Awesome, thanks for the reminder!
I've only ever known the 285s on this truck (265s are stock but were gone before I got it). Since I've had the tuner though, I've wanted a slightly higher overdrive anyway.
The diesel had no trouble pulling the 8500lbs I pull with the 285s so this..... 4 or 5% increase should be great!
It will put the speedo slightly off though, where the 285s, even though they were bigger than stock, seemed to have the speedo bang on with the GPS.

 

So, got my steel spacers. 2" from wheeladapters.com. Got mine with 14x2 studs (coarse thread) as that is what is on my truck.



Found 2 studs that weren't straight on one of the spacers. It was the one shipped on the top of the stack. You can see when there is another spacer on top of it it is slightly off-centre. This was preventing me from putting the spacer on the new wheels (for test fit). The fix was easy. I pressed out the crooked studs, pushed them partly back in, then mounted another spacer on top of this one and bolted them together. the lug pulls the stud through and keeps it centered. Perfect.

 

Painted the spacers black (just to prevent rust). Here is one sitting on the rear hub. The stock studs are about 1/8" short of flush with the wheel mounting surface, so the studs did not need to be shortened (on the back hubs anyway)



After torqueing the spacers down to 160ft-lb and using some red Loctite, I mounted the wheel.



And here it is with the 2015 center cap

 

I like how you've been updating this thread for a couple years now. Nicely done!

I'm curious, where are you located? You mentioned Kms as opposed to miles and I'm hoping you are one of those ultra rare Canadian Ex owners that is a member on FTE

 

And now here is the front. The studs stick through a little bit more so it was necessary to grind away about 1/8". You can see one that I already did.



And I knew this issue was unresolved. Using the 2015 (or the 2002) center caps with the holes do not work.



For now, I'm using a set of 2002 solid caps

 

And here are some pics of the finished product. Rides nice. I like the look of the skinnier looking tires. They are quite a bit taller than my last set and did touch the inner fender on the back of the front tires

 

I am from Northern Alberta (Fort McMurray). So I am one of those people!


I used to like it better when I progressed things much faster..... that was before kids of course!

 

That's a great Ex, good for big families like mine and yours that tow!

 

Was time for an oil change today.


Decided to try going synthetic AND add some archoil additive. Gonna see if it really runs quieter and helps with cold starting. I'm skeptical


Added 16oz of archoil and 15l of 5W40 Rotella Synthetic.
It always amazes me how big the filter is for the 7.3

 

I just did my last oil change about a month ago and switched to Rotella5w40 also..i did Archoil in the summer. Seems to run a lot quieter and start up pretty good without being plugged in at 0-5 degrees F with no problems. I like it and will stay with it may change to a different brand of synthetic but for now Rotella it is.

 

Here are my observations of my latest oil change (synthetic and Archoil)


First off.... I have run synthetic oil before, but without the archoil.


Synthetic Rotella 5W40
Cold starts - The truck still had a hard time starting. Don't know if there was any difference, really. However, with the synthetic, I got more white smoke at start up.
Noise - engine sounded about the same. May have been slightly quieter at start up
Smoothness - same


Synthetic Rotella 5W40 AND Archoil
Cold starts - The truck will start at -20C!!. It smokes like crazy, but can actually start in relatively cold weather.
Noise - slightly quieter at start up. Couldn't notice a difference when warmed up.
Smoothness - The cold idle may have been a little smoother.... but not much. And the rest of the time, I couldn't tell.


Overall, I was able to get a truck that started better in the winter with the Archoil. I plan to watch for changes in mileage and oil consumption over the next few months.

 

This just sold me, I'm pulling the carpet out and doing bedliner in mine!

 

Expect the interior sound level to increase, the carpeting (and the backing material) that you have now deadens a certain amount of road noise. I think that even the factory rubber floor covering has some sound absorption backing material under it.

 

Not only the noise but the temperature change as well with bed liner material. AFAIK you can purchase sections of the vinyl flooring.

 

Ya guys, I think my Ex is considerably louder inside because of that flooring. Was just talking to my wife that this is the only thing I don't care for in the Ex, it's noisy. Around town and on the highway.


I'm planning to pull the seats and flooring out this summer and bed line the interior for additional protection and sound deadening.


Does anyone have experience with any kind of sound deadening material/coating I could use under my rubber mats? I was figuring bed liner would help to some degree.