Hi guys new to this forum and new to owning a 2005 Excursion Limited 4WD 6.0 Diesel 140k miles. (sorry for long thread, hope someone can help)

When I bought the Excursion I had to drive it about 200 miles back home and it was all over the place. The steering seems real loose and when I hit bumps or a large gust of wind comes along the Excursion is all over the road.

I took it to Ford to get an alignment the next day and they said I need new outer tie rods ends, upper & lower ball joints, front shocks, steering stabilizer, locking hubs.

After that I took it to my mechanic who said I did not really need all that stuff done but if I did it I should be set with the Excursion for a long time. I opted to do all of these suggestions because I will be doing a lot of traveling with my family and wanted the peace of mind that all is well. For shocks I put new front and rear bilstein shocks (nothing fancy, I think they were about $80 each, sales rep said they would provide a firmer ride for towing).

After that I took it to another Tire shop for an alignment, they complimented all the work done and said I just need to get used to the steering after coming from a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I took there word for it and headed on a 2k road trip.

I love the Excursion but once again it was all over the place. It seems worse around 65-70 mph, and I found going around 75-85 it would be a little bit easier of a drive until a Semi Truck would go by or I would get stuck in a lot of traffic or hit a lot of bumps.

At first I had a very firm grip on the wheel but quickly learned that a loose grip at around 4 & 8 o'clock on the wheel was best. I talked to a number of other Excursion owners who said there was was very smooth and straight.

The way it drives right now does not seem safe. Any suggestions?

 

Welcome to the forum. We hope you get many miles of enjoyment out of your rig. Make sure to post up some pics for us to oogle!

This topic has been beat to death and back multiple times. Using the forum search will bring up a couple of days worth of reading. At that point, if you STILL have questions, we will jump in and help you out.

 

I am/getting out of the same boat your in. I think all the issues you mentioned above have to be right whether it's the culprit or not as your truck is 12 years old. Your gearbox could be it, do you have a rear sway bar(just installed one and it made a huge difference), tire choice, etc. Mine steers 90% better after taking care of the above but I am going to place an order w junior at ATS for some X/C code springs to finish it off after searching this site for a while- ton of good info.
The guy that said get used to how it drives compared to your 2014 jeep is correct no matter what you do. My 2012 f250 rides like Cadillac compared to the X while my wife's suburban rides like a Bentley compared to my f250 however I still favor the X over all of them. Good luck w your quest and report back w your results.

 

What size tires?

Load rating on tires?

What is pressure (PSI) in tires?

 

At a 140k miles, you are likely due new steering components all around (steering gear box, tie rods, ball joints, sway bar bushings and steering damper). It took all of that on my 05, 6.0 to get it riding like new. Also check the dampeners (shocks).

Sorry - now I see you did everything except the box. I bet the steering gear is worn.

 

have you considered landyot radius rods

 

Without a lot of banter... here's what I did.... and I'll rate on a scale of 1-10 what helped the most from my perspective.

10....20" rims and Michelin 275x65R-20 tires L/R E
Took the tire squirm out most noticable improvement to handling IMO.
9.... Red head steering Box
replaced box after adjusting the stuffings out of the original. Significant help to remove the steering play.
8.... Helwig rear sway bar
single best add on for the excursion ... it was my first suspension mod.
7.... V code front and Modded B code rear springs
makes it ride way better and is the proper spring rate for this truck. Helped with eliminating "rear" steer.
4-6.... Dual front (properly valved) Bilstein shocks, rear shocks and dual steering stabilizer.
I did rears first, then steering stabilizers, then front shocks. IMO the duals front shocks helped the most of the three.


Truck drives on rails after the above work, each additional or repair/mod made a minor improvement.

3.... RAS
helps more with towing,
3.... New front end pieces and parts (except the pitman arm)
I did it all at once so hard to tell what made the most improvement. XRF everything
1... unit bearings

 

X2 on the rear stabilizer bar being priority #1. Don't completely understand the mechanics on how the bar makes that big of a difference but it does

 

The 05 PSD came with a rear swaybar so should not be a big issue.

 

Landyot Radius Rods, then whatever.

 

The Red-Head steering box replacement has greatly improved my handling. I strongly recommend one.

 

... or tighten your existing steering box and see how that affects your steering.

 

It seems @dabz is "doin' the dab"

 

I did all the typical "mods" to help with the issue.

The last was a Redhead box, that got me over the hump so to speak.

Also the bottom ball joints should have zerks to grease, if not they're original, you can drill a hole and tap in a zerk.

That also helped Combined with the hellwigs, Bilsteins, steering stabilizer, X & modded B codes....etc

 

I drove almost 200 home from dealer as well, what a ride.. replaced the steering stabilizer and rotated the tires - it was like a new truck. I've had to replace the stabilizer 3 times in just under 5 years, had some luck with leaks in them..

Have done sway bar links and tie rod ends as well but those were just in the last year.