Josh's 4 door 1st gen explorer crawler (SGT Ex)

[josh40601]

well the weekend was great to get back out in the desert. Left Friday, got back Sunday. I have no idea how many miles I put on the truck, but i did go through over a tank a fuel, which i haven't done in a very, very long time, if ever in this truck. The one thing about the truck that is most evident... I really need to fix the exhaust. With the new roof and lack of sound deadening, it is extremely loud and sounds terrible. This will most definitely be my next focus. Other than the loud, it needs a tune up, and the power steering pump pulley is out almost a rib, which ended up shredding a belt and ripped one of the ribs off the replacement belt early on Friday. After pealing the outside rib, the belt aligned itself and was fine the rest of the weekend. I didn't get a lot of pics this time as i was just glad to be out there, but here are the ones my buddies got of me from their vehicles.

The pretty side of the truck hanging out at camp

Here are a bunch of pics my friends took over in the mud hills

Then we went to some of the rock trails

Here is one that was a little too tight for the big girl, and i didn't feel like crushing the doors already, so I tried backing out. During this, I also got a little tipy and needed some help getting the truck out of the tight little canyon

Then we followed this little CJ with lockers up this rock trail

 

[josh40601]

THen I was on my way back to camp following the pole line road (a totally different one than I thought) and the road decided to disappear. We were on our way to the part you can see when the truck slid off the trail, and we proceeded to wait 2 hours for help as I didn't have anything to run the winch to.

The ledge it is sitting on is about 6 feet tall, and the truck kept sliding every time i would try moving it, so we gave up and called for help. Thankful to my buddies who decided to go on the search for us as we were lost.

So overall, we didn't do anything crazy. Mainly just shakedown and a fun run. Ready to fix the exhaust and get back out there.

 

[mounty71]

Never saw this thread before, great job on the roof swap! It's great to see Carlover's explorer shell put to use and not scrapped.

 

[BKennedy]

Great to see a rig on the trail, especially those trails. Those left side doors look fabulous!!

 

[DUDER 1]

I really like the look of this rig. Good job sir.

 

[BKennedy]

When you going to paint it? I say leave the roof red, and khaki for the rest of it. Maybe put a big white cross up there, but the way you wheel, maybe you should put the white cross on the underside??

 

[josh40601]

Never saw this thread before, great job on the roof swap! It's great to see Carlover's explorer shell put to use and not scrapped.

You're the first person to actually know the previous owner that has commented on it. do you happen to have pics of what it used to look like? Travis is going to reuse the front frame portion for another project too, so it really got re-purposed!

Great to see a rig on the trail, especially those trails. Those left side doors look fabulous!!

thanks! I feel you are slightly biased on the doors though

I really like the look of this rig. Good job sir.

Thanks sir. Its great taking people who have never wheeled before out in it, as they are hooked after the first trail. Even the mishaps, they had fun with. And the new seats, even though they are beat to piss, they are so much better than factory.

When you going to paint it? I say leave the roof red, and khaki for the rest of it. Maybe put a big white cross up there, but the way you wheel, maybe you should put the white cross on the underside??

I have a few ideas brewing around in this grape of mine for paint. It isn't a priority right now as getting it mechanically sound is number 1 for it, but it is most definitely on the list. Stay tuned.

 

[mounty71]

Looks like most pictures in his thread are gone because Photobucket. Found a couple google searching though.

 

[josh40601]

Looks like most pictures in his thread are gone because Photobucket. Found a couple google searching though.

View attachment 152443

View attachment 152444

Wow it looked totally different by the time I got it. The rear frame section was different, and the front bumper was completely different too. and of course it was red. lol

 

[Spudhut]

Fantastic history on this Ex and great build thread. Looking forward for more!

 

[josh40601]

I took the explorer up to Miramar this weekend to finally address the exhaust leaks. I knew it was going to be a major pain in the ass, which is why I waited so long. I couldn't handle the leaks anymore, and I already had the majority of the parts, so I went for it.

I ended up using a used pair of exhaust manifolds from a friend's spare motor that has always been in California. The manifolds and the y pipe were in great shape, but the bolts were not so good. after a significant amount of heat from a "propane" torch, I was able to get all the factory bolts from both engines, without breaking a single one. They were extremely deformed once they were out, so I didn't even hesitate to pick up some new 10.9 strength metric bolts for everything.

The old cats were in really bad shape. I believe the front one was clogged, based on how heavy they were.I didn't even try to break the y pipe bolts loose from the manifolds, i just hacked the y pipe out and threw them in the scrap pile.

I picked up a factory replacement cat off ebay, and it was complete ****. There was no flange for the ball and socket portion, the flange that bolts to the y-pipe was too small, so I had to cut it all off, and reform it to fit, and it had a bend in it that the factory setup did not. If I hadn't bought it so long ago, I would have sent it back. I do not recommend people buying the ones from Canada off Ebay. Just suck it up and buy the magnaflow ones.

With the free-flowing cats, new y pipe, non-leaky manifolds, new bolts, new gaskets, and new 02 sensor, the truck runs great. It is still really loud due to the less restriction, but its nothing a muffler won't fix. Still hoping to get to Corral Canyon this weekend. If so, I'll post up some pictures and a review on how the day went.

 

[josh40601]

Trip Report: 12.16.17

So the plan was 4 rigs to meet up at Corral Canyon around 9-930 AM, and we were planning on running 3-4 trails. The trails we were going to run are what I would say is a medium-low difficulty. The trails can be passed on 33s and open diffs, but you would need a hell of a driver, and/or likely would require a tug or two on some of the obstacles. Ended up being 3 rigs, and we pulled out of 4 corners aired down around 10AM. We ran Sidewinder, Bronco's Peak, Diamond Back, 911, 911A, Winchester, and Gunslinger. Gunslinger, 911, Winchester, and the majority of Sidewinder and 911A are really easy trails that anyone with 4wd, and most with just 2wd could do.


When we pulled out of the staging area, it had started raining, so when we got to the first obstacle, the rocks were a little slick, causing the jaheeps some trouble

After some spotting, got both of them up, and it was time for the sarge

Walked right up on the first try, but I was also the only one on 37s. Both jeeps were rubicons on 35s. One JK with a short arm kit, the other a TJ with a long arm kit.

We continued on down the trail, heading to the next large obstacle, which is actually off to the side of the trail. This posed to be a very big problem for one of our Jeep friends...

The JK got up the ledge after 3 or 4 attempts and some coaching, and the TJ was on his way until his axle u-joint broke, which caused the ujoint to push the lower BJ out, and then his tire fell off.

After a couple of hours of fighting to get the lower BJ in, we finally got it all back together, and he drove himself the rest of the way out in 3 wheel drive, and drove home (about an hour).

After we said bye to the TJ, we headed to Bronco's Peak, where one of the first "obstacles" is a little V notch area that can allow you to flex out a little bit. This used to be much more of a V in the past, but looks like a driveway now.

there are a couple more off-camber areas, but mainly pretty easy getting up to the peak from this direction

The best part is the scenery. This place is absolutely gorgeous

 

[josh40601]

At the top of the peak, it was pretty breezy, and temps were in the mid 50s by this point in the day, and we had all the tougher obstacles coming up, so we didn't stay around long. Also, you can see my awesome new Maxxis Tire trasharoo bag that was gift from a close friend.

Julie, the driver of the JK was leading as I completely forgot where all the entrance and exits to all these trails are, so she hit the rock garden first, and got REALLY tipy by trying to get around a rock. She even pulled the back tires off the ground once, so that's when we called it and used my winch to pull her back so she could get a better line, then she drove out the rest of the way.

Then it was my turn, and my camera man decided to ride with, and by the time julie got her camera out, I was already making quick work of the obstacle. Did I mention how awesome the Sarge 2.0 is?

Julie decided to pull over and let me lead after this spot, where it looks like nothing, but both her and I pulled the passenger rear tire off the ground.

I took the lead and we found this nice ledge to climb over

Long wheelbase was definitely the winner here, as the shorter wheelbase and short arm kit, along with a not so great line allowed Julie's Jeep to wave at us

I backed her up, she took a slightly different line and made it up and over.


The last thing we seen on our way back to the staging area was a big ol rock that needed a pitbull pattern on it, so I decided to drive one side over it. The rock was just about the same length as the rock slider, because when the front tire came down, I danced around the rock until i finally slid off it. After this, we followed the ring road back to the staging area, where we loaded up and headed back to the house.

All in all, it was a perfect trip out for the Explorer. Helped build confidence again with everything that has happened over the last year with the truck, and it is definitely more rigid than it used to be. Where the frame would flex before, the cage has stopped that, making the suspension work harder. With the removal of the rear trailing arms, the rear is super flexy, and the front is more effort to tuck the tire.

Likely going back out for New Years Eve to run the same trails in the opposite direction to see how the truck does. Only damage to report is a lot of rock scrapes on the sliders, links, and diffs. Gonna have to do something for a better front cover on the 44. This is the 3rd one I've gone through. The huge ones from RuffStuff/Barnes/Ballistic won't clear with the tierod in its current orientation, so I'm likely going to have to make something myself.

 

[Spudhut]

Great pictures, beautiful scenery

 

[WormsExplorer]

Great pics and I also love the Scenery. Need to come out here to Colorado and see some of our Scenery.

 

[josh40601]

that would be awesome. Maybe one day.

 

[WormsExplorer]

Got an event set up for September. ;-) Just saying

 

[BKennedy]

Cool

 

[BKennedy]

Do you think those off-set rod ends from Barnes would allow the steering to clear the front differential cover?
Barnes 4WD Heat Treated Offset Heim Joints

I have a Solid diff cover and it clears my steering at full-lock. It doesn't stick out very much, except for where it says "SOLID" right where the steering crosses. I have had it for a few years and it seems to be able to take a beating.

 

[josh40601]

Do you think those off-set rod ends from Barnes would allow the steering to clear the front differential cover?
Barnes 4WD Heat Treated Offset Heim Joints

I have a Solid diff cover and it clears my steering at full-lock. It doesn't stick out very much, except for where it says "SOLID" right where the steering crosses. I have had it for a few years and it seems to be able to take a beating.

Those tie rod ends would likely work, but i would have to redo my axle side ram mount. I think if I can add some material to the bottom of a stamped steel cover, it'd help things significantly. I think the solid one might work, as we have a very similar tierod setup, but I would be worried about the size of the tierod (0.25" difference in diameter between ours). How much distance do you have when it is at full lock to the passenger side?