American Expedition Vehicles (AEV) has spent many years devising reliable solutions for off-grid drivers, but Ford trucks hadn’t been on its list of products until recently. Things change with the introduction of the FXL, an overlanding machine based on the F-250 and F-350 chassis.
Buying a premade truck gets you HighMark fender flares, a stainless-steel bull bar at the front and a winch rated for roughly nine metric tons (20,000 pounds) of pull. The list goes on to mention a geometrically optimized rear bumper, auxiliary lights and the tuner’s decals on the sides and the upper windshield.
Never one to slap on some cosmetics and call it a day, AEV also overhauls the suspension using a DualSport list kit with Bilstein shocks and custom coil springs. As a result, the ground clearance goes up by 102 mm (4 inches). The company warns that the main practical goal of this added height was to fit 18-inch beadlock-protected wheels into the arches along with huge BFGoodrich HD-Terrain tires. Any higher, and the truck would have become uncomfortable to drive and unstable on uneven surfaces.
The interior and the drivetrain were omitted from the announcement, so we suppose both stayed stock. At any rate, AEL says it will offer many components from the FXL package separately, and some of them will even fit super-duty models like the F-450 and F-550.
