How to: Explorer 3rd row delete & police package install

[Bobs2018ExplorerSport]

Hmmm, very interesting thoughts!

While the thin "trim" that you can see in my photo is merely covering-over the exposed sheet metal, you'll notice that it is only covering the flat area around the opening, and not actually going down inside the well opening; therefore, its presence shouldn't have anything to do with reducing the size of the well opening. I don't see that as causing any interference in trying to place a tire down in there.

However, as regards your suggestions regarding differing tire sizes, I just ran some tire size comparisons, between the stock/civilian tire and rim that my car came with (which is what you see being tested, in the poor-quality photo in my earlier posting) and the police rim and tire combination. Here is what I came up with:

MY STOCK TIRE: 245/60R18 = Diameter: 29.6" / Circumference: 92.9" / Sidewall: 5.8"
POLICE TIRE: 245/55R18 = Diameter: 28.6" / Circumference: 89.9" / Sidewall: 5.3"

All in all, there only seems to be about a 1" difference in diameter, which doesn't seem all that much to make a major difference (since my test tire appeared to be literally sitting on top of the well opening, instead of even starting to go down into it); however, I guess I need to remove one of my actual police wheels/tires and try one of those in there, to be 100% sure that those do not fit. To your point, maybe the small size difference, between the stock one I used to test with, and the actual police tire, is enough to change the entire scenario here.

Thanks for the suggestion; I will report back on this when I have a chance!

 

[Bobs2018ExplorerSport]

UPDATE:

I took a hard look at what was going on inside my spare tire well, only to realize that my civilian Explorer is equipped with a large "lip" on the rearmost trim piece... a lip that greatly interfered with being able to slide a full-size tire towards the rear of the well!

Feeling pretty silly for missing this, I cut-out the lip, as well as some of the portion above it, thereby totally exposing the entire wheel well.

Voila! Now, my full-size roadwheel drops down into place, just as I wanted. (See photos).

I've just ordered another steel wheel and tire, so I can put together a full-size spare and be done with this project.

However, I've noticed that the original hold-down bolt (the one that holds the jack securely into place) now has a far too short threaded stem sticking up above it; in other words, I will be unable to properly secure the new full-size spare due to the threaded shaft of the hold-down bolt assembly being about 4" too short.

While I was able to find the part number for the hold-down bolt that came with my car's compact spare, I've so far been unable to find the part number for the longer one that comes with the PIU. Does anybody happen to have that part number?

 

[peterk9]

That rear trim piece just snaps OFF/ON. After you removed it, you still had to cut some more off?

Peter

 

[Bobs2018ExplorerSport]

IF I had totally removed it, there would be no plastic cover over the bottom edge of the cargo bay, just above the bumper area.

So, I had to just trim-off the area that went down into the spare tire well (so the larger tire could fit), and then put it back into place.

I'd like to identify the part number for the police version, as I'm sure it doesn't come with the lip, etc, since MY trim piece was clearly made to accomodate only a compact- spare-equipped vehicle; that's why I had to cut-out a chunk of it...

 

[peterk9]

Retail: Rear Floor & Rails for 2018 Ford Explorer | Auto Nation Ford White Bear La
PIU: Rear Floor & Rails for 2018 Ford Police Interceptor Utility | Auto Nation Ford White Bear La
Not sure if what you're looking for is in those diagrams.

Peter

 

[Bobs2018ExplorerSport]

Thanks!

I checked these out and they all appear to be the actual metal floorpan and associated body parts (and not the plastic interior trim).

I will keep on looking, and may just go talk to my local Ford dealer about what I'm seeking info on...

 

[Bobs2018ExplorerSport]

OK, I've been doing some research on the fordparts.com site and I found that the rear panel (the one I had to cut) IS different in the PIU version and the civilian version. In the attached diagram, you'll see that the police version is missing the lip and lower area that I had to cut out of my civilian trim panel, in order to allow a full-sized spare to drop down in the hole.

The weird thing is that the part number shown by Ford, for both the civilian version and the police version, is identical; however, their site only shows partial part numbers, so I will assume that there must be a slight difference in the complete version of these part numbers, each of which will get you either one trim version or the other.

Same thing for the spare tire hold-down bolt (actually called a "Washer - Spare Wheel Carrier")... the base numbers listed are the same between the police versus the civilian, so unless I go down to Ford and show them what I want, I will be unable to properly discern which one has the longer threaded stem required to secure a full-size spare.

 

[peterk9]

retail: Interior Trim - Rear Body for 2018 Ford Explorer | Auto Nation Ford White Bear La
PIU: Interior Trim - Rear Body for 2018 Ford Police Interceptor Utility | Auto Nation Ford White Bear La

Peter

 

[Bobs2018ExplorerSport]

THANKS! That's it!

That definitely filled-in the blanks, on the partial part number that I had so far!

I appreciate your efforts!

 

[RhinoQuartz]

THANKS! That's it!

That definitely filled-in the blanks, on the partial part number that I had so far!

I appreciate your efforts!

If I understand this correctly (and I may be totally off), its possible to have a full size spare with the 3rd fow in the retail Explorer?

Because if so, I am hella excited for my next set of tires.

 

[Bobs2018ExplorerSport]

Hi,

It seems that the only way you can do so is to remove your third row seat, and convert it to the Interceptor-style of cargo area.

When I got mine slightly-used from my dealer recently, I had no use for its third row seats, and instead, I preferred to have a more permanent cargo area.

This conversion project is what I've been working on for the last month now, with my own 2018 retail Explorer, but my last step here is to go to a full-sized spare tire; hence all this recent discussion about some of the conversion issues I've had to deal with to make the full-size spare conversion.

The original poster of this post provided the most amazingly-detailed notes and photos that were invaluable in helping me to delete the third row seat and make the conversion. Unfortunately, I had to invest a decent chunk of money in order to do it (since we have no late-model junkyards around here). However, I am happy with the end result so far, and in about a week (when my spare rim and tire come in), it should be all done and I can move on to something else!

 

[RhinoQuartz]

Hi,

It seems that the only way you can do so is to remove your third row seat, and convert it to the Interceptor-style of cargo area.

When I got mine slightly-used from my dealer recently, I had no use for its third row seats, and instead, I preferred to have a more permanent cargo area.

This conversion project is what I've been working on for the last month now, with my own 2018 retail Explorer, but my last step here is to go to a full-sized spare tire; hence all this recent discussion about some of the conversion issues I've had to deal with to make the full-size spare conversion.

The original poster of this post provided the most amazingly-detailed notes and photos that were invaluable in helping me to delete the third row seat and make the conversion. Unfortunately, I had to invest a decent chunk of money in order to do it (since we have no late-model junkyards around here). However, I am happy with the end result so far, and in about a week (when my spare rim and tire come in), it should be all done and I can move on to something else!

I'm glad it's worked out for you, the OP really did a marvelous job as well at explaining and detailing this particular mod and thank you for providing your pictures as well.

My family and I do, however, need the 3rd row (in fact, that's why we bought it!), I was just really hoping I could put a full size spare instead of having this mini shenanigans (and it would line up nicely with a new set of tires just in time for winter next year).

 

[Bobs2018ExplorerSport]

Understood!

And, I agree, in that I've never personally liked the concept of a "mini spare" either! I lost count of how many people I've seen driving down the road on those silly things, and their car looks like its out of kilter, because for some reason those minis are usually visibly smaller than their full-size counterparts. I've never really understood that; it seems to me that running on a smaller tire might cause some handling problems?

 

[RhinoQuartz]

Understood!

And, I agree, in that I've never personally liked the concept of a "mini spare" either! I lost count of how many people I've seen driving down the road on those silly things, and their car looks like its out of kilter, because for some reason those minis are usually visibly smaller than their full-size counterparts. I've never really understood that; it seems to me that running on a smaller tire might cause some handling problems?

It does and the drive train switches to FWD as well to protect itself.

The mini has a 50mph speed limit and a 50 mi range limit. It's basically meant to get to the nearest shop ASAP.

 

[Bobs2018ExplorerSport]

My thanks again to PeterK9, for his help in fully identifying the proper "sill plate" I needed! I received the part today (DB5Z-7842624-BC), and it fit perfectly, and looks far better than the one that I had tried to trim to allow the full-size spare to fit properly.

I did want to share an interesting anomaly, however. In the original "how-to" posting, the poster stated the following:

"You can't see the long filler panel that is right below the latch for the liftgate (has to be removed to get the spare tire cover up), but it had to be left out for the large panel to seat itself."

He is correct, because IF you do re-install that smallish piece of trim, you'll find that the large cargo floor panel will end up resting on that piece... instead of directly onto the two foam pieces on each side (as was intended, for proper load-carrying distribution).

However (and, here is the anomaly)... Ford Parts shows the exact same filler panel (BB5Z-7845726-AC) as being used for both the civilian version AND the police version... which makes no sense, as the full-size-spare version runs into the same problem mentioned earlier.

I just thought that was kind of interesting, especially since I also was not able to re-use the piece, due to experiencing the same problem that the OP mentioned!

 

[EXZimm]

I hate to resurrect this, but I just wanted to add that for if you have push-to-start key there there is a key sensor for the hatch attached to the backside of that rear most trim piece, so be careful ripping it out/cutting it.

 

[realscot2]

I'm actually considering doing the opposite of this: buying a PI and adding in the third row. Any thoughts? Looks like plenty of third-row seats are available on eBay, but getting the seatbelts may be the trickier part.

2018 black on black XLT

I'm going up to a local salvage yard Monday Feb 7 to pick up ALL THE PARTS for the 3rd row delete/PIU version. Since these are not highly sought after parts I contacted the salvage yard and explained what I needed without giving them FORD PART NUMBERS. They weren't sure what I was talking about, initially they thought these parts were under the vehicle. I told them these were interior parts, floor panel, styrofoam blocks, crash brace etc. They called me back and said they have a 2017 PIU with ALL the parts and asked how much I wanted to spend, throwing out $300 ?? I came back with a $250 offer and they accepted it.

If you ( or anyone reading this post ) are looking for ALL the parts to ADD a 3rd row, let me know. This includes seat belts, Black cloth seat, rear original floor panel ec.

 

[Deadlyft]

2018 black on black XLT

I'm going up to a local salvage yard Monday Feb 7 to pick up ALL THE PARTS for the 3rd row delete/PIU version. Since these are not highly sought after parts I contacted the salvage yard and explained what I needed without giving them FORD PART NUMBERS. They weren't sure what I was talking about, initially they thought these parts were under the vehicle. I told them these were interior parts, floor panel, styrofoam blocks, crash brace etc. They called me back and said they have a 2017 PIU with ALL the parts and asked how much I wanted to spend, throwing out $300 ?? I came back with a $250 offer and they accepted it.

If you ( or anyone reading this post ) are looking for ALL the parts to ADD a 3rd row, let me know. This includes seat belts, Black cloth seat, rear original floor panel ec.

Ironically, I am possibly getting a 2013 PIU and will be converting to civilian.

 

[peterk9]

Ironically, I am possibly getting a 2013 PIU and will be converting to civilian.

Welcome to the Forum.
I'm curious as to why a PIU instead of a Base model retail Explorer?

Peter

 

[Deadlyft]

Welcome to the Forum.
I'm curious as to why a PIU instead of a Base model retail Explorer?

Peter

$8500 asking price with 100k