Mounty71's 4x4 Long Travel Build

My pride and joy, the Mounty:

Video:

It's a 2000 Mercury Mountaineer. I acquired this fine vehicle in 2003 with just 32,410 miles on the ticker, and it was in pristine condition, having been driven by an elderly couple, and always serviced regularly at the same dealership it was delivered to from the factory.

This thing has gone through a series of different suspension setups, but currently it has:
Solo Motorsports 4" extended D35 TTB with D44 outers, and custom radius arms
2.5x12" King coilovers with 2.5x12" secondary King reservoir shocks
4WD conversion with BW4406 manual transfer case
2.5x18" rear King shocks outboard of the frame
custom ordered Deaver leaf springs with 12" 2AM Fab shackles
Full-width 8.8 rear with stock disc brakes, Blue Torch Fab diff cover/truss
4.56 gears front and rear, lunchbox front locker, limited slip rear
roll cage through dash and firewall to engine cage

(previous front suspension setup)
Long Travel front end 5" wider per side with 2.5x8" Sway Away coilovers, Dixon Bros. shock hoops
2.0x2" King bumpstops
Full heim steering
3" Procomp lift spindles
homemade lower rear A-arm crossbrace, lower A-arm mount weld-washers, upper A-arm gussets
8" limit straps
removed swaybar

(performance)
MAC performance muffler with turn down tip
MAC performance intake

(exterior)
front bumper with removable light bar, with 4 Hella 4000 55w HID conversions
custom rear receiver and swing out spare tire carrier w/ gas can
clear corners
McNeil fiberglass fenders
removed running boards
5.0 emblems
color-matched grill surround with mesh grill
clear LED light in rear bumper

(random)
ABS defeat switch
Icom race radio
recovered center console in black
fog lamp-hi beam mod
added tie-downs in cargo area
rear hatch interior handle
4x4 Ranger front towhooks
driveshaft "loop"


COMING NEXT
3-link rear suspenion
add 2.5 or 3.0x18" King bypass shocks to the rear
switch front smooth body shocks for 2.5 or 3.0x12" King bypasses
rear fiberglass
35s

Newly lifted on 31 BFG M/Ts:

After its first offroading:

Almost stock:

 

[R.J.]

Rubicon in a month and a half?

 

[mounty71]

Ya, you should join! Does your friend Justin still have a Toyota? We're going for the Marlin Crawler Roundup.

 

[R.J.]

Ya, you should join! Does your friend Justin still have a Toyota? We're going for the Marlin Crawler Roundup.

No he doesn't. I don't know if I would make it through the Rubicon, and I don't know if my car would make it to the Rubicon. I'll have to see if i can find a tow vehicle and bring the Navajo

 

[mounty71]

We are going to go the back way/short way from south shore to Rubicon Springs.

 

[josh40601]

Well I guess this thread is now useless from this point back to the beginning. Thanks Photobucket for single-handedly ruining decades worth of public forums.

I'm dreading the day my premium account is up. I'm hoping they lower their prices once all the ebay vendors switch to another provider. If not, I'll do like everyone else and update all the pics to a different provider or figure out a way to make my website work as hosting.

 

[mounty71]

This is the only picture I took this weekend, of the windshield washer fluid reservoir in its new home, separated from the radiator overflow and rotated 90* from where it used to be. The electrical still needs to be extended to it.

I made a lot of other good progress too. All trans, steering, and brake lines are done and ready for fluids. Trans fluid temp gauge is wired in. Shortened rear driveshaft is in. Hubs are installed. I flipped the transmission cooler over so that the ports are at the top now. Also got a gas tank skidplate off of eBay for $40 shipped, and got that installed too. Totally worth not having to go get one at a junkyard myself.

I think I can get it running next weekend, then take it to get the exhaust redone the week after.

 

[josh40601]

what air intake are you using?

 

[mounty71]

MAC performance, but the MAC filter broke after about 10 years so now I have an AEM dry filter and sock.

In other news, I drove this thing today! About a mile to the exhaust shop. I have a few leaks to deal with and may need to replace the steering box, and I think the rear axle studs are hitting something in the parking brake, but otherwise it seemed okay.

 

[josh40601]

congrats on the drive! I'll look into the mac kit. Is it CARB certified?

 

[mounty71]

Last time I smogged it, the guy gave me a little grief because the CARB system says that it's legal for Explorers but didn't see Mountaineer listed. He let it go anyway, but every other time I've smogged it no one said anything about it.

 

[mounty71]

4wd is so awesome!

Got the truck back from the exhaust shop and I'm pretty happy he was able to tuck everything up as high as he did while still keeping things accessible, like the oil drain plug and transmission pan. And he did it in 1/4 the time it would have taken me.

I had to swap out my steering box for a new one because I'm pretty sure I didn't install all of the seals correctly when I reassembled it after drilling and tapping it for the hydro assist fittings. So I removed the ram assist for now just to make sure this thing is drivable and I have one less thing to worry about right off the bat.

I need to replace my rear brake rotors asap because they weren't drilled exactly center for the new wheel bolt pattern, so they rub and click on something with every revolution of the rear wheels. Currie offers Explorer discs with a 5x5.5" bolt pattern so hopefully I can get a pair of those quickly.

I rebuilt my rear shocks as well today and it's been about 3 hours since I finished and they're not leaking yet which is a record. These SwayAways have been the worst, I can't wait to replace them.

And I finished swapping out the stock info screen in the center console for Amy he cubbie, which I used as a new home for my race radio. I moved the front and rear light switches down to the side.

2 weekends left to finish this thing, I hope I can do it! The only things left are new rear brake rotors, modify my front bumper, skid plates, and alignment.

 

[mounty71]

Been working on aligning this thing but it takes a lot of trial and error. It's pretty much Rubicon ready, just need to cut out a new bumper skid plate and finish the alignment.

I spent this weekend replacing the rear brake rotors with Currie ones with the correct bolt pattern. The transfer case was leaking a ton and I found a hole in the top of the tail shaft housing that must have had a sensor in it at some point. I plugged it with a rubber plug and RTV and replaced the output shaft seal. So hopefully no more leaks.

Also finished my front bumper minus the aluminum skid plate, and also finished the transfer case skid plate. I'm going to get countersunk hardware for that.

 

[josh40601]

looks good matt. Where is your VSS sensor at? on the rear end?

 

[mounty71]

There's a plug on top of the center section, which I think is for the rear ABS in older trucks?

 

[josh40601]

correct. There were some 4x4s, not sure if it was just explorers or rangers or what, that had the VSS at the back of the transfer case. So if you didn't have the axle VSS, you could use the one in the transfer case if i remember correctly.

 

[mounty71]

Is that what that hole in the transfer case tail shaft housing is for? If so, that could work out well because my axle won't be around forever and I'd most likely go to a 9" next. The truss is the only thing keeping the tubes and center section together. I know there are some options out there for tone rings but using the factory provision in the t-case would save money.

 

[josh40601]

Is that what that hole in the transfer case tail shaft housing is for? If so, that could work out well because my axle won't be around forever and I'd most likely go to a 9" next. The truss is the only thing keeping the tubes and center section together. I know there are some options out there for tone rings but using the factory provision in the t-case would save money.

I'm about 75% sure that hole in the back of the T-case is for the VSS. I'm sure someone in the powertrain section of the forum can confirm.

I did the 9" swap and lost the output at the axle, which is why I brought it up, in case you were planning on doing it in the future. The tone ring is likely what I will have to do, but I don't know how well they hold up to mud and crud

 

[mounty71]

1/4" bumper skid plate done.

 

[josh40601]

it just looks right having the ttb up front

 

[mounty71]

Well it doesn't exactly drive like it haha. I did the best I could on the alignment, and it's definitely a hand full. But I made it 75 miles home no problem cruising at 65. I'm going to try tightening the top screw on the steering box to hopefully get rid of all the play it has.