Dreamr's growing a few inches

So after all this talk and planning I got sick of waiting and dove in tonight.

The Body Lift has been sitting in the garage looking at the truck and wanting a home, o what could I do. I also found out that I don't have to work Friday, so I snuck home early with the intentions of starting to prep the vehicle. Ya know all that dissasembly. What I thought was going to be several hours of prep turned into a thirty minute job, so... we just kept going.

The body mount bolts were not to bad to get out, even without using the torch. 2 of the bushing thingies started turning which made it fun but a very large set of channel locks cured that problem.

Actually breaking all the bolts free took about 2.5 hours due to our many breaks to let our arms rest, but getting it jacked up and bolted to the new blocks was quite quick. Boy are my shoulders and arms going to ache tomorrow.

The real time killers were with the radiator brackets (lower) They were a huge time consuming PITA!!!!!! The holes would just not line up for the screw no matter what we tried. Finally I got pissed and grabbed my favorite tool Soon it fit just fine

Man I was so concerned that this was going to be a huge ordeal, but it is all so simple even if a bit demanding on the arms and shoulders. I should open a 4x4 shop it's kinda fun to re-create vehicles.

I suppose I shouldn't say that yet. I am not done. Tomorrow will tell the tale I suppose. Tomorrow I need to put the interior back together, mount the bumpers, re-route a couple lines cause I don't like the bind on them, re-install my intake, double check everything, and go for a drive.


I really only have two concerns as of now.
My tranny shift cable only had two clips that I could find. The cable was rather tight after the lift, and only fit into the lower bracket. Should I have any concerns here?

My second fear is that I am not going to fit into my garage anymore after I get 33's on there.

Pics soon, but first I have to get it out of the garage. I'll drop in an update to let y'all know if it stays simple or not.

dreamr said:

mount the bumpers

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Your fun has only begun then When I did mine I think the bumper replacement was the biggest PITA Your tranny cable will be fine, mine is the same way, was to tight to get back in the bracket so we just left as is, you should still be able to get in your garage with 33's depending on your garage size, mine still squeezed in with my lift and 33's, Gd Lck with the bumpers your gonna need it

Wow I finally woke up and get to go right back to the project

Thanks for the bumper luck!!! I am actually really dreading that part, but my friend is convinced he can make the rear brackets work pretty easily, and the front should be fairly easy. Worst case scenario is that I have to go and have a tube bumper fabbed up for the rear

Well, think I'll check the new posts and go back to it.

Ok so everything is done and the exlplorer has been out for a drive.


Everything is great!!!!
My steering seems to be a bit tighter than before which felt a little odd, but it had no points where the tension increased or it bound up....YEAH!!!!!!!!!

We still did not get the back bumper on or make new gap gaurds for the front since Home Depot closed early for the New Year. Guess I'll have to wait for tomorrow to get it finished after all.

Here is a couple pictures for you.

They are really dark, and the quality deteriorated when I tried to enhance them so.........they suck and I'll get more in the daylight tomorrow.
Those 30's look so tiny now.




Looky at how easy changing spark plugs will be And no that hose isn't touching the exhaust manifold. It just looks that way in the pic. (it made me go look at the truck.... twice )

Looks great, now you need some 33s. After you get the 33s and the rear bumper on, I demand more pics. Keep up the good work.

Looks good man!!!
what are u going to make your gap guards with???

Thanks for the compliments

I basicly plan on going to home depot with a piece of my current gap guard and finding a sheet of material that's about the same. Then cutting a new one three or 4 inches longer.

i now see im not the only one working on my truck new years eve

boominXplorer said:

i now see im not the only one working on my truck new years eve

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What else is there to do when you have a five year old whose mom is working and getting the double pay.

Realistically though, it's a three day weekend for me so it was perfect timing.

What are you working on this new years?

Tonight I worked on mounting my A-pillar pod and put in new header gaskets (not totally done yet) I still have an autometer nitrous and A/f gauge to put in and hook up, Zex nitrous purge kit with dual purge and wash it for the first time this year

Looking at that last pic above made me really really want headers, if for no other reason than to be pretty. That erxhaust manifold is just ugly. LOL I envy your new toys

When I first saw your title I thought you were doing a reveiw for ENZYTE
Now that you have some lift do you wanna come play? I'm Going to Elbe Hills today, wonder how serious the body damage will be? 2nd gen explorers are starting to go cheap and end up in the bone yard, I just bought all 4drs and side glass and tailights my rig for $100 plus my old radius arms. I felt bad ripping that straight explorer apart I didn't need the parts yet just got them for spares.
But your rig is looking good, by the time you get done with what you have planned it will be tight.

dreamr.. the radiator was the main PITA for me as well. same issue you had. that part sucked!
as for the trans shift cable... there is a grommet where the cable enters the truck kind of up behind the brake pedal. i pushed that through and it gave the cable plenty of slack.

i need some new gap guards on mine bad now with the 3" Bl. The motor got covered with mud last week when i was playing around in the mud. But ill prob do the same thing u r. Just wanted to know what u had in mined. Thanks

dreamr, the kit fit just fine? no need for anything extra? i thought i read somewhere on here you need to grab a couple of longer bolts for it too work. Did you have that problem and if so you remember what length? <- ok i edited again so it dont look like a two year old posted it.. (while not the greatest grammer at least you can cipher it)

Jr....
Thanks for the kind words, and yea I had better come out and play again this year. I would like to wait for the 33's and the rear locker though, so probably closer to spring on the playing, who knows I may still change my mind about Naches and it's crowds (shudders). And no Elbe Hils yet, I am actually kind of interested in doing Tahuya again just so I can compare the X to my previous trip there. Hey maybe I can go over that BFR this time instead of turning around on a half a lane road

Jason..
I had not found that grommet on the trans cable. Looks like I can take some of the tension off ehh.

Mcane..
Gap guards are really only for the looks mostly. My motor gets completely caked with mud regardless if they are in place or not Perhaps we should learn to stay out of the puddles huh

Zhanx..
Yes the Pa-883 fit my ex very well. I did need to buy 2 150mm bolts to match the 160's and 180's provided in the kit. The front bumper brackets need a little bending, as does the lower radiator bracket, but no big deal there. The only thing that requires you to develop your own method is the rear bumper. The brackets in the kit are pretty useless. My buddy is planning the how, and I am going to get 2 steel plates and a bunch of bolts here in a few minutes.



????? has anyone noticed that there steering is tighter? It doesn't bind up, but is tighter. I searchred on steering bind and found people had had similar experiences. However they usually had a poiint in there steering where it actually bound, I do not, it's just equally stiff all the way kinda like driving a car with power assist rather than true pwer sterring.

Yeah my steering was tighter to but no binding

Alrighty then the damn thing is finally done!!!!!

The rear bumper was a huge PITA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It took a lot of cigaretts, thinking, and cutting of new bracketry. But in the end (about 5 hours later) it is on and straight.

what a pain!!

Anyway here is a pic in the day time. The bumper didn't get on till tonight so no pic sorry. If you want, you can check my elite registry in my signature tomorrow and I'll put a update post there with a complete after pic.

I am so glad that is over so I can move on to new projects. After pay day that is I'm broke

***edit*** I decided to add a before pic



After the BL

So you had the surger......... OHHHHHHHHH. Looks awesome!

When do the 33's come?