Captain Morgan, '95 D44 Sas

“Captain Morgan”
1995 Explorer Sport


Engine:
4.0 OHV

Transmission:
M5oD manual transmission

Cooling:
Summit Racing aluminum 2.5” radiator, driver drop outlet
Summit Racing aluminum power steering cooler
Summit Racing flex hose & 90* elbow

Drivetrain:
Manual 1354 Borg Warner
Steel Tube front driveshaft
Extended, reinforced rear driveshaft

Front Axle:
‘84 Jeep Grand Wagoneer Widetrac Dana 44 low pinion
OX locker & Cover
5.13 Yukon Ring & Pinion
All Spicer U-joints, bearings & races
Kevlar braided stainless 32” long brakelines
Stock Waggy shafts (until I break one!)
Warn manual locking hubs

Rear Axle:
Explorer 8.8 31 spline
Dutchman hardened shafts, 6x5.5 pattern, screw-in studs
Aussie Locker
5.13 Yukon Ring & Pinion
Currie 6x5.5 rotors
All Ford bearings & races
Trailmaster 2” tapered rear lift blocks
Superlift spring-over perches
RuffStuff 1/4" steel 8.8 metal cover

Suspension:
Explorer ProComp MX6 nitro front shocks
Regular Monroe stock height (go figure!) rear shocks
JC Whitney stock Waggy 7 leaf front packs
Rear leaf packs out of XLT v8 w/ tow package

Tires:
35x13.5r16 Mickey Baja Claws
37x12.5r15 Goodyear Wrangler Mtr's Couldn't flex. Gone
36x12.5r15 Super Swamper TSL Bias Ply Best for mud! Gone
315x70r17 Mickey Baja MTZ radials Original setup. Gone

Rims:
16x8 Black painted aluminum triangle holes
15x10 Black round-holed aluminum something or anothers Gone
17x10 Black steel Rock Crawler round holes Gone

Body Mods:
Originally Willow Green
Premium Sport flares
Maaco semi-gloss dark Charcoal paint. black vinyl racing stripes
Black herculiner on lower doors and rock sliders
Shaved 4" from each side of bumper for tire clearance
Removed roof rack and rails

Body Armor:
DraperBuilt rock sliders
Steel rear bumper w/ swing out carrier, from sn0border88's late Emily Rose (Had to remove tire carrier section in 2011,
the swing rod bent and the trailer bearings built into the bumper seized)

Sound System:
Pioneer DEH-X7800BHS head unit
4 6x8 Kenwood 3 way 220w speakers
Pair Kenwood 1" front door tweets w/ bass blockers (installed in panels by rearview mirror control)
Pair Pioneer 1" rear tweets w/ bass blockers (installed above flip out ashtrays)
10” Kicker VR Comp dual voice coil
Kenwood 729S Amplifier
Cobra 19 CB in center console, w/ external speaker (removed 2019, no one uses CB's for wheeling anymore)

Lights:
2 Hella 500's on front bumper
Dual driving fogs. White fog/blue smurf lights
Anamorphic Equalizer
LED strips around inside of rear hatch glass w/ dedicated rear switch
Billet Automotive custom RGB LED switch panel
Sylvania amber blue 3157 turn bulbs
Euro Diamond headlights & corners
OPT7 LED headlight bulb upgrade
Black Altezza tail lights w/ LED brake & reverse bulbs, amber blue turn signals

Miscellaneous modifications:
Doofy looking Skull knob for T-case shifter (thanks Rook )
Fire Extinguisher & LED Maglite hard mounted to D-Pillars
Sport Trac rear power outlet installed in right rear panel behind rear seats
02-05 Explorer IRS breather tube neck for front axle breather tube
Shaved 8.8 Center pin
Shaved inside fin off of Dana 44 housing to clear OX shift fork
Royal Purple full synthetic Mercon III trans fluid
Interior light kill switch (95's interior lights do not turn off via dimmer)
Boxed & reinforced trans cross member to pass over front driveshaft
Custom front sway bar
2wd explorer radio bezel
‘95 F350 Front shock towers
Removed stock air filter fender duct
1.5" Steel front driverside leaf block (to make him sit level again)
Leather power seats and rear bench seat from Blackjack
2019: Installed Blackjack's passenger door & Skunk's driver door in tribute. He is now FrankenMorgan.




Started out looking like this:

Did a little bit of this:

And a little bit of that:

To get this:

Had some fun breaking him in:

And then realized a little too late that I have a serious center of gravity issue:

But clean it all up and throw some paint on and things will look a lot better

...And then when your nice matte finish dark charcoal grey paint fades to powdered donut finish,
(Yes that's me, posing with my truck)

......have your truck painted again!

And put stripes on it, for Pete's sake

Over a decade later and still kicking despite everything we've been through:

Full write up can be found here: How to waste a ton of $$. Much thanks to Rookie, Wolf, Micah, 95Exploderboy and IZwack for the design/build, and Skunk for the inspiration


EDIT: Morgan wouldn't be the beast that he is today were it not for the two horribly abused first gens who came before him and taught me what it means to have a wheelable Explorer (lots of patience, time and money!). Here's to Shelby and Tank May they rest in pieces wherever they are!

 

[Spas]

I can't remember what diameter the tubing is, but we had an unused piece during the build and Rookie bent it into a simple "U" shape. It's secured to the front crossmember and leaf spring plates with aftermarket poly-performance bushings and links. You can see it pretty well in a pic on the first page (back when it wasn't rusty, lol). I lube the endlinks with anti-seize and take them completely off for wheeling. The bar itself never comes off, I just fold it up against the frame and use heavy duty tarp bungees to keep it there.

Still haven't figured out how to extend the rear links so I can use my rear sway, though. They keep breaking

 

[Tbars4]

...jdraper, my 2x3x1/4 was .45 a pound, still costly though...

...spas, how did that spray on paint work for those sliders???

 

[cybergasm]

...jdraper, my 2x3x1/4 was .45 a pound, still costly though...

...spas, how did that spray on paint work for those sliders???

think ya can pass along the 411 on wherever you get your steel from?
might try to get a set whipped up before truckhaven

 

[Spas]

...spas, how did that spray on paint work for those sliders???

HORRIBLE. The very first time I powerwashed the mud off the sliders after spraying them, large chunks of the paint came with and now there's nasty rust spots all over I prepped them according to the directions, too, so I know it's not because of anything I did. I'm going to invest in a half gallon of herculiner and paint them and the bottom 1/3 of the doors with it to keep it from happening again (the junkyard door I got to replace the one that was f'ed up during the rollover has a bad rust issue). Engine enamel might have worked better, but I power wash a lot because I hate working on a muddy truck.... so I don't wanna have to keep repainting these suckers every month :

 

[Tbars4]

...cyber, i'm sorry i can't hear you as there is a loud chopsaw i'm running and talledega is blaring at the shop, lol...

...spas, i'm sorry to hear that and i do a lot of pressure washing too, so thanks for the heads...

 

[Spas]

NP, man. I'm famous for sharing my mistakes on this board. Contrary to popular belief, I do so because I don't want anybody to make the same ones, not because I want to get picked on

I'll take pics when I get the herculining done. I can even take a barehanded bathroom break in between coats because I'm a girl (I can't resist the opportunity to pick on ol' Krusty )

 

[Tbars4]

...thanks and i hope you know the story here of the guy who got it on his, well you know, lol...

 

[sn0border88]

your paint must suck, I washed mine with a 8,00 PSI washer with kerosene heat and none of my paint stripped off.

 

[Spas]

...thanks and i hope you know the story here of the guy who got it on his, well you know, lol...

That would be Gerald, aka "ol' Krusty"

Micah, that's what I get for using the cheap spray on bedliner

 

[Spas]

Well, Morgan and I got to take our first ride on a tow truck together this morning... I was on my way in to work, puttering through traffic at about 20mph when the occasional squeak I've been hearing came back with a vengeance. Once I got over 30mph, it turned into a crunching, cracking noise and eventually it got so bad that I pulled over, rather than risk losing a wheel or worse. I haven't had the time to pull the hubs apart and I KNOW that mud and water have gotten past the seals before, so now all of my nice new Timken bearings and races are completely toast. And to make things that much better, there's a horrible racket coming from my transfer case, too. Yay. I hope I have time to pull him apart tomorrow to see if I destroyed the spindles as well. In case I did, does anyone know of someplace relatively cheap to order a new pair for an '84 Grand Waggy?

Naturally, this had to happen just when I need Morgan the most: To move all my stuff out before the psycho landlady gets her hands on it

 

[sn0border88]

I can get you a set at the junkyard tommorow

 

[Spas]

If you find any in good shape, grab 'em for me and I'll be happy to pay ya back at the Halloween run. Thanks


I think from now on I'm going to positively IzWackian when it comes to avoiding mud and anything else that might creep into my hubs

 

[Spas]

Captain IzWack, SIR! Private Spasticat requests permission to join the 'I-hate-mud" club!!!

Mud= bad

Need new spindles, stat!

 

['97 V8]

Was this muddy and gunky water that got past your seals?

 

[sn0border88]

repack em when you get home next time and you have nothing to worry about.

 

[IZwack]

Wait did you dry out the bearings? If so, those spindles are probably scoured cauz this rig gets some street and highway miles.

If sn0 cant find you some spindles, remind me in about a week and I'll pull one cauz i gotta pull an axle shaft from a Wagoneer anyway.

 

[IZwack]

BTW I'm surprised that much mud was able to make it in to the hub.
I'd check the O-ring on the luckouts (its on the cap assembly) and the rear/back seal on the spindle.

 

[sn0border88]

its not all mud, there was a little water, then from there its rust and grease contamined with rust so it looks like a big rusty muddy mess, Ive had to clean mine out a few times.

However, since I have a ANOTHER EXPLORER TO DRIVE ON THE STREET I had a chance to change mine before total meltdown.

 

[Spas]

its not all mud, there was a little water, then from there its rust and grease contamined with rust so it looks like a big rusty muddy mess, Ive had to clean mine out a few times.

However, since I have a ANOTHER EXPLORER TO DRIVE ON THE STREET I had a chance to change mine before total meltdown.

Blah blah blah : This one gets better mpg than my streeter, so sue me As for how sooooo much mud got in there, I blame it on the rear seals and one too many mudpuddles. Earlier this year I ran Morgan through Spare Tire when it was almost 0 degrees outside and the hubs and parking brake froze solid overnight. That should've been a clear indication that water was sneaking past the seals. I've learned my lesson, lol. NO MORE MUD 4 ME!

That, and apparently my OX hasn't been fully disengaging, so I have to look into that too.

 

[sn0border88]

ok, maybe your lower truck on smaller tires get better MPG :shifty_ey but I really think you should consider the cost of keeping morgan daily driving. Look at all the things you've been replacing most, if not all of which I bet wouldnt be happening if it wasnt a DD.