An expansion system is capable of expanding a tubular that has no shoe or plug. The tubular is expanded by a cone coupled to a mandrel, which is energized by a jack actuator to effect a plurality of strokes. The jack actuator is supported by a support member. The jack actuator releasably engages and locks to an operational pipe at predetermined length intervals corresponding to the length of each actuator stroke. The actuator jack is reset and moved to a new locking location between strokes. The operational pipe holds the expandable tubular in place during expansion. After expansion, the cone, mandrel, actuator jack, and operational pipe are free of the expandable tubular and can be pulled out of the wellbore. The expansion system can be used for applications of patches having a small size in wellbores where milling debris may be detrimental.