Well, time for some updates!
I found the electrical gremlin that was causing the truck not to start every now and then...
Cable to the starter somehow melted (yes, melted) and was barely making contact to the terminal....little wire stripping and a new terminal solved the issue.
Now onto the bigger updates...
Slave cylinder was going out...had to pump and refill the reservoir every time I wanted to use it, so I made the decision to go ahead and replace it......this started a string of events that I will describe later.
Transmission out, obvious signs of a leaking slave cylinder...no problem; order a new one from NAPA, replace, continue on my way...
Or so I thought....and this is where I don't have pictures and my non-exsistant skills of story telling come into play...
I go into NAPA, order a new slave for a 91 Explorer. Guy tells me it'll be in the next day...not a problem, I can wait one more day. Part comes in, and I install it. Had a few small things I wanted to do/fix/replace in the meantime as well, so after I put the trans in, I spent a night or two working on said small projects. Finally, I decide "I don't know why I haven't hooked up the trans yet...the T-case is ready to go, so I'll get on that"....
Funny how when you mix and match parts from different years of Explorers, you forget little things, like when you put the clutch hose from your 93 onto your 91 clutch master cylinder so you can use the trans from your 93. After thinking I'd replace the hydraulic line to one for a 91 and seeing that a new line from NAPA would be another $80, the decision was made to just get a 93 slave and not worry about removing the master, which I already knew to be a slight pain......que trans removal #2..................
So I then decide, after also realizing that I'll probably forget about having a slave for a 93 and not a 91, that I'm gonna buck up the dough and purchase a Motorcraft slave, as the one I was replacing was a NAPA slave and it lasted a grand total of 2 years, and a Motorcraft slave would more than likely last much more than that. Made me feel better when I did the math and saw that from NAPA, the slave and line would be $160+ and the Motorcraft slave was about $35 cheaper...cheaper is good when you're on a budget! Two days later, part is picked up from the local Ford dealer and I'm ready to get back to work!
I had recently asked a few groups on Facebook if their clutch pedals felt extremely stiff...(I had always been told that my clutch was stiff, but I never noticed until I bought a new daily; 95 Escort, 5 spd, 2 door hatchback.) Had someone suggest greasing the shaft of the slave before installation to keep it moving freely, especially since it would now be sitting more often than not...so I removed the pilot bearing, started to move the slave around and discovered that I couldn't grease it like I was able to on the NAPA slave...oh well, just put it in. Another two days of installing the tranny and t-case and making sure everything hooked up right and shifted like it was supposed to and finishing/starting more small things, it was time for a fire up! Vacuum-bled the clutch system, everything was good to go!
Turn key...engine fires...strange noise...clutch pedal goes limp..............crap....what happened?!?! ......CRAP!!!!!
If you were paying attention, you may have noticed I left out a step from trying to grease the slave...you guessed it! I forgot to put the pilot bearing back onto the new slave...................$145 down the drain in 2 seconds.................que trans removal #3..................
Things started getting better from there....Ford dealer parts guy knows my father (and me; when I asked for the part, he wondered how our 'ol 93 Sport was still getting along) and when I asked if Ford had a warranty on stupidity, he said no, but he'd see if he could work on a price. Another 2 days and another $110, I had a new slave. Checked 5 times that the bearing was still on during install and also found that in 2.5 hours, I can remove a trans, replace the slave and reinstall EVERYTHING.
Vacuum-bleed clutch, and clutch pedal just hits the floor.....seriously, can't anything go right?!?! In my head, something gave in the MC when the 2nd slave was torn apart while under pressure...pulled it apart, but didn't see anything wrong but we'll have to get a new one....NAPA parts; $80.....Rockauto; $17....Rockauto, here I come....
One week later, new MC is installed, bled, and the pedal still hits the floor.....so on a whim, I decide I'm gonna grab a 2x4 and manually pump and bleed the clutch............it works........
Unfortunately, I was unable to get the original MC back together and so I was stuck with the Rockatuo part......and I say unfortunately not only because another $20 was dropped for no reason, but the shaft on the new MC was slightly different. I found this out by not being able to start the truck after it all was put together...turns out, it wouldn't let the neutral safety switch on the MC behind the pedal make contact, thus not letting the truck start...wrapped some metal around the shaft to make up some room and it all works now!!
Out of all of this, there were some good things to happen...I finally got around to hooking up the fog lights to come on with the parking lights and not just the low beams (which came in handy as both headlights went out after all this work), grounded the switches for the fog lights and 20" bar so the lights in the switches would come on when the switch was on, got the radio to work again (blown fuse), got the rear aux lights to work again (corroded wires), replaced a broken tool mount on the rear hatch, replaced a non-working tag light and replaced the license plate holder, and rebuilt a t-case......and re-que pictures!
Finally got the EF plate holder on that I got at the Moab run last spring!
And if you were reading, you noticed I said "rebuilt a t-case".....here's that story (much shorter, I promise)...
While the radio was not working and the slave was leaking, I went hunting one day when it was snowing quite a bit and the roads were getting squirrely only to find that the 4x4 wouldn't turn on, so I made the call; I was installing the manual t-case I bought from
@Kris Guilbeaux at the Moab trip before last. Noticed before installation that the chain was bit sloppy (turned out to be stretched), so I swapped chains and the planetary/cover (bearings from manual case seemed really rough), put everything togehter and put in new ATF...manual case previously had gear oil in it and was really crudding everything up...
Case was cleaned up and installed! Everything works great!
Next steps now are to make a knob for the shifter (time to brush up on my wood working skills) and replace the headlights.
Headlights are being ordered tonight...after a lot of research and trying to figure out what to do with $50 worth of Amazon gift cards, I decided to upgrade to LED...more pics and reports to come...
Whew............I'm tired now....got a full weekend of hunting to do tomorrow and Sunday as deer season comes to a close, so I may as well hit the sack...
Till my next report!
