'93 Sport Expo/ trail rig build

[Dzrtcj7]

I've been a forum lurker since it's inception, but somehow managed to lose my login info! I've owned close to 20 RBV's, from daily drivers to a pro desert race truck.

I've got a CJ7 that I hand built and has been my wheeler over the last 10 years, when it's running. The CJ needs a bunch of work to get it ready for the winter wheeling season, and I've got the itch for a change.

I've got a few criteria for a new build: Be able to do 500+mile backcountry trips (Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Idaho), be capable of driving 1000 miles to NV to chase/ prerun desert races, able to wheel WA trails (Rimrock, Naches, Liberty, etc), be a decent snow wheeler and potentially get entered in to a tuff truck race or too.

To meet those goals, here are what I see as important for this rig: Reliable, reliable, reliable. Tough, proven parts (minimize custom fab on critical parts), easily replaceable parts (leave well enough along if stock is good enough), decent travel without crazy custom work, reasonably narrow (stock) track width for WA trails, protection in all the right places (diffs, rear quarters, rockers) and keeping my wife and I safe.

So, here's the build plan:
- 5.5" James Duff system w/ extended radius arms, rear springs, etc
- Aussie locker in front diff
- RuffStuff 3/8" rear diff cover
- Briansfab D35 front diff skid
- Box and plate TTB beams
- D35 c-clip eliminator
- New front brake pads, rotors, wheel bearings, seals and ball joints
- New rear drums, pads, wheel bearings and seals
- Eliminate the ABS module
- Fab rocker protection tied to cage
- Full interior cage (undecided on tying in the spring buckets and front frame)
- Fab front bumper/ winch mount
- Fab rear bumper w/ spare tire, fuel, high lift mounts
- Fab protection for rear quarter panels/ rear glass.
- 33x10.50 tires on 15x7 or 15x8 wheels (maybe got to 35's down the road)

Meet the victim of my plans:

It's a '93 Sport, 5spd, 3.73's w/ rear limited slip. Motor runs great, trans shifts good, every bushing in the suspension is shot, the brakes are junk and there is a dry-ish bearing squeal coming from one of the the axles.

Here is the progress so far:

Broken headlight bucket

Fixed

Parts are starting to arrive:

Before:

After:

Out with the old, ready for the new:

Pressing ball joints out:

 

[Dzrtcj7]

Sandblasted and painted:

Barnes4wd truss mocked up:

Welded:

Ready to weld on to the axle:

Aussie Locker installed:

That pretty much gets the build caught up. I'll add pictures as I go. I've got a run scheduled for the last weekend in September, so I've got a lot of work to do!

Follow along. You're welcome to ask questions and critique my build as I go!

 

[RangerX]

Are you going to run the 33s on the 3.73s? Or is there a gear change you didn't mention?
Also, is it an elec tcase, or manual?

Overall, looks like it's going to be a well built thought out rig!

 

[Dzrtcj7]

Are you going to run the 33s on the 3.73s? Or is there a gear change you didn't mention?
Also, is it an elec tcase, or manual?

Overall, looks like it's going to be a well built thought out rig!

Thank you! A lot of thought has gone in to this rig. The hardest part for me is forcing myself to keep things simple, not turn the truck in to Frankenstein and to buy pre engineered pieces as opposed to hand fabricating.

I have thought about gears, and they are not in the plans for this phase of the build. I can only think of a few spots where I wheel that would really benefit from deeper gears. I'm planning to run this set up for a year then do 4.56's or 4.88's w/ 35's, yukon axles and a rear ARB. Along with that I'm thinking I'll go to Bilstein 7100 shocks and air bumps as well if I have any issues with Phase 1 shock setup.

As far as the transfer case goes, It's automatic. I've repaired the actuator in several rigs and am comfortable with the reliability of it. Worst case, I know how to actuate it with channel locks.

 

[mounty71]

I like the all-purpose direction you're going with on this thing; that's my ultimate goal also, to be able to go fast and slow. And I've never seen that rear axle truss before but I like it!

 

[Brian1]

Sounds like a great build! Your diff guard should be there soon!

 

[malohnes]

Very much the same as what I'd like for my truck, minus the pre runner part. I like it!!!!

That truss looks very beefy and should handle all but the roughest abuses.

Careful spring and shock selection should give you all the articulation and performance you need. You might not like the stock Duff springs for your intended driving. Did you gets stock replacement Deaver or something else?

 

[Dzrtcj7]

@Brian1, the diff guard looks great! Thank you. I'm looking forward to getting it on. I actually shock cracked a D28 pumpkin in half with a rock hit to the front of the beam, so this guard was a necessity in my mind.

Between the RuffStuff rear cover and Brian's diff guard, I had some serious beef show up yesterday!

@malohnes - The spring and shock selection has been a huge question in my mind. Knowing Duff's pedigree and after talking to the Duff rep extensively, I decided to give their complete shock and spring package a shot to start with. That way I have a baseline of a purpose designed system, instead of a homigination parts I've thrown together. The Deaver's are actually Duff spec as well. If their stuff doesn't perform, I look at other shock options, linear rate coils, maybe coilovers, etc. We'll see how it all works. I'm asking for a very broad range of capabilities, and nothing will do everything perfect. I'm sure it will take trial and error to get a setup that will be right for what I want.

 

[Dzrtcj7]

One other suspension component I'm debating is my bump stops. The easy answer is air bumps, but they have their maintenance drawbacks. I want the rig to require minimal prep so I can basically grab and go on impromtu weekend trips.

I've considered the foam wanna be air bumps from Daystar: http://daystarweb.com/productlisting.php?make=all&prodcat=Stinger+Bump+Stops, but am not sold on them yet.

I think I'm going to start out with tried and true progressive poly bumps. The kartek bumps have my vote right now: http://www.kartek.com/parts/progres...l?Session_ID=cb5fcb497821e43472ff042bbfd4696e.

I still need to get my suspension mocked up and cycled before I make a decision on what length to buy.

 

[malohnes]

Brian makes super nice diff guards...fitment was stellar! I love mine, but haven't tested it out yet.

You've got lots of options for shocks, springs and bump stops to work with. Looks like you'll have it dialed in with your careful research.

 

[Dzrtcj7]

Well, I had a goal of getting the explorer back on the ground over the long weekend, I made great progress, but didn't quite get there. Here are some pictures:

New wheel bearings and seals done:

Rear axle buttoned up with new brakes lines, wheel cylinders and Ruff Stuff cover:

Passenger beam plated and painted:

Cut and reflared the pesky rear brake fitting that wouldn't come loose:

Comparing the Duff Deavers to the stock springs:

Rear axle at home:

Front end progress:

I'm finding that the Duff 5.5" kit install isn't as easy as I anticipated. First, I received the wrong bolt kit for my coil buckets, so for the sake of time, I ran to the hardware store and bought all the hardware I needed. Then, to install this kit on an Explorer, there are a bunch of 1/2" holes that need to be drilled in to the frame. To add to that, some of the hole locations are through the double wall expanded portions of the frame, so they are a pain to drill, and require longer hardware. Aside from that little frustrating stuff, the kit once mounted fits really nice and looks really stout.

Hopefully a few more evenings and I will have it rolling again!

 

[Dzrtcj7]

Last night I discovered another minor nuance with the Duff kit. The front differential actually contacted the drop bracket for the passenger side beam. I had to grind about 3/16" off of the diff housing to get it to clear the bracket and cycle all the way up to the bump stop.

 

[Dzrtcj7]

I was able to get another good weekend in of wrenching on the explorer. Especially after my wife reminded me that it's supposed to be ready for a run NEXT weekend! I'm not sure if I'll make it with the Ex, or if the Jeep will be going. The suspension is close, but with no testing, no cage, and no winch, I'm hesitant.

Here's some pictures:

C-clip eliminator done per: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/index.php?threads/c-clip-eliminator-made-easy.256302/, thanks @Tbars4

New wheel bearings, seals, u joints, calipers, pads and hardware. Everything is assembled. James Duff sent me the wrong hardware kit, which didn't include my upper spring retainer clip. I also just found out that they shipped the wrong shocks, so those will be getting swapped out as well.

Rear end is all done! Finished if off with all new brakes with hardware, wheel cylinders, etc. I found my drivers side parking brake cable is frozen, so I disconnected it from the arm inside the brake and will have to deal with it later

Here it is on the ground for the first time!

Took it for a drive around the neighborhood to get things settled in. The front end settled down quite a bit, I think it will still settle some more. The rear still needs to come up. The shakedown drive was great. No creaks or rattles. Nothing fell off. Just a minor brake line leak, and no rear brakes (which I suspect was an issue before the tear down).

I've got a small punch list of small items on the suspension, then it's on to tires, body protection, cage and winch!

 

[Dumple]

Thats looking good! What kind of tires are you planning on running?

 

[92exp4x4]

You must live out west, you've got a nice 2 door to start with. Around here they are about half rust now.

My sport is identical to yours except for the 4x4. I kinda wondered what mine would look like with limited wheels, now I know and I didn't have to swap them out!

Nice build, truck looks great!

 

[92exp4x4]

Is that the nose of an old Porsche or Karmann Ghia in the one photo?

 

[Albino 94LTD]

How have i missed this thread?

We need fo get a meet up run going before the Naches Wagon trail closes for the winter

 

[Dzrtcj7]

Is that the nose of an old Porsche or Karmann Ghia in the one photo?

Finding a Sport with a 5 speed that isn't hammered is tough around here. Fortunately, we don't have the rust! I haven't found a single spot of rust in the body of this one!

The other project you see in the pics is a '66 Austin Healey Sprite. I actually have 2 that should give me enough parts for one good one!

 

[Dzrtcj7]

How have i missed this thread?

We need fo get a meet up run going before the Naches Wagon trail closes for the winter

It's good to see someone else from the NW on here! I actually took my CJ7 up to Naches two weekends ago and Rimrock last weekend. We did the imfamous 676 up to Moon/Funny rocks and the trails were awesome! After running Rimrock again, I don't think the Ex will be visiting there. Those trails hate vehicles with body panels to smash.

We have a traditional run that we do up to Raven's Roost (Little Naches area) in the snow on Thanksgiving weekend. I think this will be the big debut for the Explorer. You're welcome to come along. Send me a PM and I will send you our club information. Once I get the Ex on the trails, I'll need some backup to combat the jeeps!

 

[Dzrtcj7]

Thats looking good! What kind of tires are you planning on running?

Thank you! It's coming together slowly! I've got a set of used 33x12.50 BFG AT's that are going to go on it to start off. Ultimately I'm planning to end up with 33x10.50 General Grabber X3's and later transition to 35's when I can fit 4.88 gears and chromo shafts in the budget.