I have been looking for an EX for about 6 months or so more. The one thing I was sure I wanted in an EX was the V10. I don't have the knowledge to work on diesels or the funds to keep them going. I'm into surf fishing and we tow a 9200 pound camper. I have a wife and two pre-teen girls and just took on a 19 month old nephew that looks like we will be adopting. The 2005 Chevy 2500 HD Extended with 6.0 seems to struggle towing the camper and is quite tight with our growing family. So the wife has finally agreed that we needed something bigger.

I will start off by saying I am NOT brand specific. I like them all. My first new truck was a 2001 Dodge 1500 short bed factory auto, lifted with the 360 and was 4x4 with the manual floor shifter. Since I have a company truck all my driving life I only put 18k on that truck in the three years I owned it selling it when the wife got pregnant with our first child. It was too tall for her 5' frame to get into it. We all have done the deed to sacrifice our loves for our queens.

Anyhow, as time went on and our family grew two years ago I came across the 05 2500 HD. At the time I had a 2005 F150 short bed Extended that had the 4.6 in it. Loved that truck. But it was severely under powered and over weight with the camper we purchase that same summer. Guy told me that my Ford V8 would be fine towing that thing while I looked over and drooled over the 250 Cummins he used to tow the camper with.

Wife and I took that camper to the hills of Va and WVa that summer for our 5th anniversary with the F150. Needless to say I was looking for a heavier truck to tow with after that 9 day trip. We spent most of our travels in the truckers lane while they past us in the passing lane.

Other then lost of power towing the heavy well built camper the 2500 HD was a decent truck. However, when we got full placement of my young nephew and started spending time in the truck, it was clear to the wife (after I have been telling her we needed something bigger) that we needed to move up again after only two and a half years with the current truck. As the girls are getting older they want to take friends and other family members with us camping and we have no issues with that. My pop keeps busting my ***** telling me I should get a bus. But a group camping with us and surf fishing is just our thing.

So after that I started really looking for one for a bout two months. I was really looking for an EB trim package. However, I put a deposit on one in North NJ and the dealer sold it out from under me. It was a 2005 XLT with 89k on it. Nice looking truck. It was fully loaded and they wanted 15,9 for it. I talked them down to 15 and I think that's why they sold it. The other buyer gave them the full asking price. I was so pissed. But after about a week I found one that I think will serve us well. It's not as equipped as the other one but has more then my 2500 HD has which was nothing but cruise and tilt. I do like the manual 4x4 shifter on the floor as it's more dependable then the electronic ones are. My 05 F150 was the same way. If the EX's were built that way that would be another option that would be a must.

It's a 2004 XLT that is pretty lightly equipped that I would think for an XLT. Has power heated mirrors (non-towing), power duel front seats, adjustable pedals, 4x4, cruise with tilt, two rows bench, rear AC, non-lighted running boards, 1 CD radio, key-less entry with door key pad, and the tow package.

I was hoping for the rear power vent windows and the overhead console readout. From what I understand the plug for the readout should be there so I plan to install one. Still bummed about the rear power vent windows though. Guy told me it had them over the phone. It does not have the rear DVD system which I am fine with. Told most of them don't work by now anyhow and I wanted to add an aftermarket with a bigger view screen and maybe even wireless head sets. I can't remember if the truck had rear defroster. I certainly hope so.

Here is what I know about the truck. It was owned by the US Navy and has 70K miles on the V10 drive train. Apparently it's never been registered so I will become the 2nd owner as the guy selling it has to title it to him first. In 2013 the front end was rebuilt and has a new alternator, front tires, flow master muffler, and all new brakes. Truck is white with the black lower body molding. The interior is grey with cloth and has two bench seats.

Here are my plans for right now and of course could change as I start tinkering with it are as follows;

05 EB factory wheels
New style super duty black tow mirrors with turn signals
different style front grille
Spintech 9000 series muffler
overhead readout
Aftermarket DVD with wireless headsets
Back up camera
Roof rack with fold away owning for surf fishing
Rear airbags for towing the camper
Mild bolt on performance upgrades such as; cool air intake (snorkel maybe), PCM program, exhaust work


Well, I think thats enough for now. LoL

I look forward with lurking around the forum and meeting new folks...

 

Welcome to family

 

When you say it has two bench seats, do you mean that the front seat is a bench and it does not have the third row seat? Welcome to the Ex family, good luck to you and your "two" new additions.

 

Sounds familiar, My EX used to be an Army Corps of Engineers vehicle, we bought it with 65k miles and it also an XLT V-10 4X4 with the grey cloth interior and low options but ours is Aspen Green.

The factory air cleaner on the V-10 is a good cold air setup that can outflow the 6.8 at redline, some owners here have reported no gains from aftermarket setups, only increased noise.
Do you know what gear ratio your EX has? That's a lot of TT at 9200lbs, what make and model is it? We pull a Jayco 338RETS that weighs 11000 lbs and the V-10 is much happier with the current 4.39 effective gear ratio (4.88 with 35" tires) than it was with stock tires and 3.73 gears, the V-10 loves deeper gears that let it rev up where it makes better power.
If you plan to search for a third row seat the Expeditions use the same seat as the EX to make the hunt a little easier.
I added Banks headers to mine and they have made a nice increase in performance across the entire RPM. Range, the stock manifolds are extremely restrictive.
5Star Tuning http://5startuning.com/product-categ...r-programmers/. is a site sponsor here and they are considered to be the premier V-10 custom tune writers around, they know how to squeeze the most from these motors (and make the trans performance much much better). Their tunes have significantly increased our towing performance, the Performance tunes work better for my towing style than the Tow tunes do though.
These guys http://www.1aauto.com/?utm_source=fo...ampaign=1ATony are a great source for the '08+ towing mirrors, myself and dozens of other members here have them and enjoy the great quality and increased visibility.
Where in the First State are you? I'm about 15 minutes from Claymont just off I-95 in PA.

 

Thanks.

As for the bench, it has two rrar bench seats. I looked at an 05 that had all three bench seats. Man I loved that set up. As far as the gears I am not sure what it is. I'm hoping at least 4:10s. Our camper is a 96 Jayco 26.6 super slide. Heavy sucker but our land yacht. Thanks for the tip on the intake as well.

Im right of 295 and the Delaware Memorial Bridge.

Once I get the EX I'll look into 5 star more. I am not sure bout the V10 but I know how I wanted my chevy 6.0 set up and it seems different with the Fords I guess...

 

How much longer until you post some pics up?

 

Welcome to FTE.

Towing a TT that heavy will not only require airbags (I'm surprised Tom @WE3ZS did not mention) you will need new/updated/modified springs. Some buy new from ATS Springs, some modify X codes or B codes, some source a donor from a salvage yard or some other iteration: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ch-folder.html .

You will also want some sort of sway/trailer control: Helwig/RAS or possibly Hensley Arrow.

The V10 powerplant is a very good (GASOLINE ) towing option please don't forget stopping your TT.
Go over the braking system, consider SS brake lines, and I did not see any mention of a brake controller (Tekonsha P3).

 

Thanks mecdac. I know about the spring and sway issues with the EX. I just didn't think I had to worry about that just yet with the truck having only 70k on it. I'll start looking into those things soon I guess. The EX has a brake controller in it already. My camper has weight distribution and anti-sway set up on it so for now I guess that would help...

 

I just used the VIN decoder and looks like the truck has 3.73 rears. I'm kind of bummed about that. I figured if it was used as a government rig it would have the better 4.10 or 4.30 rears.

Guess a re-gear is in my future...

 

 

These are the pictures from the ad. I'll post up better ones once I bring her home hopefully Tuesday.

When I ran the VIN it also stated it was a service vehicle. So I'm also guessing any chance of it being pre-wired for the overhead read out and turn signals in the mirrors are pretty slim to none now. Damn, I'm getting bummer buy the minute. I love the color scheme, the fact it has 70k on the power plant and no DVD system so I can add my own.

I may not keep this one long now that I'm looking it over closely. Starting to have buyers remorse...

 

It looks like a pretty clean buggy to me from the pics, and that is some very low mileage that would hard to duplicate in another rig.
The 3.73 gears aren't the end of the world with a heavy trailer, we pulled our old 9500 lb toyhauler with them for two years all up and down the East Coast. Do you do long towing trips with your TT? It will be OK-ish on the flats and you'll just lose some speed and spend more time in lower gears on any grades but those 3.73 will still get you to your destination. The gear swap can be put off for a while to keep the budget under control if needed.
A test pull of the TT will give you some seat of the pants idea as to where you are and what may be needed in the suspension department. We have folks here pulling heavy with many various suspension setups that are working well for them, I run modded springs from an F-250 that a few extra leaves added as well as taller blocks in the rear and that transformed the EX into a completely different truck while towing. We can meet up before you commit to any mods so you can see where mine is vs your stocker to give you some ideas.
Adding features to the mirrors is pretty straight forward wiring and has been documented here, but you may be lucky and have the needed wires in place. My EX came with the little paddle mirrors like yours with defrost only, no signals and my 1AAuto replacement tow mirrors came with the proper adapter plugs that gave me the signals with plug and play!

 

If you are happy with 90% of the EX and the biggest concern is the gears I wouldn't jump to sell it yet.

It appears there are very few with that gear set, and albeit very very very few left with the mileage yours has.

Looks great, I'd let it all settle in for a few weeks.

Look forward to the other pics you post up.

Joe

 

Thanks WE3XS for the encouragements. Meeting up someday seems like a cool idea to me. Most of our towing right now is about a two hour drive. We only hit VA once and would love to head back with the kids. I guess it can't be any worst then towing with the 05 2500HD that we used. Should be better as the 6.0 is a dog motor and only 380 ft. ibs of torque vs what the V10 can put out.

I plan to look @ the mirrors and overhead read out to see if the wires are there to do what I need it to do. I'm starting to wonder now if I have rear AC. The guy told me it did. I don't remember seeing round registers when looking up. I know the VIN check stated it had floor heat. Would the VIN check tell me if it had rear AC? If it doesn't have rear AC that is a major deal breaker there...

 

Thanks Joe...