Alright so we went for the gusto and got our first diesel excursion. She's a 2005 Eddie Bauer 2WD 6.0L.

This is our third Excursion and we decided to go this route rather than drop more cash into the other 2005 we have with the V10. In the end, we would put more money into it than the V10 would ultimately be worth. We went with the 6.0L with the mindset that I'll have a bit more value in the long term.

Here they are side by side.

The "old" Ex is the white one. V10 4WD Eddie Bauer. The grey is the new one.



There are some plans for the new Ex. We are looking more towards reliability, mileage, comfort and driveability than power. I have other "toys" for power, acceleration, handling and speed. For now, this is what is planned beyond the "maintenance" and fluid refreshes.

- Engine/Trans work. ARP Head Studs, EGR Delete, new Ford Oil Cooler, new down pipe deleting cat, new exhaust, 2008 Transmission Pan and 100% filter, trans flush.

- Body & Interior. Replacing full carpet, re-upholstering seats with custom changes, upgraded head rests on 2nd row captains and 3rd row bench head rest addition. Also changing/waterdipping wood finish panels and moving towards a black wood look to tie in balck and beige a bit. With engine work I will replace the body mounts with poly mounts. Looking to refresh running boards and rear bumper covers. Do the door seal/weather strip upgrade.

- Exterior. Headlight upgrade. Fog lights moving to Rigid SAE D-Series mounting in stock locations. Add reverse flood lights.

- Suspension work. Replace shocks. Upgrade rear sway bar.

- Wheels and tires being rolled over from the old truck to the new.

- Whatever else I am sure will come up and take 5 times longer than expected

 

First to be tackled.... shocks. The shocks on the truck are done. They were some old Pro Comp ES3000's that basically let the truck rock back and forth for 10 seconds at every stop light. They had to go.





I went with a set of Rancho RS9000XL's. Not going into huge detail as there have been various write ups on shock changes for these trucks. I will say... passenger side is a pain in the _____.

Here are the new Rancho's in place. I set them all to the "mid-setting" and I will drive a bit to get them moving. I'll then go a bit stiffer and see what settings I prefer.



love the fact that the shock mount bushings are all poly. The is huge and should definately last the life of the shocks. The rubber that was on the Pro Comps was done. Shocks did not even need to be leveraged off. They almost dropped off the studs up front.



Made certain to mount adjusters so they are all accessible.



Overall after installed the difference in the ride and drive are monumental. No doubt given the shocks I pulled off could be extended and contracted with two fingers on the seats.

 

First unexpected issue.

Some Neanderthal thought this was a good idea to put some later model wheels and tires on the excursion and took it to Bubba for the work.





They dropped in a 1" spacer but to do that they had no choice but to cut the original studs.

After some searching for new studs, I've decided to take the opportunity and replace all four wheel hubs. I'll get the new studs and get brand new bearings and races in the process. Kills me that I'll have to sink unexpected cash here though.

 

Ditch the roof bars and upgrade your mirrors. Keep us updated on your build and welcome to the club.

 

Yes.... I was looking at the mirrors. I definitely am doing the '08+ upgrade. Already have the PDF's and placed the order for connectors and plugs to setup power, light, folding and telescoping. Need to source the part number for the controls.

Will do it!

 

Alright.... Some work done.

Over the weekend I did the 2008+ transmission pan and filter swap on the transmission. When we dropped the stock pan on there it was clear the trans had been recently serviced since the filter had a May 2016 date stamp on it. Besides the fluid was clean, noting in the pan other than minimal amounts of the black dust that builds up on the magnet. Happy with that.

Did the tray swap but not a full flush. I did manage to get 10 qts of fluid out between the tray, external filter and trans cooler drain. In the end, I filled back up with Mercon SP and will run it for a few miles then drain and refill a last time.

Sorry no pics, but it's been many times on other threads so no need to rehash here. If anything I'll snap a photo later of the larger pan.

All good with that.... onto next steps....

 

So yesterday we dropped off the truck at a well known diesel specialist in Miami. Don't know if we are allowed to mention vendors... if so, let me know and I'll post it. Have not looked in the "rules" section recently.

Regardless, the truck is at a shop getting some work done. Specifically, ARP Headbolts, new head gaskets, Ford oil cooler, EGR delete, 3.5" down pipe, new exhaust going back behind passenger real wheel again and, new body mount poly bushings. Here are some shots the shop sent me...

Weight reduction :-) to allow access to the body bolts.



The body and heads off. Engine is looking real good and very well maintained. Now it's just going to be even better....

 

Wow, you don't waste any time. Coming along nicely.

 

Make sure you spend plenty of time in the 6.0 section and add to your list for your make haves, something to monitor the vitals.

 

Thanks!

Well.... this is the third Excursion so, generally speaking, I know what I'm dealing with and resolve a few things from the get go... Beyond that I have read a great deal about the diesel and what was "suggested" for reliability etc and when we decided to go down the 6.0L route I set aside the money to have this work done.

I try to take care of most of the work myself but the fact I had to take the body off for the engine work there is no way I could do that myself. I have a lift at home but it's not a two post to be able to pull the body. So, on this, I had to bite the bullet. Gotta work on the wife to let me get a two post....

 

Will do.... I'll go over and check it out. I am getting a dual gauge pod that will drop into the lower dash... but need to do some homework to figure out what is best to see in there.

 

Shot by real quick to get a look at the truck and the guys were getting the heads back on. I took a shot while there...





While I was there, I got a real clear look at the lower portion of the block. Looking at the oil pan and upper oil pan I see there is some residual oil around there. I know it's normal to a certain extent but since we have the body off the truck doing the oil pan is far easier. Going one step further, since we are going to pull the engine to do the pan we are going to do the front and rear crank seals and the related cover seals as well. There is nothing at all around the bed plate to block union so that will stay untouched.

Bottom line... we just decided to do oil pan seals and the front and rear engine seals. It'll set me back a bit of time.... but going to do it all one shot with the body off.

 

Awesome! I love build/progress threads. Smart idea to go through all the spots the truck might need addressed in the future while you have the body off the frame.

 

Another update....

Hope you guys stay tuned later when the updates are not as fast and furious!

Anyway.... contrary to what I mentioned yesterday... we did decide to pull the Bed Plate. At the end of the day.... 99% there. Might as well. There was nothing showing as an issue, but why risk it.

So today, the engine came out and was dismantled. The various covers and plates removed along with the respective seals and gaskets. Everything was well cleaned and will be coming back together between today and tomorrow.

Here are the nude engine photos....

Front and back sides on the engine and the exposed crank with the oil pan, upper pan and bed plate out...









Crank journals and bearings look pristine. Pistons, wrist pins and rods look great. Cam and crank gears look great as well. Honestly nothing showing any overheating damage or fatigue. Overall, continues to look awesome.

 

Here are a few closer shots on the crank and some of the pistons and rods.





Below are the rear and front covers. In these shots, all cleaned up already.





this is the top side of the upper oil pan tray. This was what was covered in residual oil. Now, cleaned up. The upper seal here seems to have been the culprit of the very light leak. The seal seemed to be a bit flattened when it came out.



This is the bed plate. Here it is still grimy but will be cleaned up as well.



This shot was taken by the shop for me with the lower part of the engine re-assembled. Bed plate is clean with upper and lower pan in, all new seals.




We'll have to wait until tomorrow to get some more shots for you guys....