The rig gets some much needed TLC | Page 10 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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The rig gets some much needed TLC

Josh S - rear glass, suspension, manual tcase

Hey guys I'm back! Well it's been a while since I've done anything major to my truck and it's high time! For starters, I've been running off of one shock in the rear forever and the shock will bottom out if I hit too hard. It was just a thrown together setup cuz I got some free 5150's so I slapped em on.

Anyways, it now has 1.5" per side widened beams up front with rigid bumpstops, kings, eibach coils still. The front end hangs pretty good right now minus the jacked alignment, but that's alright for now cuz I haven't been driving much.

The imminent plans include:
1) Cleaning up the rear fender hackage, round the corners and trim up the body straight so it looks cleaner, then maybe wrap the edges into the wheelwell.

2) mount the rear fiberglass quarter panels. These will be ordered in the next few days from Fiberwerx. I have the mounts already for the fenders, courtesy of Camburg. These are preferable and less of a PITA that dzus fasteners, and I like the look too.
Fenderwasherkit.jpg


3)finish rear suspension. This will involve the most work. after a lot of thought over the past year or two(while not having any spare $$), I have decided to keep the shocks under the bed instead of coming up through the floor. I have been in Sirhk100's old X that was set up this way and it hung hard enough for what I plan on doing. I just would like to bomb around the desert mildly(not fullon race speeds) with a bit of jumping in the mix, with also doing trails of course.

Having Kings up front I would like to stick with em, and also match them with 2.5s. I'm having trouble finding some used right now so they may have to be ordered new :( I'm estimating that I will need around a 10" stroke, but cycling will tell the truth.

I will disassemble the Deaver leaf pack that is on there currently, and just have the main leaf to cycle the suspension, and get some rough measurements off of an "imaginary" upper mount, then I will know the right length to get. A crossmember will need to be fabbed for the shocks to mount to, as well as some of the stock spare tire mount cut off. gooood, my sawzall is getting a bit of dust settling on it :D

in this same time I will mount my Radflo 2" stroke hydro bumps in the cans I just picked up from Camburg. These will be nice for the harder hits in the whoops or on dropoffs or mild jumps. The short stroke and bodies of these custom bumps work great for mounting under our explorers and fitting underneath the floor. After this is complete I will measure for and order some limit straps to keep my leaf pack and shocks together at droop.

While this doesn't sound like a whole lot, it's going to be a lot of work for me but I know it is going to be awesome!

One more current event lol...I ordered a manual t-case from a guy that will be waiting for me when I get back to Chico. Just need to track down some linkage and a shifter and I'll toss that baby in to get rid of these darn shift motor blues :rolleyes:

I'm down in OC right now and won't be back up home to the truck in chico for another week or so, so not really any pics of the stuff...but you can count on this thread having mad amounts of pics once the work starts!!!
 



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Nice!!

After X mas I am starting mine, pretty much exactly as you are doing thus far!!!
If I dont get the JD bender for x mas I'll get it for myself! welder and chop saw check, just need notcher (lazy) band saw (lazy) plasma (lazy) and strip the BII down to nothing :)

cant wait! Looks perfect so far Josh
 



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Thanks guys! Yah acquiring all the tools is a pain in the butt, but after you have them you are set...well until you find more tools to buy lol. The next tool I would like to buy would be a Burr King disc sander for shaping tabs and parts. (1-2k:eek:)...angle grinders will work just fine for a lonnngg time I'm thinkin.:D
 






Those burr-kings are sweet, Rick had a thread going recently on disc sanders on the cheap and Tdavis posted up about a 12" one at Harbor Freight for $80 I think it was. Not quite as big as the Burr-King...what is that one around 24" or 30"?
Cage is looking good, how are you going to do the A-pillars...drop down in front of the dash, into the dash or to the side of the dash?
I was messing around yesterday with ideas to do my A-pillars and I was able to take out the the side vents and go through there with the tube and it's a straight shot down to the floor. Anyways, just curious to see what you come up with.

EDIT: just read through your thread again and sounds like your going through the dash:thumbsup:
 






Not sure how big the burr kings are exactly, I started looking into them and saw the price and figured I'd better stay away!! Someday tho:)

About the dash....haha, what dash! The dash has been in a landfill somewhere outside of chico for over a year now! I plan on creating some sort of dash down the line, hopefully something nice looking out of aluminum. (=spool gun:mad:). The dash probably won't be worked on for a long time, so many other things to do first...but the plan is basically to put the A-pillars and dash cross-tubes and window V-bars in the best structural place that I can come up with, and work the dash around that.;)
 






Well I guess no dash makes it easy then:p: I thought about ripping out mine and building a dash off the cage but to much to deal with there for me.
 












Well if you're not going to go through/around the stock dash then you are going to be no help to me at all. Thanks. :p:

(I would no doubt go flat panel dash to make things easier if i werent trying to keep the A/C and defrost)
 






Yah I was just checking out your thread again last night Dannyboy. Your rig turned out real nice;)

I'm planning on squeezing a Lowrance Baja480C or similar on the dash somewhere, probly right in the middle:)
 












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Ohhhh, look at the windows, I see front suspension and tires through the fire wall. Do tell the plans for that!

So it's on, who is going to be done first, you or Izwack.
 






So it's on, who is going to be done first, you or Izwack.
Not I, I'm taking mine at a leisurely pace enjoying the scenery. :(
 






LOL, nothing strategic, just bigass holes I cut to make it easier to get the A-pillars fished through. Those are by far the biggest PITA so far. One down, one to go:cool: I probably won't have my crew work this weekend so I'm hoping to get to go home again this weekend and make some more progress:)
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I need to get a rear axle soon. Thinking Currie 9", but my buddy is trying to convince me to get a Spider 9. Any insight? The issue I can see with the Spidertrax is bolt pattern matching to the front.
 






Nice work on the cage and nice shop too, looks like your moving up in the world:afro:

I'm pretty sure Spidertrax or Currie can make the axle to whatever bolt pattern you need.
Here's another place to consider:
http://www.diamondaxle.com/rear_nonsteering.htm
 






June 16 2010

























That is the date I think this truck will drive under it's own power. But keep plowing away! That's better than the date I would give myself, I would never finish.
 






And what a glorious day that will be!!:D That's better than the date I have given myself too lol.

Thanks for the info DB1. I'll have to give those places a jingle.
 






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I'll be back up at the shop in 3 weeks for some more fun. Planning on working out the seat mounts and door bars, maybe D-pillars too. I'm running out of "cheap" stuff to do and am going to need a rear axle and drivetrain pretty soon. Guess I better get on those taxes!!:rolleyes:
 






nice cage work!!! truck looks bad ass, keep it up!
 






Thanks!

Oh and I was doing all this extra finessing of the cage to get it to work with the stock heater and duct, then it just got in the way one too many times and it got relocated into the bed of the toyota and off to the dumpster:D I plan on hacking off the stock firewall (at least the flimsy passenger side) and redoing it. Chances are it will have to be modified anyways with the Chevy 350:cool:
 






Nothing to add other than it looks awesome. :thumbsup:

Whats going behind the SBC? 700R4?
 



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Thanks! As of now I'm planning on an NV4500. I want to stick with manual tranny. Throw an Atlas Highlander on that and we should be in business.:D

(open to suggestions however):thumbsup:
 






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