2016 King Ranch EL Lift and Wheels

[16ranchel]

My wife and I are looking at getting our 2016 King Ranch EL more suited for some off-roading since we just bought an off-road camp trailer and are currently living in the southwest. Based on the little bit of research I've done on my own, we're looking at upgrading suspension (and potentially lift), then new wheels and tires, and then the RCI skid plates for the transmission.

I'd like to increase the height with a suspension lift and avoid the use of a spacer lift if possible. My question is, would we be able to fit 285/65R18 (32.6") tires with no issues if we went purely with a bilstein 5100 install? Current tires are P275/55R20 (31.9"). Local shop recommends a bilstein 5100 install plus a 3" readylift to be able to fit the 285 sized tires but if it's not going to explicitly help with increased ground clearance, I'm not convinced we want the additional 3" (it's my wife's daily driver).

Also open to other suggestions if y'all think there's a better direction we should go in.

Thanks for any advice or recommendations!
-Brandon

 

[BigOleFordFan]

If by "daily driver" you mean to & from work, school, errands etc, on normal roads, then a 3" lift may warrant reconsideration...yes it would work, but that will change the entire ride & handling characteristics of the vehicle, so that may or may not be something you or her are prepared for or able to deal with...

Generally, I'm not sure a 3" lift would be required, since the difference in tire height is only ~3/4", but since you are going wider and taller too, the question of rubbing on the front frame during a hard turn could be a factor...but for off-roading, it would probably be a good choice.

As for the Bilsteins, they seem to have a fairly good following on here, so I think they would be a reasonably good choice in that respect, but I'm not a suspension guru either, so take that for what you will...

 

[LokiWolf]

We had the Ready Lift and stock shocks on both our 15 and 17 with ZERO issues. There are many threads on here discussing this exact lift and the tires they were able to fit. Had Nivomat LL on the rear of the 15, and CCD on 17 so no point in swapping the shocks.

Do the FULL RCI kit first if you are going in this direction. You want the protection first. Don't wait to lift. The stock Engine protection is rigid fabric, and is only good for basic road debris and aero. The trans plate is not enough.

Also search the other threads on tire size, offset, and width. Most of your ground clearance is gained from tire height. The tallest you can run without rubbing the better. Period.

3 inches of lift and a good set of AT tires, and you will probably enjoy the ride, because your sidewall will increase. Will it handle around turns as well, no. My wife daily drove both her 15 and 17 and loved how they rode.

 

[16ranchel]

We had the Ready Lift and stock shocks on both our 15 and 17 with ZERO issues. There are many threads on here discussing this exact lift and the tires they were able to fit. Had Nivomat LL on the rear of the 15, and CCD on 17 so no point in swapping the shocks.

Do the FULL RCI kit first if you are going in this direction. You want the protection first. Don't wait to lift. The stock Engine protection is rigid fabric, and is only good for basic road debris and aero. The trans plate is not enough.

Also search the other threads on tire size, offset, and width. Most of your ground clearance is gained from tire height. The tallest you can run without rubbing the better. Period.

3 inches of lift and a good set of AT tires, and you will probably enjoy the ride, because your sidewall will increase. Will it handle around turns as well, no. My wife daily drove both her 15 and 17 and loved how they rode.

I appreciate the advice. I've looked through everything in the forums regarding the full RCI kit for skids and all I can find is that the F-150 skids are good back to the transmission skid plate. (RCI https://rcimetalworks.com/product-category/ford/expedition-navigator/07-17-expedition-navigator/)

I've not been able to locate any metal skid plate option for the fuel tank or rear diff. Do you have any suggestions?

-Brandon

 

[LokiWolf]

I appreciate the advice. I've looked through everything in the forums regarding the full RCI kit for skids and all I can find is that the F-150 skids are good back to the transmission skid plate. (RCI https://rcimetalworks.com/product-category/ford/expedition-navigator/07-17-expedition-navigator/)

I've not been able to locate any metal skid plate option for the fuel tank or rear diff. Do you have any suggestions?

-Brandon

It has been a while since I did it. I would give RCI a call. They were VERY helpful.

I did not mess with the fuel tank or rear Diff on our 15 or 17. My focus was front protection, cause the fabric was going to do nothing.

Seriously, call or drop RCI a message. They are a great company.

 

[eddytheexpy]

I have the RCI skid package on mine (2011 Limited EL) and would like to tell you about my experience with it. I wound up needing to make spacers out of some scrap metal I picked up. The front plates contacted the front diff and then the transmission plate seemed fine at first but once the exhaust heated up and expanded, it just barely touched the skid plate so it rattled like crazy. If the transfer case plate fit the expy, it would have created the spacing necessary to avoid that but the front diff issue would still exist. I also needed to modify the slots where the plates over lap to make them deeper because it seems there was a tolerance stacking issue. Each plate would fit fine individually (in terms of the holes lining up with the mounting points on the frame) but they wouldn’t line up when mounting as a package. It wasn’t as plug and play as I had hoped but with a little elbow grease I am very happy with the final product.

Keep in mind, I picked them up from FB marketplace (brand new btw!) for like $100 so I didn’t have the option of calling them and asking for help or complaining about it not fitting right. And for 100 bucks I don’t mind having to do a little work, still an awesome deal!

Also, I can confirm that the transfer case skid plate will not fit. It’s not even close to being doable even with modifying the plate.