Hey all, I drive a '98 Eddie Bauer Expedition and I am looking to keep this thing for quite some time longer. The setup is a 5.4 with 132--- miles on the stock engine and tranny. I realize that I should probably get a new torque converter for it before it takes the tranny with it. I seem to get a little "bucking" from a stop and some hard shifts. Will only a new torque converter take care of that problem and stop the bucking/hard shifts? Any ideas on what brand is a good one and for how much?

Secondly, I'm looking to put a 3" lift on it. Just enough to make it look aggressive but not overbearing. What are good, cheap lift kits that are safe to drive on the highway with and won't change the handling characteristics of the truck much? I guess a body lift wouldn't be too great for the likes of what I'm planning on doing with it.

Last but not least, any good tires/rims I can put onto it?

I have about $2600-3000 to spend on these modifications so it has to be cost-effective. ALL input is greatly welcomed. I'm pretty much starting from scratch and couldn't find a lot of info regarding brands of lifts on here through a search. Any brands/models would be much appreciated as I do not know where to start.

Thanks a lot in advance
-rockstate

 

No experience with it, but my first reaction is to wonder if a lift on these things is a great idea safety-wise, especially if you do any highway driving with it.

 

i used to drive a full-size checy blazer (1976) with 6+ inches of lift, and that drove fine. straight line 80mph + no problem. braking wasn't so hot, but that's another story...

i'm sure 3" on the expy will be just fine. it should look pretty nice too.

don't know anything about lifting myself, but there are some users here with lifted expys.

 

Thanks for your input guys. I am going to do a suspension lift as opposed to a body lift so the dynamics of my Expy won't change much.

I looked in the yellow pages under "truck" and a well known truck accessory shop came up - Chux Trux. I called them and the guy helped me with looking for a 2-4" lift. He came back with a 4" Rancho and a 4" Trailmaster; $1999 and $1908.99 respectively. Hopefully I can get this purchased before the 20th and get a 15% discount on the kit. On a sidenote, they sell Gibson exhaust for $489 that is dual pipes straight back. Does this have a good sound to it or should I stay away from it?

I then called a tranny shop here and got quotes for a torque converer (reman.) for about $262 and about $575 installed. Hopefully they won't find metal shavings in the pan and I won't have to do a rebuilt tranny for about $1200-1400 or a new one $1800-2000. If worst comes to worse, rebuilt or new tranny? Good prices for both?

Last but not least, I think this weekend I'm gonna take it in to get a compression test to see if it's even worth doing this stuff to it. Any numbers or signs that I will (hopefully) see to tell me I should keep my Expy?

The checklist goes like so:
1. Compression Check (to see if I should keep him)
2. Tranny shop and hopefully only replace torque converter
3. Lift, tires, and purchase exhaust.

How do you think this looks?

Thanks again,
-rockstate

 

only concern i'd have is the exhaust. i thought dual pipes were a problem with our expys. but i could very well be wrong, just thought i'd throw that out...

also, have you looked into a bilstein lift? not sure if they make a lift, but those seem to be the shock of choice on this forum (and others) when replacing the stock set-up.

al

 

Why would dual exhaust be a problem for the Expys? I do need to call Chux Trux back and see if Bilstein makes a lift for 'em. I can't imagine it being much cheaper though.

Turns out, my buddy's dad's dealership is closin' so I gotta redeem that $9.95 oil change and get a compression check to see if it's worth keepin' Blueford (name of my Expy) for another year or two. What do you think? Worth keepin' with 133K miles?