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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 should have been doing this all along (since I seem to l lose any receipts/scrap paper notes) but I'm going to update when I change parts, etc, because good ol explorerforum never fails me!

Labor day weekend.. realize driver rear brake pad is worn. Since I live high up in the rocky mtns I'm just going to get all pads/rotors replaced and start fresh! Did lots of research to find the right parts...almost all of the online vendors don't list the correct parts for the 2 door sport :-( 4wheel parts was having a lil sale, but a pair of powerslot rotors, get free posiquiet pads. good deal, so I thought. Other vendors were on back order, 4wp looked like they were stocked, yay!

No.

Paid my cash, 2 days later status said shipped! Yay! Didn't get a tracking #, wasn't worried. After a week, no package. After almost 2 weeks (and rear brakes completely shot by this point) I call 4wp. Oh, no they aren't shipped, we were out of stock and the factory will ship them direct! Thanks for NOT telling me they were actually backordered when the actual order status says shipped.

They finally get shipped out and I get the boxes yesterday. Yay new pretty powerslot rotors!!!! Wait, where are the pads??!?! #$%^*&*%&%*^&%*&^! I call 4wheelparts again and oops, they didn't send them! I even called twice while placing the order to confirm the pads will be included. The guy says he will call me tomorrow (today) with the inventory status and get them shipped out asap.

Of course he doesn't call today. So I drop it off at the mechanic with the new rear rotors and have him put whatever pads on so I can drive the damned thing.

AGHHHHHH this is what I get for trying to save a few bucks!!! I should've went with another vendor but alas I've learned my lesson. I will be getting the front brakes replaced when the pads get here. SO dumb. Be vary weary about ordering from 4wp...... not the best service.

Ok end rant. Rear brakes fixed.

In July I got my front pass hub assembly fixed. Purchased the fronts (timken) as a pair from rockauto, awesome prices and fast shipping. The mechanic only did the bad wheel (front pass) and I will get the driver front replaced when I get the brakes done...

So that's my saga. Will update as I repair, got lots to do with the old truck!

New tires coming up soon!
 



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..But wait...You forgot the most important part...

..How's the dog??..:popcorn:
 












..But wait...You forgot the most important part...

..How's the dog??..:popcorn:

heh the dog is great, he's staring at me right now ;-) he loves it up here, lots of new smells for the beagle. however, it's getting real cold at night!!! he doesn't like that!

.. i don't mind, because snowboarding season is right around the corner :p:
 






How are the wheels holding up? Great Looking Sport!
 












My wheels are looking great still! We shall see when I eventually get around to washing the dirt off of them ;)

jon i'll have to check your post when i get home, youtube is blocked at work! booo!
 






seamus and i love that song, thanks jon :thumbsup: that's him howling in the background, lol!
 






Hi I have an 02 sport little mods here and there but rely need a lift just wonted to know where u get the lift and shackle? Pa gets some deep snow and it looks like a bad year don't wont to bottom out like last year with my kid popen out in dec. Just got elite so pics soon
 






Tt you do on tour own...and just type in war153 in google...or get cheap az shackles...
 






Awesome sport jen, I like the custom spare tire carrier in the back!

I see that your planning on new tires soon? Might I say that several people in the third gen section have been considering treadwright guard dogs. they're re treads but getting a lot of positive feedback and not to mention they are half the price of Goodyear wrangler duratracs or comparable tires
 






Cute pup!! You have a cool truck! The Turdle farm is a cool place to visit!!!
Could go wheel'n in the woods!!:cool: I'm pretty close to Jon & Sheri!!

keep after the truck,And be safe!!:salute:
 






Awesome sport jen, I like the custom spare tire carrier in the back!

I see that your planning on new tires soon? Might I say that several people in the third gen section have been considering treadwright guard dogs. they're re treads but getting a lot of positive feedback and not to mention they are half the price of Goodyear wrangler duratracs or comparable tires

thanks for the info, i'm always up for suggestions... i still have a lil bit of time on these... still plenty of tread, they are just really bad cracked/dryrot looking... i'll squeeze some more miles out of em!

Cute pup!! You have a cool truck! The Turdle farm is a cool place to visit!!!
Could go wheel'n in the woods!!:cool: I'm pretty close to Jon & Sheri!!

keep after the truck,And be safe!!:salute:

thanks! my mom lives in KS now so I make the journey occasionally, haven't been since last labor day though! i'd love to do some wheelin and go see the turdle farm too and all his toys!
 






just checked out the treadwright website and read a few reviews, cool idea for sure :thumbsup: no options for 15in wheels really, goes from like 31"-37", no 33's.. sad! those are cheap and look good!
 






front end rebuild...

Finally dropped the $$ on parts for the front... ordered new ball joints all around, inner/outer tie rods, sway bar bushings/end link kit - was going to go with rockauto.com but when I went to check out half of my cart wasn't in stock :( Soooo... hopped on ebay with the part numbers and found a place called Midwest AutoParts in Ohio... prices a bit cheaper than rockauto and they have a good rating on ebay.

I found their actual website and during checkout was pleased to save almost $120 bucks between shipping and lower prices. :thumbsup::thumbsup: Hopefully it's not too good to be true!

Now I'm looking for new shocks to order. Bye bye $$! But hey, no car payments so all is good :D
 












Jenni.
Not to be "Captian Hindsight" but maybe you should look at replacing the whole lower arms. Check the price on rockauto, and consider you get new bushings on them, with a new ball joint already installed. It is easier to change the whole arm then press in new joints also , IMO
Right now Motorcraft lower control arms are like 105 bux.


I still think in the back of my head, the way that guy tied the tow strap onto your driver side control arm to get the 3rd gen un teetered om Black bear pass that one day,
did something whacky to the bushings.
 






Jenni.
Not to be "Captian Hindsight" but maybe you should look at replacing the whole lower arms. Check the price on rockauto, and consider you get new bushings on them, with a new ball joint already installed. It is easier to change the whole arm then press in new joints also , IMO
Right now Motorcraft lower control arms are like 105 bux.


I still think in the back of my head, the way that guy tied the tow strap onto your driver side control arm to get the 3rd gen un teetered om Black bear pass that one day,
did something whacky to the bushings.

I totally forgot about that happening! Could explain a lot...
I did order the whole lower control arms, just seemed to make sense and be easier... I went with the Raybestos pro grade parts all around too.
Hopefully this is a step in the right direction!
 






Nice! How many miles is on your Sport?

Well the odo says about 95k-ish, so I suppose a bit more since I've been running larger tires for about 4 years heh. It's been on a lot of rough gravel roads and offroad, so I think their has been more wear and tear than normal.
 



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if youre looking into new shocks try 4wheelonline.com, just got a set of rancho rs5000's from there for 159.00, no tax free shipping AND a 50 dollar rebate.
 






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