kids... Also have two large dogs. Packing for vacation has never been easier and day trips in one vehicle are a breeze... (Seating for 7 plus cargo is a MUST.)

I have a track car (Mazda RX-7) that I haul to some local road courses. I also have a little Kubota tractor that I bush hog my properties with. These items fit on my tandem axle trailer. Trailer grosses at 7500 lbs and I like to have a little overhead for safety. (Towing capacity of 9000 lbs is a MUST.)

Finally, I do home renovation projects. I haul lumber and sheet goods around from time to time. (Fitting 4x8 sheets into the truck with the seats folded down is a MUST.)

The Excursion ticks all these boxes.
It's V10 engine is powerful enough (albeit thirsty) to accomplish these tasks with ease.
The 44 gallon tank is good for the range I travel.
Unfortunately, the Excursion is getting a little long in the tooth. Parts are starting to fail, cancer is starting to set in, and finding these beasts in the scrapyard is getting harder and harder because they're older and they made comparatively few of them compared to the 3rd gen Expedition.

It looks like the 3rd gen Expedition might be up my alley. Anyone own both an can shed some light on what I might experience when swapping out?

I know my way around a 2 Valve Triton. What am I looking at with the 3 Valver? Cam Phaser issues? When'd that stop?
4R100 is plenty strong for my needs. What about the 6R80?

 

[Trainmaster]

You'll always miss the Excursion. Mine was a great truck. The Expedition is no match.

 

[Timo2824]

If you find a low mileage 3 valve, just change the oil religiously every 5,000 miles. I just did valve cover gaskets on mine and had zero sludge in it at 160,000 miles. I've had to do the crossover coolant gaskets and a throttle body as well, replaced the intake gaskets when I did the crossover. I've done the plugs and boots twice, once at 67,000 and again at 150,000 miles. Original coils and injectors. It's my tow mule, so gets used hard. Unloaded it'll actually get 1-2mpg better than the Ecoboost on the highway, but my eco does better around town and while towing. Personally I'd go for a 15-17, but the v-8's do sound better!

 

[DesertFordRat]

Roller followers can be an issue. Be vigilant with any engine ticks.

 

[GlennSullivan]

My Excursion was the best truck I ever owned. Had a 2002 7.3 Diesel and mileage was decent (16av - 12 tow). Used it in my business to haul equipment, materials and people, as well as carting my race car, tools, spares and people all over the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Mid-West. I currently have 2011 (5.4 V8) and 2017 (3.5 TT V6). I like them both, but they dont have anywhere near the capacity of the Excursion. You are going to want the EL/Max extended wheelbase version. The newer 3.5TT-V6 is a Much Better tow vehicle than the 5.4 V8, but I like the front suspension of the older 2011 better.

 

[ROBERT BONNER]

As a former Ford employee, I've driven a lot of Expeditions and an Excursion. I drove (2) gen 1's, (3) gen 2's, (1) gen 3 EL, and I have a gen 4 Max now....along with a 2004 Excursion. We loved the Excursion. It was an EB V10 4x4. The year I drove it, my second car was a 2004 Jaguar XJR (supercharged Aluminum Sedan, ~$90K car) We lived in SE Michigan at the time and my wife and I would do rock/paper/scissors every morning to see who got to drive the Excursion. The Excursion was easier to drive on Michigan's horrible pavement, the Jag went through 4 tires in a year due to pavement damage. The Excursion was easier to park because of it's superior downvision and wheel cuts. And, it got you respect. In the car biz, we called it "Stance" The Excursion had better "Stance" than anything on the road at the time. I could put 2 dogs, 4 hunters, a weeks worth of gear, guns and ammo in it and drive 90 down gravel roads in SD, it was great. I leased it because I was one of 3 people who fought for and won an extra 18 months of production for the Excursion. It was originally scheduled to end mid 2004 MY for some unbelievably insane reasons. I lost about 2 of my 9 career lives on that one....

Relative to comparing the Excursion with various Expeditions: The Excursion was a 10,000 lb GVW truck with an 8,500 lb placard...meaning all you had to do to get 10,000 lb GVW was increase the air pressure in the tires, everything else in the truck was F350 equivalent. No Expedition will ever get you more than 7,700 lbs. If you need that 2,300 lb., rebuild your Excursion, or go SuperDuty and forego the third row seat. Sorry. If you don't need the extra GVW, the Gen 3 XL and Gen 4 MAX have very comparible interior package, better ride, a ton more features, OK handling, more power and much better fuel economy.

As far as motors, nothing will give you the service that your 6.8L 2V did/would. No matter how well you take care of them, the 3V valve train will need to be replaced between 160K and 250K depending on service and maintenance. My 2007 F150 5.4 3V is just starting it's death rattle at 203K, that's longer than any other 3V I'm directly aware of. Who knows how long these complicated, compressed-within-and inch-of-their-lives, 3.5's will last. The pages of this forum and the F150 forum are filled with both low and high mileage horror stories. Ford keeps making improvements, yet I'm sure that at 30K if I took mine into a dealership and said all the right trigger words, I could get the VCT's, Turbos, and 10 speed replaced under warranty; but, I'm not convinced that any of the potential long term effects of the "problems" we're all experiencing are worse than the collateral damage from a body-off-frame repair event that would be required.

The Aluminum Body and the interior features available on the Gen 4's are really nice.

If I bought a new one right now, I'd put a Hellwig rear sway bar and Bilstien 5100's on it before I drove it the second time. They make that much of a difference. Good luck with your decision.

 

[BravoAlpha]

I miss my EX

2v V10 was the ticket. I’d love a modern Godzilla powered excursion. Could be possible.

http://www.customautosbytim.com/index.html

they wont convert the aluminum trucks

 

[makenzie71]

Towing capacity is a little less bit I've pulled some rather heavy loads with our '11, the tractor and the RX7 are both well within the tow limits unless you got a silly trailer...though I would not trust my brakes in the least with either of those loads on a trailer without it's own braking system. Interior room will be a little lower if you got it loaded up with all six kids and four dogs (dogs multiply, they do not add...1 dog = 1 dog, 2 dogs = 4 dogs, etc) but it's not unbearable. I've had eight people, two dogs, and five kayaks all loaded up and on ours and it's a standard wheelbase lol