RPhil's Excursion

[fnjeep314]

First half-tank that I hand-measured was 9. That was on the lift and stock tires. Currently running through the first complete full tank of lift and tires.

I have been using it for putting around- not a whole lot of highway driving. Even when I have driven it to work, my commute consists of highway driving that is almost always pretty busy (not quite stop-and-go, but almost). I expect closer to 11-12 once I can get it on the highway at 65 for a few hours.

I let my brother in law use it for a few days. I'm excited to get it back and take some interior dimensions in the rear so I can CAD up a rear platform. I use Catia and Creo extensively at work, so that will be no problem. It will be a problem to work around the huge spare tire that will live in the stock spot until I feel like springing for a rear bumper with tire carrier.

Also going to be ordering an '05 grill to freshen up the front a bit.

Taking it on a short camping trip with some friends in 1.5 weeks. Would like to flush the coolant, change the oil, and replace plugs before then.

Nice! Not as bad as I had figured. When I was in the Navy I had an F350 dually 4x4 with the V10 and it only got about 7 or 8 on stock tires, but the truck wasnt exactly driven "lightly" if you know what I mean. I had to tow a 42ft enclosed 5th wheel weighing in around 23K lbs, and the V10 did ok, but returned me about 4 or 5 mpg.

And I am SUB'D to this one!

 

[RPhil]

One of the items that allowed me to negotiate the price lower on the truck was the lack of a working 4WD system. After inspecting the vehicle, I was confident enough that I would be able to figure out the issue. Absolute worst-case scenario would necessitate replacing the transfer case and/or 4WD/GEM control module. Since the Excursion shares so much with the Super Duties, I wasn't too concerned. As mentioned previously, there is a plethora of information on other forums, so I finally got around to googling my issue.

The following thread was extremely helpful: http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1085109-esof-no-power-to-dash-switch-2003-f350-diesel.html.

All fuses seemed to be fine. When I first popped the hood, I found the two different boxes containing two relays each. I picked the box that I believed to contain the relays that controlled the electronic shift motor for the transfer case and swapped them to no avail. I then got under the truck and disconnected the transfer case motor plug. There was oil inside of the electrical connection. After some more google-****, it seemed like the seal on my shift motor had gone, which meant the motor was probably ready for replacement as well. A quick check on rockauto showed replacements in the ~100 dollar range. Before I decided to order one, I went out to the truck one last time and swapped the other box of relays, just in case I had been fiddling with the wrong ones previously. It turns out, I was messing with the wrong ones. I swapped the relays and the truck engaged 4x4 with no issues. I swapped them back in order to put the truck back into 2wd. (One relay controls the shift motor going into 4HI and 4LO and the other relay controls the shift motor going the other direction).

The good news is that I have found the cheap fix for the 4WD system. The cherry on top is that I found a small leak on the transfer case shift motor, which I will replace for further peace of mind, since 100 bucks is easily worth it, in my opinion. Now I need to order up a couple relays and get my manual hubs installed (purchased as soon as I got the truck) and I should be good to go :smiley_drive:

 

[SDDiver5]

9 mpg is pretty average for a gasser excursion. I drove the family excursion in high school before I bought my truck and the best I ever got was 10mpg...but I was 16 and loved having the power of 10 cylinders under my foot. I remember we drove it to texas one time to help my uncle move and we got 15 mpg towing a uhaul so it definitely has some potential in the MPG area.

 

[justbecause]

The difference here is really day and night.

 

[RPhil]

The difference here is really day and night.

http://i.imgur.com/FcJZoXO.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/jyYqHDs.jpg

And the difference while driving is absolutely incredible. No longer handles like a whale. Should have come from the factory with this setup.

Just grabbed a new relay from local Ford dealer. 14 bucks after supplier discount and my 4WD is back to working. They only had one in stock but ordered another for me because I would rather replace both for peace of mind. Will keep the one functioning older one as a backup in case of emergencies.

 

[toyick]

And the difference while driving is absolutely incredible. No longer handles like a whale. Should have come from the factory with this setup.

Just grabbed a new relay from local Ford dealer. 14 bucks after supplier discount and my 4WD is back to working. They only had one in stock but ordered another for me because I would rather replace both for peace of mind. Will keep the one functioning older one as a backup in case of emergencies.

Wow this is amazing! I have a v10 2000 Ex, and i dubbed her Phatty, just cause she is a big ol phatty! i use it mainly for towing and camping. I picked it up back when gas was 4.50 a gallon for 3K, and it had 100k miles on the odo. before that i had an f250 with a a v10 with 180k. I absolutely love these trucks! I often town my rock crawler or my old prerunner with it. 9mpg is average( i feel like the injectors are always open full blast and the gas pedal just changes air intake....idol or WOT it seems to move the gas gauge the same amount....). I have the 5star programmer for the v10s...and not 100% sold on it but it seemed to wake it up quite a bit... I also am running 35's, with a 4-5in lift. It drives like a sail boat but the thing is unstoppable. I have towed all sorts of things with it. I have yanked semi's out of ditches, i have pulled tripple axle 5th wheels and tow rigs out of the sand dunes in pismo, i have pulled broken down trucks out of holes in the ground in pismo, stuff that other guys couldn't do with 3-4 trucks together...
I am really excited to see what you do with this!

 

[onemanarmy]

Awesome score. I was gonna ask how you got it that cheap. How many miles are on it?

Any other issues to take care of?

I too have contemplated Excursions and 2500 Suburbans for towing and beach duty....they don't even need weighted tags here.

 

[RPhil]

Wow this is amazing! I have a v10 2000 Ex, and i dubbed her Phatty, just cause she is a big ol phatty! i use it mainly for towing and camping. I picked it up back when gas was 4.50 a gallon for 3K, and it had 100k miles on the odo. before that i had an f250 with a a v10 with 180k. I absolutely love these trucks! I often town my rock crawler or my old prerunner with it. 9mpg is average( i feel like the injectors are always open full blast and the gas pedal just changes air intake....idol or WOT it seems to move the gas gauge the same amount....). I have the 5star programmer for the v10s...and not 100% sold on it but it seemed to wake it up quite a bit... I also am running 35's, with a 4-5in lift. It drives like a sail boat but the thing is unstoppable. I have towed all sorts of things with it. I have yanked semi's out of ditches, i have pulled tripple axle 5th wheels and tow rigs out of the sand dunes in pismo, i have pulled broken down trucks out of holes in the ground in pismo, stuff that other guys couldn't do with 3-4 trucks together...
I am really excited to see what you do with this!

//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160714/7cade70f3d197ba3385afae0bf59d090.jpg

Sharp truck!

Awesome score. I was gonna ask how you got it that cheap. How many miles are on it?

Any other issues to take care of?

I too have contemplated Excursions and 2500 Suburbans for towing and beach duty....they don't even need weighted tags here.

Bought it with ~157/158k if I recall correctly. There is some body damage. Also, the front seats both need new foam and re-upholstering. The heated seats don't work, but I already know the fix, just haven't gotten around to completing it yet (don't care too much in the summer). Want to fix the heated seats before I get them re-upholstered, though. The interior is overall pretty dirty. Missing 2nd row fold-down armrest, missing some levers on the seats, overhead console is intermittent... things like that.

Basically it had a bunch of small issues (inop 4WD was biggest concern) that allowed me to talk the price down quite a bit.

 

[toyick]

Awesome score. I was gonna ask how you got it that cheap. How many miles are on it?

Any other issues to take care of?

I too have contemplated Excursions and 2500 Suburbans for towing and beach duty....they don't even need weighted tags here.

A good EX can be had for fairly cheap around here- the bay area! if you want it for beach duty.. they are amazing in the dunes.. honestly i have never been stuck once..
for the OP and anyone else looking.. i would almost certainly get a scan gauge 2, and program it for reading your trans temp.. id also get a trans cooler from a 6.0 super duty.. i greatly decreased my trans temp when i did that. the trans cooler stock is pretty lame and weak. and the 6.0 cooler is twice the size and relatively easy to install.


Blaaaahhhhhhhh

 

[RPhil]

Hey guys- quick question.

I originally thought I purchased a 3.73 Excursion based on a VIN decoder on another forum (http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/vindecoder.php?vin=1FMNU43S4YED27879). However, I popped under the rear axle to see what I believe to be a 4.30 LS. I found a few other threads outlining this issue- but no real answer. Obviously since I'm not the original owner, there is a chance the axles were swapped at some point.

Here is a picture of my door tag with VIN and my rear diff tag:

Is there any possibility that the VIN and axle wouldn't match from the factory? Seems unlikely to me. Probably an axle swap if I were to guess.

Only way for me to be sure is to jack up the axle and count the amount of shaft turns, right?

 

[justbecause]

I would believe an axle swap before a mistake from the factory. I don't think mistakes can't happen, that just seems like a pretty big oops that would require more than one person to accomplish.

Do your axle codes indicate the same gear ratio front and back? It would be very interesting if it turned out that 1 didnt match the other, or that the tag on the axle does not match the guts inside. if that were the case I would start to wonder if that caused the 4wd issue it had when you bought it.

If it has a functioning limited slip it should lock up if you give it some throttle through a tight turn.

 

[RPhil]

I would believe an axle swap before a mistake from the factory. I don't think mistakes can't happen, that just seems like a pretty big oops that would require more than one person to accomplish.

Do your axle codes indicate the same gear ratio front and back? It would be very interesting if it turned out that 1 didnt match the other, or that the tag on the axle does not match the guts inside. if that were the case I would start to wonder if that caused the 4wd issue it had when you bought it.

If it has a functioning limited slip it should lock up if you give it some throttle through a tight turn.

Agreed with the bold.

I poked around for a tag on the front axle but couldn't really find one. Will look again when I have some time.

 

[justbecause]

poke around that front axle and you might find a real surprise, that it was swapped for a D60.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/ford...n-distinguish-dana-50-dana-60-front-axle.html if post #25 is correct then it will only take a moment to identify that axle, and dana 60s were supposedly never OEM for an excursion.

post #5 here. http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/ford...-dana-50-dana-60-front-axle.html#post14296337

 

[RPhil]

poke around that front axle and you might find a real surprise, that it was swapped for a D60.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/ford...n-distinguish-dana-50-dana-60-front-axle.html if post #25 is correct then it will only take a moment to identify that axle, and dana 60s were supposedly never OEM for an excursion.

post #5 here. http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/ford...-dana-50-dana-60-front-axle.html#post14296337

Thanks! Yeah, apparently all Excursions came stock with a D50. If I have a D60 under there, I will be ecstatic.

I think I may have come across that thread a while back when doing preliminary research, it looks familiar, I just didn't recall it. I will take a look at the webbing over lunch to see what I can find.



Edit:

Looks like I have a Dana 50 with 4.30's. Not quite a jackpot with the Dana 60, but at least I can rest knowing the gears are at least the same front and rear.

 

[RPhil]

Nothing too crazy lately, but figured I would give a brief update.

Replaced the driver's side rear caliper after it stuck on me one day. Very easy job.

Threw some manual locking hubs on. The stockers appeared to be in good condition, but I prefer manual ones due to the possibility of a failure in the vacuum system. The vacuum lines will be getting plugged at both ends. Took no time at all. Note to anyone considering Mile Marker hubs on a Dana 50- install BOTH rings per the instructions. The highest rated youtube video says to choose one of the two, which is entirely incorrect.

Old/stock:

New:

New w/ cover:

Did the PCV valve because I was ordering something from Rockauto and it was only a couple bucks:

Finally got to take it on it's first real trip. Headed out to Greenridge State Forest in Western Maryland. I really wanted to get out and see how the sleeping arrangements and general vehicle performance was before I decided on future enhancements. Even with my full size 34" spare (in the stock location), I was still able to fit a full size air mattress in the rear (with the second row NOT folded down).

I wish I would have taken more pictures of some of the terrain. When we arrived, I was immediately greeted with some nice rutted dirt roads. Came upon a surprisingly steep hill that necessitated the use of 4WD- first time it was actually required in my ownership. She chugged up along with no issues at all (didn't air down, was at 65 psi all weekend). It then proceeded to dump rain. The Excursion performed flawlessly on miles of rutted out trail roads. I was thoroughly satisfied.

Posted up at a group campsite:

Mosquito nets covering both side windows. Bought two mosquito nets from REI for 13 bucks a pop before I left and just draped them over the doors. Will be cutting these for exact fit and adding magnets for a cleaner look in the future:

Full size bed setup (note that this was the second night and I folded the second row down just to see how different it was in comparison to the first night):

Saturday's dinner consisted of a couple flank steaks and a london broil that I had pre-sous vided before I left w/ chimichurri on top. Sides of roasted potatoes, corn, and a chickpea salad. Everyone at camp was satisfied:

Here are some pictures from the lookout near our camp as well as the Potomac River in which we swam and fished:

I have already begun to plan the sleeping platform/storage unit for the back. I will be building around the spare for now as I do not have the budget currently for a rear swing-out. Also want to replace the cheap blow up mattress with a sleeping pad. Other than that, I'm ready to get onto some more exploring.

:smiley_drive: