Hey all, Im new here and just bought my first ex last month. My Dad had an 03 w2wd, 6.0 Ex and Iv always thought theyd be awesome for overlanding/camping.
Mine is a 4wd, v10 limited.

I want to lift it to fit 35s. I already have rims, just need the tires and lift.
I want to do a 6" maximum.
I found a very good used kit for $00 with Bilstein shocks and It for a 2012 F250.
Im wondering if this would fit on the ex? I know the older years are interchangeable, but didn't know about newer years.

Thanks in advance.

 

The rear stuff might fit but the front definitely won’t.

The f250s went to radius arm coil spring front suspension in 2005 and later models. All 4x4 Excursions are leaf springs on all four corners.

Side note, if you’re planning an off-road/ overland build, might want to look at swapping a Dana 60 in the front while you’re doing the lift. All 4x4 Excursions came factory with a solid Dana 50 front end ( basically a Dana 60 housing with a Dana 44 size ring gear). The issue with the Dana 50 is no one really makes lockers for them, whereas everyone and their brother makes lockers for a Dana 60.
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Welcome to the EX forum Bob,

No, the later model ‘05+ pickups lift will not work on your EX. You have front leaf springs and they have front coil springs, you could do the front coil swap but be prepared for lots of work on that.

To fit true 35”s you don’t need anything close to 6” of lift, I run 35.25” Nittos and my front is only lifted 3 7/8” over stock.

And Anton types faster than me!

 

Thanks yall.

I dont want too much of a lift, just enough to clear the (specifically 315s) tires while offroading.

I also looked into the Zone Offroad kit: https://zoneoffroad.com/products/4-i...40803898753112
Or doing the following:
f250 X code front springs + block if needed.
f250 rear v code springs i believe.
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...t=7544&jsn=493


Any thoughts?

 

I read you other post in the welcome thread. There you mentioned 35” OR 37” tires under your V-10, which gears does your EX have? ANY additional (over stock 31.6”) tire height will effectively numerically reduce your gear ratio thus reducing your performance. If starting with the 4.30 gear 35”s won’t be so terrible but 37”s will make it a bit of a dog. If starting with 3.73s the 35” will make it doggy and the 37”s will make it a slug. For these big heavy wagons the 6.8 3.73 combo is pretty much just adequate for general use and light to medium towing. For improved performance in all scenarios the “sweet spot” effective ratio is 4.30-4.56-ish. Mine rolls on 35”s and I swapped up to 4.88 gears (from stock 3.73) that combo gives me an effective ratio of 4.39 which is fairly sporty unloaded and handles our very heavy TT pretty well.

 

Do some reading around here on the Pirate recipe ProComp all spring 4” lift, lots of happy owners here with that setup.

 

X2 on the pirate pro comp route. Super happy with mine, it's never ridden better. Flexes nicely when I'm trail riding as well. Clears the 35s fine. Netted about 4 inches lift.

 

The rear won't work either.

2012 F-250 rear leaf springs are significantly longer from eyelet to eyelet than 1999-2007 rear leaf springs.

 

A lift block doesn’t care how long the leaf is, only how wide it is.
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OP, like suggested above, search a bit for the Pirate Procomp lift recipe. It works pretty dang good and clears 35's easily. I'm running that lift as are several other forum members. Here's a pic of what it looks like with a true 35 in tire on a 20 inch wheel (Toyo tires in this case, unlike BFG where they can't read a tape measure apparently).


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I think it has 3.73s, yeah since that post ive decided on 315s on 16x9 Procomp rims ive already got.

Ill check out that pirate lift setup. Wanting to do this lift where itl be reliable, but on a budget too. For weight concerns, I have a 12k lbs winch on a hitch mount up front and lots of gear in the back including 29 gallon water tank, 304 ah battery and solar setup with spare tire.

I have 2 kids under 5 years old so itll be packed out, if anyone remembers what it was like camping/traveling with little kids and a wife

 

Curious, Does that cummins weigh a lot more than the 6.8 gasser?

 

The Pirate Procomp lift handles a little extra weight just fine.

Here's the front bumper, with a 12K pound winch, that's on the front of my Pirate Pro Comp lifted Excursion. Its homemade, all out of 3/16 or thicker steel. If you're hanging more weight off the front than that, well, please post pictures because that would be a sight to see.




Same for the rear, although I do have the PMF airbag tangs and supplemental rear airbags, but I still hang plenty of weight off the back end too with no issues. The one slight deviation I have from the Pirate Procomp lift recipe is I still run the rear sway bar. Several people don't run a rear sway bar at all and are fine with it (actually provides a smoother ride for the rear seat passengers that way). But it does make for more body roll and IMHO towing is easier with the rear sway bar than without. But that's all subjective / personal preference, if I wasn't ever going to tow with the Excursion, I'd probably run without the rear sway bar.


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IDK, I assume so, but we all know what assume stands for.

I also swapped to a manual transmission, so the overall engine & transmission package is actually lighter now than when it was a 6.0 PSD & 5R110 auto , because the 5R110 is a heavy beast of an automatic and the 6.0 PSD isn't exactly a lightweight either.
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Are you currently satisfied with the EX’s performance with it fully loaded down with all of your family and gear onboard? Because the performance will be reduced from current levels with taller tires without a corrective gear ratio change. I was very unhappy with my wagon’s performance while towing our old 31’ 9,500lb toyhauler due to the 3.73 gears and 32” tires. Knowing that the future included lots of towing I upgraded to 4.88 gears as I wanted to run 35”s and have a 4.30-ish effective ratio for the improved towing performance. That turned out to be the best mod that I did to my EX, don’t fear the gear!

And with 2 kids and a wife, you need a trailer!