My 2016 Ford 'Expedition' XLT 4x4

In September 2017, I traded my 2010 Ford F-350 Super Duty in for this 2016 Ford Expedition XLT 4×4.

It makes sense that Ford uses names such as ‘Excursion’, ‘Expedition’, ‘Explorer’, and ‘Escape’ for it’s SUV’s. If you’ve read ‘Ford and the Vagabonds‘, then you know that Henry Ford himself was quite the adventurer, and enjoyed traveling across the country and camping.

‘Expedition’ is defined as “A journey, or voyage made for some specific purpose, as of war or exploration“. This Ford Expedition will be used to journey and explore this great country of ours.

I had initially thought about adding a heavy duty grill guard across the front of the Expedition, but decided on the Aries B35-3007-3 Stealth Bull Bar instead. The Bull Bar comes with a removable stainless steel skid plate, and I removed it to make sure the airflow to the intercooler isn’t obstructed. I’ve read comments online from people that stated they didn’t notice any change using the bull bar on their EcoBoost equipped trucks. I don’t know what to think about those comments. It’s not like the skid plate is going to make your truck overheat. The biggest issue that I can see, is that it could obstruct some of the air from getting to your intercooler, and you want as much cool air to flow through there as you can get, to cool the air being blown in to the engine by the turbocharger.

Aries B35-3007-3 Stealth Bull Bar with the skidplate removed.

The next step was to add a Nilight 25-inch 162 watt LED Flood / Spot Combination light bar to the bull bar. The Aries bull bar already has mounting holes, so it was an easy install. Especially with the skid plate removed.

I wired up the light bar using a Mictuning HD+ 12 Gauge 600W LED Light Bar Wiring Harness Kit w/ 60Amp Relay, which made for a nice clean / professional looking installation. I used zipties to secure the harness as I routed it from the battery to the lightbar, so it wasn’t hanging loose anywhere.

On the inside, I mounted the tablet that I had in my Super Duty. I really like having the tablet, because I can not only use it for navigation, but for searching out restaurants, motels, campgrounds, gas stations, and any other locations I may need to find. I can also look at reviews and photos, which makes it more helpful. If it starts looking like it’s going to storm, I can use the tablet to look at the weather radar. Of course, all of this (including navigation) only works if you have a cell phone signal. I use a Garmin GPS when traveling in remote areas that don’t have adequate cell phone service.

I added an auxiliary 12-volt outlet with dual USB ports under the passenger side of the dash to power my tablet, and provide an extra USB port and power outlet. I spliced the wiring in to the power outlet in the dash, and used an inline fuse to protect it. It’s actually held in place with heavy duty velcro.

I also have a 200 Watt power inverter in the event I need to use my laptop, or charge anything that won’t plug in to a USB or 12-volt outlet.

A nice feature with the Expedition is that I can lay the rear seats down, and have plenty of room to sleep, even though I’m 6’2″ tall.

You’ll notice that I also have plenty of space for my large duffel bag, and Coleman 40 Quart PowerChill Thermoelectric Cooler.

There’s even enough room for my 5-year old Labrador Retriever.

Since I have plenty of room to sleep in the back, I’ve spent the night in some parking lots while traveling.

Waking up after a night of stealth camping in a Walmart parking lot

The Ford Expedition is a great vehicle because it’s not only roomy, but it gets 16 MPG in the city, and 22 MPG on the highway. The 22 MPG is nice on cross country road trips. Thanks to my Ford Expedition, I will carry on Henry Ford’s dreams of adventure travel.

To see my latest road trip, click HERE.