My wife has a 99 ford expedition, eddie bauer. We recently swapped out the air ride. The front has coil over shock and the rear has just a coil spring. I was thinking of lifting the truck, I just was wondering witch would be the most cost effective. I want to increase ground clearence. If I run 33" or 35" tires will a suspension lift be better or a body lift. I want to use this vehicle for hunting and backwoods driving. The truck has 17" rims, so does 16" rims work too? I think I would have a better tire choice with the 16's.
This is not our primary use of transportation. We have another truck that is 03 supercrew 2wd.

 

You might want to check in a forum specific for that vehicle. This is 09+ F150.

 

Thread moved to the Expedition forum.

WELCOME to FTE!

 

Does your front suspension use torsion bars and the coil overs, or just coil overs?

I am running 33" tall tires on my truck. I have added a 1" spacer in the rear but no other changes. You can do this easily without having the change to 16" wheels, but they will fit fine either way.

You can do a body lift, new wheels and run 35's. That is the least expensive way to go. I do not personally like how they look though.

There are a few suspension lift kits out there that relocate the suspension arms etc. You can run into vibrations and require a new driveshaft because the rear shaft is so short to begin with. This is probably the best way to go but will be much more expensive and probably not much more functional than the body lift, or no lift.

We take my truck on off road jeep trails all summer long. The 33" tires give me plenty of clearance without any ill effects from a lift. I asked myself how much capability I needed. MT tires, no running boards and skid plates will make for a very capable rig.

 

mine has torsion bars cranked, 2"spacers in the rear and a 3" body lift with 35's.

 

Here is a pic of mine. Also used to have air suspension. I put new torsion keys for 3" in the front and 3" spacers on the rear springs for about $120.00.
I am running Cooper STTs 33x12.50 17s

 

What shocks are you running? Those should be figured into the cost because I know stock shocks will not work in back with 3 inches of lift.

Going from air suspension must be a little different too because my truck sits higher than yours with no changes in front and 1" spacer in back with 285/70-17 tires, same as your 33's but an inch or so narrower.

 

^ that's exactly what I want my white 99 EB to look like! My coil and shock conversion arrived late last week and will have it installed by the end of the month. I run the Cooper S/T's and love them. What wheels are you running? Are they 17's?

 

The wheels are just cheap steel procomps, 17x9. I did put a longer rear shock in when I did the air to spring conversion. you are right I did not figure it in the cost of the lift.

 

This pic of your truck is before the lift, right?

 

Believe it or not thats after. It doesnt look like it with the coopers stuffed under it. I actually had to cut some of the plastic under the front bumper to stop rubbing.

Here is a pic before the tires.

 

Before tires and lift, I should of said.

 

Mine has the torsion twist, 2 inch spacers in the back and a 3 inch body lift. I have 315/75/16's (pretty much a 35'). Body lift $200CDN, Spacers $50, TT free, Gap Guards $80.

Here's a pic of after..

SANY1761.jpg?t=1297478707

And before with the 255/70/16's

43600006-3.jpg?t=1297478807

And you can see in this pic, when you do the bodt lift, your front tow hooks end up under the bumper quite a bit. ( same with the hitch in the back)

SANY2419.jpg?t=1297479505

 

where did you buy the lift and spacers ? that's a great price !!!!

 

My expedition is exactly the same colour and year as yours. I'm trying to do the same thing as well but having a hard time finding products that are garunteed to work on the air ride. I have cranked the torsion bars but only gained 1inch. If you got your parts online I would love the link to the parts it'd be a huge help. Thanx!!!