..not bad for an 02 that's never seen the inside of a garage or taken shelter under a roof. I've always tried to maintain my vehicles as well as possible - thought I'd share some pics from my spring clean up.
I did my hitch with POR 15. Wash, clay bar, wash, wax cleaner, and 2 coats of wax so far this weekend, along with undercoating the rear wheel wells.
By the way, it drives great, pulls a 34ft travel trailer, did a 5,500 2 week camping trip to Yellowstone, Glacier, and lots of northern states last summer. Daily driver with 170k miles.

 

Shows very well!

 

Sweet ride! Could you show us how the snorkle connects on the inside?

 

Very nice! I like the hitch with the POR-15, which product/s did you use, and did you remove the hitch, or do it on the truck?

 

For the snorkel, it's not connected inside the engine bay as I have a AEM cold intake filter and box so it wouldn't seal. I just liked the looks of another Ex that had one, so I bought one for mine. Scary to cut a hole in the fender, but the instructions were great and made a perfect fit. Plus it's another way to get cold air to the diesel.

The POR-15 is the starter kit, it included the metal clean, metal prep, and black paint. I did not remove the hitch, just did the work on the truck. Took a while to try to get as much of the surface rust off and prep, but turned out nice. I like the look of a clean hitch, plus the rust protection, as I tow a lot and want to avoid as many issues as I can with preventative maintenance.

Safe travels.

 

Here's a pic of my complete rig from last summer, although we now have a 2011 Outback 34ft travel trailer that's lighter weight, more areodynamic, 2 slides, and has more room.



Safe Travels.

 

Sweet looking rig!

 

Very bada$$ looking rig.
What make/model rooftop air deflector is that and how do you like it.

 

Looks great. Rep for some real elbow grease. The clay bar and two coats of wax is no easy task to accomplish.

 

Thanks, do they make 'em to mount on either side?

later... I looked it up on their website:
http://www.safarisnorkel.com/

 

Awesome...How high is your lift? What size rim and tires are you rolling with? VERY NICE!

 

looks absolutely wonderful!

 

Thanks for all the nice compliments. I certainly see lots of great looking excursions on this formum, glad there's a place to share pictures and information about these wonderful vehicles. Thanks to all.

The wing is from icondirect.com, its the Aeroshield Classic WD200, reasonably priced at $247, adjustable, and fits nicely. My main reason for getting the air deflector was to keep bugs off the front of my camper, but it also helps with stability and fuel usage, albiet very little, but anything helps. I really like it, can remove and install it within minutes. As you can see from the pictures, I positioned the factor rails as closely as possible to the wing's frame, the suction cups go under the rails, then I attach the straps with the channel "hooks" into the Ex's factory side bars. It's never come loose or threatened to come off - I've used it for 2 years now. I also painted it black. My brother bought the same wing to use on his Expedition and works great there too.

I've got a 6 inch Skyjacker lift, all spring, and running 37 Nitto Terra Grapplers. Rims are 20 x 10 KMC XD Black Rockstars.

For towing, I also have AirLift air bags in the rear. After my lift was installed, I bought the 6 inch "lift" for the bags so I could reinstall them. They work great. I've got an 4-way Equalizer weight distribution and sway elimination hitch system (with a 10 inch drop shank). Everything is rated for 12k pounds. Brakes have been upgraded to slotted rotors with HD pads. So, with the combination of the air bags, the Ex's strength, the hitch system, the wing, the diesel, the DP tuner with 2 tow tunes (plus 120 hp when needed...) and what intelligence I can add being smart and safe, we've got a very nice rig and enjoy our camping, and the trip getting there.

The one thing still missing and I need more information on, is regearing due to the larger tires. Any thoughts from the experts?

Safe travels.