Let's talk Excursions v10's

In reply to TheMagicRatchet :

Can you supply a picture of your Twin I-beam suspension?  It's my understanding that the Twin I-beam (2wd) and Twin Traction Beam (4wd) went away when the Super Duty made the scene in '99. 

As far as I know, 2wd Super Duties have the twin I beam front still.  4wd ones are a plain solid axle and not the TTB setup though.  

For the Expedition thoughts, I just bought an 07 2wd normal length.  

Doesnt feel as truck-y as the burbs and tahoes I test drove while shopping. Plus they seem to go cheaper than the chevys.  

For my 2wd, if I have a weight dist hitch, its rated for 9,200lbs 

In reply to KyAllroad (Jeremy) :

That's a good question, mine is the last of this generation - you'd think that'd help. It's always been unhappy >65mph, below that it's alright (happiest @ 60mph tbh) - it gets very floaty, not a lot of confidence pushing it that fast. Brakes are "adequate" unloaded, but as soon as I add a trailer (or fill all 3 rows), it gets much worse. I've rebuilt the front end parts, gotten it aligned, etc. It currently only has 129k on the clock. I think bushings might need addressed along with the wheel re-balanced.

I really appreciate all the input so far, this Excursion is so cheap and so low miles I might just go for it and if I hate it (or it rides the same), sell it. I've considered throwing more money at the Suburban, but being a 1/2 ton it's already struggling with what I put on it, I'm hoping this being a 3/4 ton with a 10k capacity will make it easier to live with in general. I'll update you guys shortly.

snailmont5oh said:

In reply to TheMagicRatchet :

Can you supply a picture of your Twin I-beam suspension?  It's my understanding that the Twin I-beam (2wd) went away when the Super Duty made the scene in '99. 

Nope.  I had a 2001 Excursion rwd. Still had the twin i-beam front end and it did not drive anywhere as nice as a comparable GM.  I also had a 2000 4x4 and that mo-fo road like an ox cart with the leaf spring front suspension.  God that sucked.  The steering on both was vague but the rwd drove much better.

I'm very happy to have switched over to GM trucks.  They just drive so much better and are more comfortable.

I'll caveat all this by saying that I haven't driven the post 2006-ish 3/4 ton Ford trucks that switched to the coil over sprung front suspension.

In reply to amg_rx7 :

ruh-roh, that sounds bad. The one I just drove (2000 4x4 Excursion) felt soft if anything, the roads I test drove it on were mostly smooth though. In what ways did it bother you? Or just all around bad? 

I would also be happy to purchase to X or Y, but so far all the recommendations for me come in @ double the price (or triple the mileage) I'm seeing for this tow-pig. Reading around on the towing forums, that's kinda a theme. The v10 fords aren't really the best, but if you're not buying it new - they're pretty good value for the towing capacity - and once you do header/Y-pipe and 4.3 gears it tows very nicely (if you can stomach the fuel bill). 

I've strongly considered throwing money at the k1500, but it's really held back by being 1/2 ton, early year chevy. Even if I could get it quieted down, I'm going to have to throw a ton of labor/money at brakes/axle/trans (4l60e problems...)/etc. 

I've driven early superduty 4wd trucks with the leafs all around (even in F-350 form where the springs are stiffer).  They don't ride that badly IMO.  If they're overly stiff, it's probably crappy shocks or there's a lot of rust binding up the leafs.  

Welcome to the club! Congrats

What did you end up with? Looks like 4wd? Are these much cheaper than the 2500 burbs?

Nice truck

In reply to Jaynen :

This one was much cheaper for my area and it's milage. It's a 2000 4x4 v10 Excursion Limited with 99k miles. 2500 Burbs around here might as well be made of gold.

@yupididit

@Curtis

Thanks!

accordionfolder said:

In reply to Jaynen :

This one was much cheaper for my area and it's milage. It's a 2000 4x4 v10 Excursion Limited with 99k miles. 2500 Burbs around here might as well be made of gold.

Yeah I mean for a dedicated tow vehicle I would be shopping whichever one was the best value as well.  It looks sharp

You can remove those tan panels and give the truck a cleaner all black look. I removed mine in less than 10 min. Its just glued on. 

My favorite forum for my excursion https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/forum29/

In reply to yupididit :

Do you have a picture of yours without it? All the threads I've found about removing it have dead links.
 

In reply to Jaynen :

Thanks! This is it's good side, and the paint is a little wet here. It's going to take some elbow grease to get this thing back where it should be. Driver door/fender ran into something. Rear bumper REALLY ran into something. Even all that said @ 99k Miles, it had the best bones of anything I'd looked at recently. I was worried it was all rose tinted glasses until I drove it home 70-80 felt rock solid. It's a bit bumpy around the edges, but still much better than I thought it would be.

I can take some pictures ( My truck is ugly because, I've never washed it since I've owned it lol). Mine is a dark burgundy color. When you remove the panels there will be adhesive stuck to your paint (double sided tape). Use a rubber wheel and drill and gently go over it, it'll come off easy. Then wash it. I think everyone should remove those panels just to clean out the dirt they trap, then reinstall them if they want to.

accordionfolder said:

In reply to yupididit :

Do you have a picture of yours without it? All the threads I've found about removing it have dead links.
 

In reply to Jaynen :

Thanks! This is it's good side, and the paint is a little wet here. It's going to take some elbow grease to get this thing back where it should be. Driver door/fender ran into something. Rear bumper REALLY ran into something. Even all that said @ 99k Miles, it had the best bones of anything I'd looked at recently. I was worried it was all rose tinted glasses until I drove it home 70-80 felt rock solid. It's a bit bumpy around the edges, but still much better than I thought it would be.

My track car is not a looker but it serves its purpose :) So I approve

In reply to rslifkin :

Can confirm, Wreck Racing's shop truck is a brand new DRW 2wd F350, and it has twin I beams.

Glad to see that you bought it.  One tip is to install the F-350 sway bar package.  Almost makes it a sports car.  

In reply to whenry :

Helwig also sells a rear sway bar. I havent bought one yet, its in the plans though. I did install Rancho RS9000XL shocks on it, they are a good shock to put on these rigs and not too expensive. A big thing to do is X/C-code swaps into excursions. I really want to do that, and by wanting to do it I mean I want to pay Vigo to do it for me LMAO. 

Hopefully you don't have to tow very far!  Hauling at single digit MPG gets expensive!

I would only consider a V10 if I was planning on a cummins swap.

2002maniac said:

Hopefully you don't have to tow very far!  Hauling at single digit MPG gets expensive!

I would only consider a V10 if I was planning on a cummins swap.

But if you saved $10k on the purchase of the truck, it'll take quite a bit of use to make that up in fuel cost.  If we assume 8 mpg for the V10 while towing and a fuel cost of $2.85 / gal (about right for regular around here), that's 35.6 cents per mile in fuel.  If you had a diesel and got 14 mpg and were buying diesel at $3.15 / gal (current local cost), that's 22.5 cents per mile.  That's a difference of 13.1 cents per mile.  To make up the $10k purchase price difference in fuel cost it would take a little over 76,000 miles of towing.  

In reply to 2002maniac :

If I end up hating it I suppose I'll sell it, but for the 1-2 a month I don't think I'll even notice TBH. I've also read that when towing as light as I do, the trucks mileage doesn't even really change from empty. Previous owner was getting 12 unloaded (backed up by the mpg calculator in the truck)- I drive with a light foot, so we'll see!

I definitely want one of these. My parents gave like an...03? Eddie bauer v10. It's amazing.