Captain Morgan, '95 D44 Sas

“Captain Morgan”
1995 Explorer Sport


Engine:
4.0 OHV

Transmission:
M5oD manual transmission

Cooling:
Summit Racing aluminum 2.5” radiator, driver drop outlet
Summit Racing aluminum power steering cooler
Summit Racing flex hose & 90* elbow

Drivetrain:
Manual 1354 Borg Warner
Steel Tube front driveshaft
Extended, reinforced rear driveshaft

Front Axle:
‘84 Jeep Grand Wagoneer Widetrac Dana 44 low pinion
OX locker & Cover
5.13 Yukon Ring & Pinion
All Spicer U-joints, bearings & races
Kevlar braided stainless 32” long brakelines
Stock Waggy shafts (until I break one!)
Warn manual locking hubs

Rear Axle:
Explorer 8.8 31 spline
Dutchman hardened shafts, 6x5.5 pattern, screw-in studs
Aussie Locker
5.13 Yukon Ring & Pinion
Currie 6x5.5 rotors
All Ford bearings & races
Trailmaster 2” tapered rear lift blocks
Superlift spring-over perches
RuffStuff 1/4" steel 8.8 metal cover

Suspension:
Explorer ProComp MX6 nitro front shocks
Regular Monroe stock height (go figure!) rear shocks
JC Whitney stock Waggy 7 leaf front packs
Rear leaf packs out of XLT v8 w/ tow package

Tires:
35x13.5r16 Mickey Baja Claws
37x12.5r15 Goodyear Wrangler Mtr's Couldn't flex. Gone
36x12.5r15 Super Swamper TSL Bias Ply Best for mud! Gone
315x70r17 Mickey Baja MTZ radials Original setup. Gone

Rims:
16x8 Black painted aluminum triangle holes
15x10 Black round-holed aluminum something or anothers Gone
17x10 Black steel Rock Crawler round holes Gone

Body Mods:
Originally Willow Green
Premium Sport flares
Maaco semi-gloss dark Charcoal paint. black vinyl racing stripes
Black herculiner on lower doors and rock sliders
Shaved 4" from each side of bumper for tire clearance
Removed roof rack and rails

Body Armor:
DraperBuilt rock sliders
Steel rear bumper w/ swing out carrier, from sn0border88's late Emily Rose (Had to remove tire carrier section in 2011,
the swing rod bent and the trailer bearings built into the bumper seized)

Sound System:
Pioneer DEH-X7800BHS head unit
4 6x8 Kenwood 3 way 220w speakers
Pair Kenwood 1" front door tweets w/ bass blockers (installed in panels by rearview mirror control)
Pair Pioneer 1" rear tweets w/ bass blockers (installed above flip out ashtrays)
10” Kicker VR Comp dual voice coil
Kenwood 729S Amplifier
Cobra 19 CB in center console, w/ external speaker (removed 2019, no one uses CB's for wheeling anymore)

Lights:
2 Hella 500's on front bumper
Dual driving fogs. White fog/blue smurf lights
Anamorphic Equalizer
LED strips around inside of rear hatch glass w/ dedicated rear switch
Billet Automotive custom RGB LED switch panel
Sylvania amber blue 3157 turn bulbs
Euro Diamond headlights & corners
OPT7 LED headlight bulb upgrade
Black Altezza tail lights w/ LED brake & reverse bulbs, amber blue turn signals

Miscellaneous modifications:
Doofy looking Skull knob for T-case shifter (thanks Rook )
Fire Extinguisher & LED Maglite hard mounted to D-Pillars
Sport Trac rear power outlet installed in right rear panel behind rear seats
02-05 Explorer IRS breather tube neck for front axle breather tube
Shaved 8.8 Center pin
Shaved inside fin off of Dana 44 housing to clear OX shift fork
Royal Purple full synthetic Mercon III trans fluid
Interior light kill switch (95's interior lights do not turn off via dimmer)
Boxed & reinforced trans cross member to pass over front driveshaft
Custom front sway bar
2wd explorer radio bezel
‘95 F350 Front shock towers
Removed stock air filter fender duct
1.5" Steel front driverside leaf block (to make him sit level again)
Leather power seats and rear bench seat from Blackjack
2019: Installed Blackjack's passenger door & Skunk's driver door in tribute. He is now FrankenMorgan.




Started out looking like this:

Did a little bit of this:

And a little bit of that:

To get this:

Had some fun breaking him in:

And then realized a little too late that I have a serious center of gravity issue:

But clean it all up and throw some paint on and things will look a lot better

...And then when your nice matte finish dark charcoal grey paint fades to powdered donut finish,
(Yes that's me, posing with my truck)

......have your truck painted again!

And put stripes on it, for Pete's sake

Over a decade later and still kicking despite everything we've been through:

Full write up can be found here: How to waste a ton of $$. Much thanks to Rookie, Wolf, Micah, 95Exploderboy and IZwack for the design/build, and Skunk for the inspiration


EDIT: Morgan wouldn't be the beast that he is today were it not for the two horribly abused first gens who came before him and taught me what it means to have a wheelable Explorer (lots of patience, time and money!). Here's to Shelby and Tank May they rest in pieces wherever they are!

 

[FROADER]

I'm not sure how many times I've voted now, but we've slipped back to 19th. And yes, that site sucks balls.

 

[Turdle]

That would be awesome, huh? The grand prize is a trip to Vegas for 5, all inclusive, with the winner's choice of concert tickets. I think I'd fly out there and talk them into letting me rent something wheelable to play around in the Nevada desert with

I've never been to Vegas--

You could stop and pick me up on the way. Agree, and I'll vote some more-

 

[Dan Whitaker]

You could always rent a Ferrari, Lamborghini, or just about any other super car you can think of

With the way she drives her X

That will be the next story about one less Enzo

 

[mcpherson]

voted.

How do you like your OX lockers? Seems OX will soon be releasing a locker for the 8.8 differential in the next few months and was recommended by IZwack to talk to you and get your opinion. Also, do you have any pictures on the way you setup the Locker Shifter's in your X, would be great to see them if you have any.

 

[Spas]

Har har har. I only beat Morgan like a redheaded step child, not Jack : Thanks to everyone for voting! I doubt I'll win but it was worth a shot at least.

Mcpherson- I LOVE my Ox. The only major issues I had with the install is that the carrier is a ridiculously tight fit and you have to shave the fin from the inside of the housing first (didn't see that anywhere in the directions). I've had to monkey with the cable a lot more than I'd like because it's difficult to A) route it so that it doesn't shred on any moving parts and B) it's a pita to adjust so that it works 100%. Sometimes it doesn't engage, but there's no way to tell until I get stuck When it does work, though- it's invaluable.

On a side note, I finally had time to take a trip to Draper's and pick up the gift that he gave me 2 years ago. That, and I haven't had a truck worth putting them on until now. They're the bestest Christmas present ever, thank yew Jeff!!!!! (I'll take more pictures once I get them painted)

 

[sn0border88]

he should of apinted them for you, I still have most of that can left.

 

[Tbars4]

...can we see pics of the mounting points of your sliders please??? just a wide underneeth shot would work...

 

[JDraper]

...can we see pics of the mounting points of your sliders please??? just a wide underneeth shot would work...

Didn't get the mounting points where I wanted them because of the SAS on the truck. There are some mounting brackets for the SAS where I wanted to put the front mount, so I had to move it backwards. The rear mount is just forward of the rear leaf spring mounting bracket. I weld (or bolt) a 1/4" x 4" wide x whatever length necessary plate to the frame, then weld the mounting cross bar to it. I then triangulate the joint with another piece of 1/4" plate between the mounting bar and the mounting plate for strength. Without the angle bracket, the 1/4" plate will bend if you put all the truck's weight on it. With the angle brackets, you can lift the truck off the ground on the sliders.

Lemme dig for some pix...

 

[JDraper]

Found the link to the sliders I did for Blee1099. Pix of mounts are at the bottom of the thread. On this set, we bolted them to the frame. I've done several sets bolted and several welded on. Both methods work well. It takes a lot longer to bolt them on because you have to drop the gas tank to bolt them in place, and drilling the holes takes time.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133670

 

[Tbars4]

...cool, you pretty much explained everything...i am going to do the same exact thing to my project X, it's a 1st gen...when i saw these i thought you had been shopping at my local steelyard..lol...
...i have to locate mine different on the left side and the right do to my suspension and cross member's but i see you just pulled the return supports in from the ends a bit to get around that...my only other thought was would 2 returns be enough on both sides??? after looking at quite a few, they do run 2 instead of 3...

 

[JDraper]

My mounting tubes are 2" x 2" x 1/4" square tubing, and with just the two mounting bars I can jack the truck off the ground just using the sliders. Without the angle bracing, it will bend the mounting plate if you put the full weight of the truck on a slider, but with the angle brace installed it doesn't.

BTW, the slider bars are 2" x 3" x 1/4" wall.

 

[Tbars4]

...2x3x1/4" is exactly what i have chosen...also the 2x2 for return's...i get them at my steelyard out of the cutoff rack ...by the pound they are cheap and the lengths of cutoff's are 5'-6'...
...thanks for taking the time and all the info on spa's sliders...

 

[Spas]

Snapped one today after hosing the the driverside bar down with Plastikote spray on bedliner (Ran out of time to do the other side). Ignore my rusty door- that's getting fixed tomorrow

And I'm not proud of this, but so far it seems to work pretty well. I had a 1.5'' steel spacer made for the front driver side leaf spring to bring Morgan back level. Now it no longer feels like I've got a 600 lb dude hanging off the side of my truck and I can take corners faster than 2mph again

 

[Tbars4]

...does that spray can give it a textured coat?? btw, nice weld's...

 

[Spas]

...does that spray can give it a textured coat?? btw, nice weld's...

Draper upside down for 3 hours + arc welder + using off-hand= splatter They're strong as all h3!! though! I'll be happy to jack Morgan up in the air by the sliders to prove it This spray-on bedliner stuff seems pretty tough, but I'm going to let it dry for a few days before I attempt to scratch it up.

 

[Tbars4]

...lol, i was complimenting on your little roll stop...nice welds...

 

[Spas]

he should of apinted them for you, I still have most of that can left.

Give it to Ben, he likes ballet slipper pink

 

[Spas]

Well, I think I might know why Morgan didn't win the Captain Pose-Off... there's this little tidbit in their rules and regulations section:



No photograph or video (a) depict persons consuming alcoholic beverages (b) depict persons conducting themselves in an inappropriate manner (c) contain material that would imply that the consumption of alcoholic beverages is acceptable before or while operating machinery, driving a vehicle or undertaking any other activity that requires a high degree of alertness or physical coordination, (etc etc)


Oops!

 

[Spas]

Got a new sticker for Morgan, since I have sticker addiction... I think it's pretty fitting.

 

[Yomie]

What 'Custom' sway bar are you using on that rig?