Ford Excursion :: 2005 - Steering Loose - Not Stable

New to owning a 2005 Excursion Limited 4WD 6.0 Diesel 140k miles.

When I bought the Excursion I had to drive it about 200 miles back home and it was all over the place. The steering seems real loose and when I hit bumps or a large gust of wind comes along the Excursion is all over the road.

I took it to Ford to get an alignment the next day and they said I need new outer tie rods ends, upper & lower ball joints, front shocks, steering stabilizer, locking hubs.

After that I took it to my mechanic who said I did not really need all that stuff done but if I did it I should be set with the Excursion for a long time. I opted to do all of these suggestions because I will be doing a lot of traveling with my family and wanted the peace of mind that all is well. For shocks I put new front and rear bilstein shocks (nothing fancy, I think they were about $80 each, sales rep said they would provide a firmer ride for towing).

After that I took it to another Tire shop for an alignment, they complimented all the work done and said I just need to get used to the steering after coming from a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I took there word for it and headed on a 2k road trip.

I love the Excursion but once again it was all over the place. It seems worse around 65-70 mph, and I found going around 75-85 it would be a little bit easier of a drive until a Semi Truck would go by or I would get stuck in a lot of traffic or hit a lot of bumps.

At first I had a very firm grip on the wheel but quickly learned that a loose grip at around 4 & 8 o'clock on the wheel was best. I talked to a number of other Excursion owners who said there was very smooth and straight.

The way it drives right now does not seem safe.