I guess it's time for a one year update?! Let's see if I can remember it all
Performance
K&N Panel Filter - Read on almost all online sites that putting a K&N filter on your Powerstroke will cause total failure of everything in the engine bay. Paper one was bad, so I went with this...an engine failure means a Cummins swap so...
PHP Hydra Chip from Full Force - It came with 7-8 tunes. Stock, low idle, high idle, tow heavy, tow light, economy, performance, hot performance. I leave it on the "Economy" for the wife, and I run 7 "Performance" when I drive. Woke the truck up a lot, shifts are firmer, I only have the tunes that were preloaded by Full Force. Actually had to get a second chip after the first one conflicted with the anti-theft. Full Force was great on getting me a new one out quick.
3.5" Straight pipe - Anymore I like the factory exhaust on low power daily drivers. Since it seems everyone else likes 10" tips on a 4" exhaust, I just went in the other direction. I straight piped the stock exhaust, it gave it a cackle but it also helped with MPG with the 265/75/16's. We got low 20's with that setup.
Suspension
Immediately I could notice how scary this thing was on curvy country roads. Bad on curves, bad on the highway, made my Dodge with "Alloversteering" seem like a Corvette. So I ignored the forums which said to call some guy who wants to sell you a whole kit with his special blend of wheels, tires, lift springs, shocks, etc thousands of dollars package. He hold me he was the only one who knew how to make them safe, yadda yadda. I also ignored Brad since I didn't want to get into axle swaps.
My goal here was to vastly improve handling and safety of the truck without lifting it a lot. Local spring shops, V/B/X code springs, add a leaf, and lift kits, all lifted the truck more than I wanted and were not exactly cheap options. The woman is short, my parents are old, and I didn't want another tall vehicle for people to struggle in and out of. I felt like raising the center of gravity would make matter worse. So this is what I did.
Ranch 9000 shocks - Replaced worn shocks, adjusted them stiff at first to bandaid other issues. After other mods I turned them down. These are made for heavy vehicles and it shows.
Firestone Rear Airbags - Really helped tighten up the rear that wanted to sway and wonder all over. Big improvement. Also helped a lot in the towing department, since soft stock springs cause nose up towing.
Hellwig Rear Sway bar - I actually found this on craigslist new in the box for cheap. I'm not sure I would have bought it new cause I'm cheap. I didn't have a rear sway bar and putting this on helped tighten things up out back
Hellwig Front sway bar - Tighten up the rear and the end links up front started to clunk. So for a little more than good endlinks I bought the front bar kit. It made things slightly better for stability and handling.
Front Firestone airbags - A War Wagon needs a War Grill. After adding a heavy craigslist Ranch Hand bumper, things were sitting low in the front. Firestone doesn't sell front airbags for the Excusion and the tech line wouldn't tell me if the F250/350 ones would fit. Well...they don't fit, however, I made them fit. This was the final piece of the puzzle. It handles great.
265 Michelins to 285/75/16 Cooper ST Maxx - These hurt mileage a little but are 10x better off road or in bad weather. They also seem to put the speedometer in check with radar/GPS speeds. The Michelins had dry rot and hydroplaned in mild rain. About 12,000 miles on them with almost no visible wear. Almost no noise as well. Big block tread doesn't seem to 'drift' on highway turns like other AT tires I have used.
Now the truck handles great, isn't much higher than stock, and tows well. Mission accomplished.
Maintenance and other
Around 300,000 it had a slight weep from the waterpump. It was getting worse so it got a new Napa water pump. I put a Napa thermostat and housing on it, as well as the "around the belt" upper hose. Also did a green fleet belt. The thermostat housing leaked, so I returned it in favor of a Bean's Diesel aluminum one. It had a thicker oring and stainless socket headed cap screws. Never leaked a drop.
08+ Mirrors were installed since those small ones are hell to tow with. I went with 1A Trail Ridge mirrors since they claimed to be better. Well, after seeing a friends ebay specials I would say that claim is correct. Better plastic, better glass, and mine didn't have all the slop and shake that his did.
It's first cold Ohio winter revealed an oil cooler leak. Under 20 degrees meant a big oil leak on start up. Once warmed up it was gone. If you plug in the truck, it didn't leak. Easy but time consuming. Felpro gaskets and orings were installed. The Dorman kit I had before Felpro was junk, the gaskets didn't even match up the flange surface correctly.
After 300,000 miles the windshield had met it's match. Several chips and cloudy from wear. We replaced it around 305,000.
I fluid filmed the Excursion a second time this fall. It's rust free and I am trying to keep it that way. About 3/4 of a gallon air sprayed seems to do the trick.
Rear Diff fluid and newer Ford Aluminum diff cover, Napa coated rotors and pads, oil and filters were some of the normal maintenance we did.
The first 28,000 miles have been pretty good, the woman and I love this thing. It's awesome for trips. A lot of the stuff I did was unnecessary, but I feel like it has become exactly what we were looking for. Even with the big tires, ranch hand, and tunes it still gets better mileage than our Tahoe. It has more room, more power, more seats, and can tow a skid steer with ease.
Next up, gauges, some paint repair, 4R100 bypass kit, possibly a aftermarket valve body and converter [or build], aftermarket radio, new front seat leather, and just drive the piss out of it some more.
