Brian1 91 XLT 4x4

I just read the article you were in. Congrats man. Peterson's magazine has been writing about ranger based vehicles lately and it is great not to read about jeeps all the time!

...Awesome...:biggthump

Brian, I think your rubbing off on Harry. All the RBV posts and articles in Fourwheel mag lately, has to be part of your influence.

Keep it up! LOL!

gmanpaint said:

Brian, I think your rubbing off on Harry. All the RBV posts and articles in Fourwheel mag lately, has to be part of your influence.

Keep it up! LOL!

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Maybe There should be more coming down the pipeline too!

Cool article

The last trip I took to Colorado and Utah I couldn't stand the noise anymore coming from my heim joint sway bar links. No matter how often I coated the heim balls with white lithium it would squeak not long after. I listened to the squeaking all the way home on the highway from Moab and I thought a wheel bearing or u-joint was going bad

Today I got a box of parts in the mail which included new sway bar link bushings and finally dug out my stock links from storage. Pressed out the old very worn out bushings and then installed the new ones and bolted them on in place of my custom links. The new bushings were in a Private Labeled box but were made by Moog in the USA. Part # K8657 and a whopping $4.xx, cant beat that! They also came with some other bushings and hardware that didn't fit (made for stem style links) so I'm guessing they fit multiple applications.

Took a test drive around the neighborhood and through some bumps and they were nice and quiet! I wont get the same flex out of them as the heim style but maybe that will save my passenger side splined axle thrust washer from disintegrating so quickly.

Unused bushings top left. Bushings installed left, old bushings middle, new bushings and sleeves top middle, old link with old bushings right and closer view of box top with part number:

Valve Cover Swap & PCV Grommet

For a while now my valve cover gaskets have been leaking and letting oil get onto the exhaust manifold and making a smell after turning off the
Explorer. I have replaced them once before, maybe 10-12 years ago with a cork set.

To start this project I bought a set of valve covers and coil pack bracket from my local U-pull and shipped them to [MENTION=17822]Turdle[/MENTION] for a nice powdercoat in preparation of changing the gaskets. If I'm going to do it might as well make it look good too!

My covers were coated Porsche Silver and the coil bracket I wanted a darker silver to add some contrast and left the specific color decision to Turdle. He coated it Titanium Metallic with Clear vision top coat and it came out very nice and adds a nice contrast to the silver covers and the many black parts under the hood which is what I was after.



I ordered up some Fel-Pro PermaDryPlus gaskets from Rockauto, part # VS50368T I also picked up a new PCV grommet from the Help Section at Autozone, part # 42066 which is not listed for a Ford Explorer anywhere, not even on the Dorman/Help website but it is indeed the right fit.

Just finished buttoning everything back up, not too bad of a job and it looks great!

Looks good.

Nice. I'm just happy you like them.

Did you do anything to the upper intake manifold while it was off?

Turdle said:

Did you do anything to the upper intake manifold while it was off?

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No, I just cleaned the dirt off in a few places and put a new gasket on.

Fun trip this past weekend with the Explorer. Did 230 miles, 90% on the dirt, from Dell City, TX to Cloudcroft, NM. I was joined by 2 friends on dual sport bikes. Fall colors were a little past in this area unfortunately.

Explorer did great but now one of the bulbs in the instrument cluster went out or shook loose. Looks like I'm tearing into the dash soon to replace some bulbs. Might go with LEDs.

Nice pictures Brian! Long way to go on the dirt alone. Sounds like fun.

Have to ask.... What is the wavy light from the rig to the bike? Rope light?

I can see you left the exposure on for a while by the circular star motion, but curious about the wavy light. :scratch:

Thanks Gman!. It was about a 5 minute exposure. Wavy light is from 1 of the guys headlamps as he walked from the "kitchen" behind my explorer to his tent/bike.

Aha! I never would have guessed that! Pretty neat.

So 2 days after returning from that trip above I pulled into my driveway when all the coolant decided to pour out on the ground. Upon further investigation it was coming from my timing chain cover gasket which was replaced 2 years/12,000 miles ago.

I ordered a Ford gasket this time, old one was a Felpro that failed. I also ordered a Cloyes timing chain kit. I was going to replace it last time but no one had it in stock locally.

I got the cover off today, will replace it tomorrow.

ACK!!

I dislike reading posts like this because if it can happen to you, it can happen to me. LOL!

Ah, the ol' cam advance MPG mod trick eh?

False alarm, the alignment dot was hiding on the top, I had the cam 180 off when I was looking for the dot. Got the new sprockets, chain, guide and tensioner on there with no problems. Chain tensioner was definitely worn, it had 2 grooves in it.

More updates

Everything has been running smooth so far after buttoning back up the front end with the new timing gear. When I had it apart I did buy a new belt as the old one was full of cracks. I also noticed my alternator turned rough by hand so I figured the bearings were on their way out. It was a remanufactured Motorcraft that has been on there ever since I owned it.

I upgraded to a 130 amp alternator that bolted right in. The pulley was only 1/4" smaller or so in diameter so the same length belt worked with no problem. The boot on the back cable was so brittle it crumbled apart when I took it off so I put a new one on that I obtained from delcity.net electric supply.

I installed new rear sway bar link bushings, picked them up dirt cheap from Rockauto.

I have new door weather stripping waiting to be installed on the 2 rear side doors in hopes of keeping the dust from being sucked in the cabin as I am having a real problem with interior dust from the trips I have been logging.

I have also been doing some wiring projects and comparing a few auxillary lighting options. I finally made the wire harness extension to the switches I installed years ago in the dash where the push-button t-case switch used to be right next to the center a/c vent.

Outside to center: 35 watt 7" HIDS (my old lights I have been using), 4.5" 25 watt Vision X LED Light Cannons, 9" 96 Watt LED Import Lights I haven't made up my mind yet on which ones will be staying.