Well, figured this would be a good place to start a thread on my new-to-me Excursion. Will be doing some basic PM , listing parts bought as well as B******* about new leaks and upgrades I cant afford. Truck is an 01 Excursion Limited, 7.3 4x4, purchased with 263k miles. Previous owner did injectors, WP, trans service, diff services, turbo service and a slew of other items at around 218k miles. The primary role for this truck will be my daily as well as towing our 06 Jayco 27' camper around Texas and maybe into neighboring states. I've owned a few 7.3's in the past, never with this many miles, so I'm finding new things to work on and maintain.
Pic for your viewing pleasure:

Upcoming work in order of priority:
Oil cooler reseal (DIY)
6.0 Trans cooler (DIY)
LPOP replacement (DIY)
Body bushings (Waiting on a quote, not excited about doing these myself LOL)
JW Valve body (DIY)
Hellwig sway bar (DIY)
MBRP 4" exhaust (DIY)
S&B Intake (DIY)
Hydra chip (DIY)
Regulated fuel return/fuel bowl delete (DIY)
Fuel tank drop/clean (DIY)

Cosmetic mods include:
2016 Tow mirror upgrade (DIY)
Stubby antenna (DIY)
Remove chipping pinstripe (DIY)
Tablet mount for viewing torque pro (DIY)
Re-attach loose limited trim & paint black (DIY)
Replacement bumpers front and rear (DIY)
Raptor grill (DIY)
Replace running boards with steel steps (DIY)
2nd row captains chair conversion (DIY)
Apple CarPlay stereo install (DIY)

That about wraps it up for now! The wife is wondering why I bought something just to work on it, but I keep telling her not having a payment is worth working some weekends. Plus how else would I justify all the new tools Im going to purchase.

 

For cab mounts look into S&B. The same makers of the cold air intake you have listed. I've installed the kit from them on several excursions and a bunch of superdutys. They are awesome, way better than factory. The job itself isn't too bad, the kit comes with new bolts for each mount, so if you have a stuck or sized bolt you can just cut it.I think the kit for an excursion is $899. Good luck with the truck.

 

I looked at the s&b kit, just not sure if it was worth 4x the price of the others. Plus I haven’t seen any reports on how they’ve held up after a few years or more, only initial install reports. The included bolts is definitely good though

 

Had a minor glitch last night, truck shut off while driving but started back immediately. Got the WIF light for a second before it died. I was driving through some pretty deep water runoff so Im thinking my CPS may have gotten splashed and lost connection for a moment. Fired right up and have driven another 100 miles today in heavy rain with no issues.

11-16 mirrors arrive today, but not looking like I'll be putting them on til at least Sunday due to weather and the fact that I cant fit the X in the garage and still close the door LOL. Also will be inspecting sway bar links and shock mounts, as I've noticed a strange "rumble" intermittently. Can't recreate it, but it happens at random speeds on random roads and lasts 5-10 seconds.

 

Came home from work and got ready to do the mirror swap. Interior panels and stock mirrors came off with no issues, then set around and waiting for the UPS truck.

After reading many reviews, and deciding I did not want power fold/telescoping, these are the mirrors I chose.

reading the reviews, I saw many people had problems with the studs breaking or coming loose from the mirror. Easy day, just don’t be a jerk with the wrench, right? Wrong! To the manufacturers credit, the foam “dampener” that fits between the body and mirror is extremely thick and durable. Too thick. As i was tightening the nuts down, the mirror would “pop” and settle a little closer to the body, making me think I’d broken a stud. After getting 3 out of 4 bolts tightened, I still had a large gap between the mirror housing and the door. Gave bolt #4 a slow turn and heard a much sharper “pop” along with the feeling of a loose wrench in my hand. Back out with the mirror to inspect.

What would have been an easy fix if Lowe’s hadn’t closed early turned into digging for spare bolts and coming up with a sturdy fix. I cut the head off of a bolt that was the same diameter as the hole, added epoxy and threaded it back in, leaving appx 1” sticking out to attach to. I went ahead and removed the other 7 studs from both mirrors and epoxied them as well.


Factory gold studs/diy “fix” in silver


passenger side went on smoothly, I learned to very lightly snug each bolt up while working from one to the next and having my wife lift and push on the mirror to close the gap while I snugged each bolt. Drivers side was going smoothly til I couldn’t close the gap anymore, then realized I’d left some of the wiring pinched between the mirror and door. Loosened everything up, fed the wire through and started again. For whatever reason, the drivers side had no “give” to it when we’d pry on the mirror, so I had to very carefully snug each bolt up until it was tight against the door. There is still a slight gap on the drivers side, I will attempt to re-tighten after a drive tomorrow and if that doesn’t work, I’ll stop by Lowe’s and pickup 8-10 bolts and plan on replacing all of the studs with a sturdier solution.

overall, I’m pleased with the mirrors. They definitely accomplish the main goal of a bigger viewing surface, and look much nicer than the stock tow mirrors. The turn signals function, no running lights and haven’t checked the heat function. Will dive into those things when it’s not 35 and raining outside and I have more daylight.




Pass side correctly fitted to door

Drivers side still needs to be brought in more

 

Good looking mirrors.
I have a thread titled “6.8 2 Wheel Dive Tow Rig” (should have read “Drive”), which goes into detail what I had to do to replace the body mounts. There was a ViceGrip tool with an adjustable bicycle chain on it I purchased that saved my bacon. I also made a tool out of some muffler parts. You can do this by yourself. I’m blessed to live in North Georgia, so the metal sleeves were still good enough to reinstall.
Now, when I lift my Ex, it still wobbles around a bit, but not nearly as much as it used to.
Any questions you have, don’t hesitate to pm me.
Looks like you have an awesome build going on.

 

Ok, thanks! The creak seems to have quieted down with the cold spell, so that's on the back burner for now.

The vibration/rumble I felt a couple of days ago has gotten more persistent. Reading up on symptoms it appears the most likely culprit is bad needle bearings in at least one of the front hubs. Going to continue to inspect the suspension components tomorrow but planning on going ahead and replacing the front bearings on both sides as preventative maintenance, provided I can buy just the bearings.

Drove about 60 miles today, mirrors held up great and the viewing surface is 100x better! Definitely recommend these, especially for those that are going to be towing.

Just ordered the oil cooler rebuild kit from diesel o-rings, should have that first of next week. Placing my riffraff order on monday, which consists of MBRP 4" aluminized exhaust system, S&B intake, Melling LPOP, Hydra w/ 1023 tunes, trans filter & Mishimoto trans cooler. Probably going to park the truck in the shop for a week and just try and knock all of that out over the course of 4-5 evenings after work. The chip will be installed by a local shop, along with the Edge CTS3 and EGT/Boost/Trans temp sensors. Still looking for mounting solutions for the CTS3, definitely don't want it stuck to the windshield, but like it over by the grab handle. Should also have the hellwig sway bar come in next week and will get that installed as well. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to tow with the Ex as-is, so the "improvements" will be pretty anti-climatic, but I'm sure I'll be happier with them.

 

Well, we had a break in the weather today, 50's and sunny so I figured I might as well work on solving the vibration/rattle noise thats gotten worse over the past week. It started at 60-65mph and sounded like I was going over rumble strips, and by today it was occuring at any speed and primarily started after hitting a bump in the road. Research and a hunch led me to believe it was needle bearings, and I went back and looked over the previous owners notes and there was no mention of hubs/bearings being serviced or replaced when he did the rest of the front end, so I decided there's no time like the present and dove in.

Picked up 2 hub assemblies from Oreillys, $199/ea with studs/abs harness and a 3 year warranty. Inspected the needle bearings and added more grease and then got ready for the fun part. There are a hundred threads out there already, most better than mine, detailing how to remove your hub assembly, so I'll hit the highlights.
1. If you've just purchased your truck used, ensure that IF it has aftermarket lugs, you have the necessary adapters...I got lucky and found mine buried in the jack compartment.
2. Spray everything down with PB blaster yesterday. And then this morning. And then again before starting work. This stuff is magic.
3. A 13/16" impact socket removes the larger caliper bolts and the hub bolts. Instructions called for a 21mm, I didnt have one and had no issues with the 13/16
4. I didn't drop the tie rod. It made it a little more difficult to access the hub bolts because I only had one wheel elevated, but I had no issue getting them out with a combination of a 30" 1/2" drive breaker bar, 3" extension and regular 1/2" ratchet

When you're somewhat "throwing parts at a problem", it is extremely satisfying to find that your diagnosis was right. As I pulled the hub away from the axle stud, a few dozen needle bearings started raining down out of the assembly. Once I got it dropped, the entire bearing housing was empty. They gone. Spent 30 minutes scrubbing all the surfaces, cleaning everything out, cleaned and greased all the parts and caliper pins and then began re-assembly.

Tip 5. The most important tip. I promise, it's important....No matter how many times you check to make sure your dust shield is on correctly, check again...Also, removing a hub assembly that's only been on for 3 minutes is much easier than one thats been on for 19 years...Just saying LOL

I did notice that the "outer ring" of the axle seals were shot, but I did not have the tools or time to pull the axle and replace them today, so that's on the list for next month when I have more space and time to work.

 

Nice progress.

FYI you can purchase the needle bearing and replace it without replacing the entire unit. If you want to grease the unit-bearing @Riffraff Performance and @ArmyLifer both have fittings for the abs hole. Second link is for an adapter to grease the needle bearings while installed.

 

I read that they could be replaced, but didn’t have time to source the right bearing set and hope it was in stock locally. Had to get it all done this weekend, and I figured at 264k, the oem hubs had done their duty and we’re probably ready to be replaced anyways.

Has anyone here had any dealings with the edge CTS3 monitor? Ordering one tomorrow along with the competition sensor kit and still not sure if I’m getting everything I need for install. Planning on contacting Clay at riffraff tomorrow but wanted to ask here as well.

 

I tried a bearing puller on mine when I was rebuilding my Dana 60 to swap in and it was a total pain. I gave up and decided to just ride these hubs until they give up the ghost and buy new hubs.

 

Tremendous thanks to JAck19 for coming in clutch with the bearing seat tool!

Figured I could knock out the drivers side in 3 hours or less after learning all the tricks on the passenger side. I was wrong. Got the driver side hub pulled pretty easily and fortunately, the needle bearings were in good shape, so the hub replacement on that side was preventative only. Then I noticed that the axle stub was laying inside the knuckle. Hmm, that doesnt look right. After a few google image searches, and texting JAck19, I realized that the entire knuckle/axle/vacuum seal was completely gone. No trace of it.

Back to Oreillys, snagged 2 seals to be safe as I read it's easy to damage them. Now how to get it on? I dont have a hydraulic press, I dont have a bench grinder to make my own tool and the day is coming to an end...Lo and behold, JAck19 had his tool that he'd made to seat the seal, so a quick 45 min drive out to his house to pick it up and I was back in business. Unfortunately, it wasn't as simple as seating the bearing and re-assembling. I got the seal in to a depth I guessed was correct, installed the new hub, but the axle was about 1/16" in too far to clear the snap ring groove and allow me to install it. Over the next 3 hours, I pried on the axle, hammered on the knuckle, pulled the hub 3 more times to check the seal, drove the seal in further, nothing helped. Finally decided to beat the seal back OUT of the knuckle and start over. Got the seal pushed back out to where the hub would install and I could start the 4 nuts on the back. Then tightened the nuts up a little at a time until the hub snugged up and pressed the seal into the correct depth. One quick smack on the axle knuckle and it popped out to the correct depth. Finished cleaning up all the parts and surfaces and got everything buttoned up around 11pm last night. Test drove appx 20 miles around town and everything feels tight and no vibrations. No pics from the driver side, but if anyone has any questions about the process, feel free to PM me.

Picked up some 2020 Superduty side steps today, going to get those installed tonight and finally ditch the crappy stock running boards. Also got the rest of the chipped limited pinstriping removed and cleaned up, and re-attached some body moulding that had come loose. Going to make a call to RiffRaff today to confirm some questions about the Edge monitor, and then pulling the trigger on a CAI, Exhaust, trans cooler, Hydra and LPOP. Gonna be a busy month!

 

heres a couple better pics of the truck with the new mirrors and stubby ronin antenna.

still debating if I’m gonna remove the moulding and do black bumpers/black wheels or leave the moulding but paint it black and do white bumpers/polished wheels. Hmm...

 

Black and black!

 

Im leaning towards black bumpers, remove the moulding and keep the wheels and steps polished.

Holy crap! Placed my riffraff order at 3pm yesterday and at 1030am this morning my trans cooler and intake were delivered! RiffRaff is the best!!!