hi I recently bought an a 2000 x after the unfortunate loss of my 03 the ex I bought has a 6inch lift with blocks as far as I can tell has 35s on it and a 6.8 v10. ok so my issues are handling, performance, pickup, braking and steering in a parking lo also I want to do a full king ranch interior upgrade dash steering column center console ect with 08+ parts. so far I have installed hellwig front and rear sway bars but now I hear a pop noise when turning and going over bumps not off to a good start I plan on removing the block and installing lift springs or add a leaf any advice would be help full now I know for a fact gearing is one of if not the best upgrade that's where I have problems do I get a set of dana 80s or what gears should I run ect I do want to put air or eltric lockers on if that helps I tow some mild off road some highway some also planning on running 37s now for engine the exhaust I am planning on doing is a true duel setup with duel flowmaster 50 heavy duty mufflers get rid of that stupid y horrible design I had thought of doing an engine swap with a ram v10 built up I am not a purest at all. for the trans I plan on getting a gear vendors setup not sure if I should keep the 4 speed or use a 5 speed. I have a bunch of parts laying around from other projects like the ram v10 and 5 speed ect just need to get started in the right direction




thanks for any help

 

Sure sounds like you have many dreams! Those come with a hefty price but good luck your on your way to a great start.

 

Sooooo, you might be swapping Dana 80s under your EX, regearing, modding the 6" lift kit, swapping in another manufacturers motor and trans but your poll question is about a heated steering wheel?

All kidding aside, Welcome to the forum!

The popping in the front suspension may be the top bolts on the sway bar end links, the design of them and how they fit into the frame mounts allows for them to get poppy if not torqued up well. Of course you could also have some body mount bushing wear on the mounts just under your feet, another issue we have seen here but a pain to deal with.
4.30 gears were the factory offering for towing on these rigs and that ratio works very well with the V-10 as it loves to rev, so if you were to stay with the 35" I would suggest going to 4.88 like I did with my 35"s for an effective ratio of 4.39. I know for a fact that that combo is a huge performance boost and makes towing so much better! I you are going to go up to 37"s and want any kind of decent performance then you may want to look at 5.13s. And the factory Dana 50 front and Sterling 10.5 rear should perform just fine for the uses that you mentioned.
Do you have any idea as to what lift kit your EX currently has? That info would make deciding how to modify it easier. And hopefully the blocks you mentioned are only on the rear, if you have any blocks on the front suspension stop driving it right now and get them off!
I've never had heated seats or steering wheel on any vehicle so I am not missing it.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by ohioexwner

hi I recently bought an a 2000 x after the unfortunate loss of my 03 the ex I bought has a 6inch lift with blocks as far as I can tell has 35s on it and a 6.8 v10. ok so my issues are handling, performance, pickup, braking and steering in a parking lo also I want to do a full king ranch interior upgrade dash steering column center console ect with 08+ parts. so far I have installed hellwig front and rear sway bars but now I hear a pop noise when turning and going over bumps not off to a good start I plan on removing the block and installing lift springs or add a leaf any advice would be help full now I know for a fact gearing is one of if not the best upgrade that's where I have problems do I get a set of dana 80s or what gears should I run ect I do want to put air or eltric lockers on if that helps I tow some mild off road some highway some also planning on running 37s now for engine the exhaust I am planning on doing is a true duel setup with duel flowmaster 50 heavy duty mufflers get rid of that stupid y horrible design I had thought of doing an engine swap with a ram v10 built up I am not a purest at all. for the trans I plan on getting a gear vendors setup not sure if I should keep the 4 speed or use a 5 speed. I have a bunch of parts laying around from other projects like the ram v10 and 5 speed ect just need to get started in the right direction




thanks for any help

Probably the hardest-to-read-post-ever.

Read the tech folders and good luck on your heated steering wheel.

 

I got lucky the blocks were only on the rear I got lucky there I know there is some scary stuff out there! as for the gearing any companies that that you guys have liked? the dana 80 think came from I took as payment a set of dynatrac pro 80 axles at the time I figure if someone cant pay I would take a trade then stop I found myself with a bunch of different parts that I trade and swap witch is better then not getting payed but I cant pay my rent with a trans or a tranfercase lol that's where a lot of the list comes from

 

i will check those sway bar link bolts

 

Punctuation. It makes posts easier to read and understand. Welcome to the forum!

 

All seriousness though, I totally didn't read your post beyond the first 2 lines. It was to hard and made my head hurt, sorry

 

Welcome. As WE3ZS said regear is probably the best to start with. He has accumulated lots of information and shared it here with us regarding towing heavy with a V10 EX. You also mentioned a lockers and such. Seems a lot here like the detroit true tracs. Something to look into. If you do a search there should a couple threads regarding these in the super duty section.

 

big thanks to WE3ZS you were right the end links needed tightened back down now the gearing could i use the dana 80s the reason i ask is that my axles have 185,000 miles on them in the ohio salt basically tons of rust but i don't know the difference between the two i am trying to learn more but that's not working out well lol so i hope you guys can please have some patients with me.


on another note to all i am a better mechanic than author i promise it will get better

 

If you could be one or the other the mechanic is by far the better choice

 

yes i agree i am not a mechanic by trade but i grew up on the family farm and still work there i do work on the side for extra cash


that being said that's why i am looking about air or electric lockers so i can lock it up to get through some tough spots then turn them off for on the road

 

gearing issue will be fixed this weekend now I need some power to get this beast down the road