We have a 2005 Excursion Limited 4wd (with lockout hubs) V10.

After many years of fussing about how low it is to the ground compared to our 4wd trucks (my husband likes to do his own service work), we are planning to do something about it and put a 4" lift on it along with upgrading the wheels and tires (we currently still have the stock 265/75/R16s on it).

We would like to go with 17x9 wheels (with 4.75 backspace). What size tire would be the most appropriate? 285/75/R17s? Or should we go a bit smaller with 265/75/R17s? Or should we scrap going any taller with the wheel and stay with the 16s and just go a little wider (9")?

We know that anything we do will have at least some impact on fuel mileage. What kind of impact have others experienced?

Thanks for all your help

 

Just my opinion but a 4" lift looks best with a 35" tire.

 

I am running a 4" lift and there is plenty of room for the 35's on 18's that I am currently running.



As I am diesel, I can't help you on how it will impact your fuel milage, but I am sure one of the gasser folks will speak up.

Good luck with the project, and don't forget to post pictures

 

David, what running boards do you have stuffed under you EX?

 

They are stock Ford running boards that came off of a newer F250/350. You can see the same design here in this picture of a 2008 truck.

 

Aha! Very nice!

 

David what color is your EX? It looks great.

 

It is Ford's Mineral Gray. It is the stock color of my Ex

 

Do you have the 3.73 gears, or are you blessed with the 4.30?

If you do any towing, I wouldn't go much taller than stock tires without a gear chance.

Paging Tom!

 

1ST, WELCOME to the world of XXX's
PLEASE add your general lo-cal in your profile......


2ND a 4" lift will net your X 6"s & allow you to clear 37" tires any tire under 35" will look to small I.M.H.O.. If you don't want to go that high you should look into the V / B-Mod in the TEC folder ( stock SD springs & can net 1.5"- 4" of lift) AS WELL AS improve the X's drivability 10 fold. AS MENTIONED if you go to 35" tire & up you need to watch your gearing.


3RD You can put on 22" wheels & it will not net you any lift (height). It will only result in less air & rubber in your tires = rougher ride!! SO you can run any size wheel that turns your crank. (9.75" is a good width)


4TH I have a 2000 X V-10 with 4:30 gears, 4" lift (6") & 37" tires it nets 10MPG. I also run a 2000 X V-10 with 3:73 gears, 1.5" lift & stock tires, IT NETS 10.4 MPG !!!

 

Hi EX fan!

And welcome to the best destination on the web for EX info, advice and help.

I agree that a 35" tire looks best with a 4" EX lift. But be aware that the EX came from the factory 2" lower than the cousin SD trucks, so a 4" Super Duty lift will net 6" of lift on an EX. Those 285/75R17s at 32.8" will look tiny under a 4" lift, look at my signature picture at the bottom of my post, those are 32" tall tires (275/65R18s) with a 4" lift.
What gears does your V-10 EX have now? Do you do any towing with it? Any tire taller than the stock 31.5" will effectively reduce the gear ratio (making it feel less powerful and increasing transmission stress) so if you have the more common 3.73 gears and you tow then going to anything over a 33" tire will reduce the fun factor.
The V-10 EXs came with either the common 3.73 gears or the optional deeper 4.30 gears which are much better for towing. My Ex had the 3.73s stock and we tow a heavy travel trailer, so when I did my Super Duty spring swap (which increased the ride height by 4" or so) and was planning to upgrade to 35" tires I also changed the gears to 4.88s.
Now with the taller tires and the deeper 4.88 gears it has an effective ratio of 4.39. The change in towing performance with the new gears was remarkable, like a totally different truck! The unloaded performance is also much better but the big payoff was with the 11,000lb trailer in tow.
In stock form my EX typically averaged 14 MPG unloaded with my mix of city and highway driving with a best nearly all highway tank at 15.5 MPG, towing our then 9,500lb toyhauler trailer we got between 6 and 7.5 MPG on highway trips. Now in it's current form (4" lift, 35" tires, 4.88 gears, Banks headers and 5Star custom tunes) it does 13 MPG unloaded pure highway, 11.5 MPG with mixed city/highway and 8 to 9.25 MPG towing our now 11,000lb TT. So our changes have reduced the unloaded economy a bit but the harder working towing mileage has seen a nice improvement which was my goal as the EX is now primarily our dedicated tow rig.

 

Do you have any good pics of your ex from the side ?

Also what is your center of hub to fender lip measurment ?

I am on 37" and thinking I am going to lower mine as much as I can. But before I order some new front coil springs I'd like to get a vague idea of how it looks on 37" w/ 4" lift. ( 6" ex )

 

No Pics BUT I'll get one in a bit.
between 29 & 29 1/2" up front (tire's to wide to get it perfect)
ORDER COIL SPRINGS !!
I could not go lower W/O cutting ( partly driving style ) touch the inner fender now & again

 

Thanks, looking forward to checking it out

 

Thanks so much for all the info. Got a lot to think about now.

Drunken Unicorn asked about gearing. We have 3.73 and I doubt the Ex will ever do much, if any, towing.

We don't really want that huge gap that seems to come with a 4" lift and not doing 35s or taller. What's everybody's opinion of doing a 2 1/2" SD suspension lift, 16x9 wheels, and staying with the original 265/75/R16s.

Thanks again