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Jen's 03 Sport

Hello all...

To celebrate the final payment of my beast, I thought I should finally make a registry for it, with pictures and all!!!

When I was in college, I really wanted a 2door SUV that was relatively new and looked cool as well... Obviously that led me to the Explorer, as Jeeps are cool and all, but not all that practical as my daily driver. Sooo, the search was on! I wanted a black one, the newest year I could get for the Sport, with the fewest miles, with leather and a sunroof! :D

Eventually my searches pulled up my exact specs, but in South Dakota. I lived in Iowa at the time, so no big deal. I bothered the people at the dealership with my excessive questions to make sure it was worth the drive there to look at it. And luckily, it was! Mom and I drove out to look at it, and I ended up buying it. My first (nice) purchased car. It had 16,x.. on the clock, was a certified pre-owned from some old man so it was pretty nice, other than that saggy rear end.

First thing I did was swap out the stereo, and figured out how to wire it to the factory sub thanks to the forum! Then, add a leafs were next. I had the next several years mapped out for it when the tires would wear out and I was outta college and could finally have some money!!! I took off the step bars and added a Yakima rack and drove it like that until I moved to CO. That's when the magic started to happen, ;).

I knew I wanted to lift it from the day I bought it. When I started my big kid job out here in CO, I was able to buy new wheels, tires, shackles, and body lift to get it started! Thanks to the awesome boys from this forum (hokie, nssj2, sparkyXplorer) they got it on for me. I was of no use as I had just had shoulder surgery, but they made sure to get my on the right track :thumbsup:

Awesome! Now I'm good to go. Cranked up the torsion bars a lil, time to hit the trails!!! Got my feet wet in Ouray with the group. And by feet wet, I mean I almost peed myself on Black Bear pass, haha

Since then, I've upgraded my exhaust to 2.5 pipes from the cats back, Flowmaster 50 muffler (kinda quiet :rolleyes:) and a MAC intake. Changed out the plugs and wires at the same time, put on Motorcraft plugs and JBA cables...I also added a Yakima load warrior basket that is pretty quick to take off that holds my snowboard racks and my spare.

Mods to come ---- upgrading gears to 4.56, adding an Aussie locker (or something of that sort depending on my $$), removed gray plastic body panels to paint black, thus discovering rust on my doors GRRRRRR, need rock sliders, skid plates, and on and on.
 

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I finally got re-geared to 4.56 recently... it is such a huge improvement! I really wish I did this years ago when I went up tire sizes. It's fun to drive again. So happy. Now I would recommend this as very high priority when running bigger tires, especially living in the mountains and all. I forgot that this little truck had a bit more power to it when it was stock.

My speedo is way off now, reads about 10mph higher at highways speeds than I'm going. I shouldn't be getting any speeding tickets at least, haha. I will look into getting that reprogrammed or something eventually.

So making some changes slowly, but surely. I really need to address the paint and get that fixed. Spare tire carrier this spring hopefully too.

Then, I want to get one of these, bad! Tepui rooftop tent. Planning a road trip to Arizona with my mom in May, this would come in handy. I'd get a ton of use out of it.
Tepui_Utah_2_1024x1024.jpg


My DC-1 wheels look horrid, all the clearcoat is peeling off and nasty. Kind of expected since they sit in salt a good portion of the year and the truck is usually filthy, but I might look into new wheels when I get my tires replaced probably later this year. My Duratracs have been rotated religiously, but I had a bad alignment or something it and they got pretty worn down. I like them a lot better than the BFG ATs I had before, but those seemed to wear better. So maybe I'll look at some new tires too.

That's it for now! Hope everybody is having a good winter!
 



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Nice, not sure why the speedo is do far off, if you had stock 4:10's with 255/70/16's and now have 4:56's on 33's it should be damn near dead on. I geuss it still needs calibrated.

I've been wanting to get a RTT for a couple years now, I wheel with guys that have them and they're sweet. That Tacoma pictured is a member over on TacomaWorld.com, I'm a member there with my 2013 Tacoma BAJA T/X.

You could always paint the wheels either an army green or camouflage sand like I did on mine. Looked good on my black ST.
 






Gear swap is the best bang for the buck you can do and it will also help save your Trans. :thumbsup:

Might be cheaper to have your wheels powder coated in a color of your choice. ;)
Oh for sure, it seems to be much happier when shifting now too. I've thought about getting them powdercoated, but it's my only ride and I don't have any extra wheels... might just be cheaper to get a set of plain black wheels. We shall see!

Did you take it to Josh for the regear?

A RTT would be sweet.

Josh did do it, a pretty quick job too!

Nice, not sure why the speedo is do far off, if you had stock 4:10's with 255/70/16's and now have 4:56's on 33's it should be damn near dead on. I geuss it still needs calibrated.

I've been wanting to get a RTT for a couple years now, I wheel with guys that have them and they're sweet. That Tacoma pictured is a member over on TacomaWorld.com, I'm a member there with my 2013 Tacoma BAJA T/X.

You could always paint the wheels either an army green or camouflage sand like I did on mine. Looked good on my black ST.

I love tacomas... my coworker just bought a new one, if anything happens to the explorer that will probably be my next vehicle! And the RTT just seems pretty quick and practical to use, can't wait.

As for the speedo, when I switched wheels/tires it read about 5-6mph slower than what I was going, and now about 10mph faster. It's kind of weird. I had 3.73 gears before, and he added a limited slip set up he had laying around too. So who knows - that stuff is all beyond my knowledge base. Just glad to have it done!
 






Ok, so since you had 3.73's and went upto 4.56's and a 33" tire than to even it out with tire/ gear ratio would be either 33's with 4.10's or 35's with the 4.56's. Regardless I'd stick with the 4.56's and 33's unless you wanted to move upto 35's. You could probably have the trans tuned for the tire/ gear set you have on now but it would take it back to factory shifts points and would loose that little get up and go off the line which you need for the mountains and offroading.

Here's a picture of my 2013 Tacoma BAJA T/X dcsb, it's stock for now except for a set of Go Rhino Dominator II step bars and in channel ventshades. They make so much for these trucks compared to the Ford Ex and ST.

IMG_6826.jpg


and my sad and lonely Sport Trac waiting to be finished out in the cold...

IMG_6869.jpg
 







sweet truck! love the red color. i debated a long time between getting my sport back in 05 or the tacoma, i really liked the new body style when it came out (and still do)! thought a truck would be overkill for what i needed, and it probably would've been then but i'd get pretty good use out of one now. I am jealous of the easy aftermarket parts for the toyotas and jeeps though.

my little ex looks just like your trac right now, it dumped snow last night :D

35s would be cool, maybe someday when I get another daily driver. But I enjoy the pep it has now! The speedo doesn't drive me too crazy... just have to get used to it.
 












I changed out the speedo gear in the transfer case when I regeared. Not sure how it's handled on those new technology 2003's.

I've been doing some poking around to learn about it - apparently they did away with that and it has to be reprogrammed at the dealer from what I'm gathering.
 






I've been doing some poking around to learn about it - apparently they did away with that and it has to be reprogrammed at the dealer from what I'm gathering.

You need a "breakout" box. A dealer might be the best bet, but you might find someone who has one.

With it you program gear ratio and tire size by revolutions per mile. Consult the tire manufacturer's website for tire specs.

Let's call in the expert

Hey, Russell!

[MENTION=17554]NICE59FORDF100[/MENTION]
 






I finally got re-geared to 4.56 recently... it is such a huge improvement! I really wish I did this years ago when I went up tire sizes. It's fun to drive again. So happy. Now I would recommend this as very high priority when running bigger tires, especially living in the mountains and all. I forgot that this little truck had a bit more power to it when it was stock.
I definitely hear ya on the re-gearing part. This summer I re-geared from 3.55 to 4.10 and slapped in a LS and holy cow was it a night and day improvement! I thought my 3.55s were ok but after you re-gear, you realize what you were missing out on. I'm sure the 4.56s are pretty sweet too! :thumbsup:

Not sure if I've commented here before, but I re-read your registry and have to give you credit for all that you've gone through with the truck. You've been through thick n' thin with it and I'm glad to see that you've pulled out on top.
 






What What, lol, here i am! Sorry I was looking up evap diag things for a mazda 3 p0455...please state the nature of the medical emergency!
 






Ok so yea, yours being a 2003, any tire changes will need to be reprogrammed into the ABS module to account for different tire size - i usually go by the tire manufacturer specs and then type it into the module via a ford programming tool (old ass NGS, older WDS, or new and shiny IDS) - takes about 5 minutes to get into the abs programming to change everything. unfortunately, without the tool or something similar, a dealer is only option
 






I definitely hear ya on the re-gearing part. This summer I re-geared from 3.55 to 4.10 and slapped in a LS and holy cow was it a night and day improvement! I thought my 3.55s were ok but after you re-gear, you realize what you were missing out on. I'm sure the 4.56s are pretty sweet too! :thumbsup:

Not sure if I've commented here before, but I re-read your registry and have to give you credit for all that you've gone through with the truck. You've been through thick n' thin with it and I'm glad to see that you've pulled out on top.

Thanks! It's been a good lil truck for sure minus a few hiccups here and there. Night and day is a good way to describe it for sure, it's sooooo much better now.

Ok so yea, yours being a 2003, any tire changes will need to be reprogrammed into the ABS module to account for different tire size - i usually go by the tire manufacturer specs and then type it into the module via a ford programming tool (old ass NGS, older WDS, or new and shiny IDS) - takes about 5 minutes to get into the abs programming to change everything. unfortunately, without the tool or something similar, a dealer is only option

Awesome... thanks for chiming in, this is what I was gathering in my research... I just might have a hookup at the local Ford dealership to help me out! Good looking out for me [MENTION=17822]Turdle[/MENTION] as always, thanks!
 






I finally got re-geared to 4.56 recently... it is such a huge improvement! I really wish I did this years ago when I went up tire sizes. It's fun to drive again. So happy. Now I would recommend this as very high priority when running bigger tires, especially living in the mountains and all. I forgot that this little truck had a bit more power to it when it was stock.

What kind of mileage are you getting with your new gears?? You are running 33's right?
 






What kind of mileage are you getting with your new gears?? You are running 33's right?

yeah 33s, now they are getting pretty worn down tho. I haven't driven enough to be able to gauge my mileage, but my odometer is higher than before when my tank is half full. I suppose that is partly because the speedo is also reading so high. I think it'll end up being slightly better, but it's definitely not worse. Especially when the novelty wears off and I keep my foot off the throttle more :D
 






What kind of mileage are you getting with your new gears?? You are running 33's right?

Before my SAS I was getting 16-18 mpg with 4.56 and 33s on the highway. With the SAS (same tires and gears) I get 16 on the highway.

And that's with a corrected speedo gear.
 






yeah 33s, now they are getting pretty worn down tho. I haven't driven enough to be able to gauge my mileage, but my odometer is higher than before when my tank is half full. I suppose that is partly because the speedo is also reading so high. I think it'll end up being slightly better, but it's definitely not worse. Especially when the novelty wears off and I keep my foot off the throttle more :D

Thanks...

Before my SAS I was getting 16-18 mpg with 4.56 and 33s on the highway. With the SAS (same tires and gears) I get 16 on the highway.

And that's with a corrected speedo gear.

That's not bad for a lifted 4x4.
 






Happy Spring y'all!

Two weeks ago I changed out my fuel filter, finally after having it sitting in my garage forever. It wasn't very hard, was my first time doing it and didn't take too long. Seems to have made a huge difference, less sluggish a little more get up and go...

I got a new gopro recently and filmed myself doing it, it's kind of amusing to hear how much I talk to myself when I do stuff. I was narrating to the camera without realizing I was doing it. Anyway, maybe I'll edit it and throw it up on youtube. I watched a few videos before doing it, maybe it would be helpful to somebody.

Lastly, I just sent a deposit to James at RLC to get myself a rear bumper and spare carrier built, finally. I'm pretty excited about that. Not much else to post about, basically just to remind myself of when my fuel filter was changed down the road so I don't forget ;)

edit: also forgot I changed my gear oil myself about 700 miles after my gear change... that wasn't too hard either. Was afraid of pulling the diff cover and screwing up getting it back on with rtv, but it was easy. However, I can't seem to get the smell of gear oil out of my garage, haha. That stuff smells nasty.
 



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Good for u Jen. Can't wait to see the bumper
 






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