Spray in Bedliner or Vinyl Mat?

[Stic-o]

Getting down to putting the Navajo back together and trying to decide what to do about the floor. I ripped the carpet out at the beginning and tossed it. Now trying to decide to I just do Bedliner roll in /spray in or do I order a vinyl formed mat. This is a open top truck now, and no A/C. This will only be in the passenger area.

Bedliner conserns: lack of insulation, heat, wiring showing.

Vinyl conserns: Cost and Weight (75 lbs)



Thoughts?

 

[boominXplorer]

I say both. Reason being is the bedliner is a nice protector but you don't want to slide heavy items on it because it will scratch and lift possibly. Put down the bedliner and put a mat on top and your double protected. Then you don't have to water hose the inside as much as the mat will keep most of the mess on it.

 

[Mbrooks420]

Bedliner alone will get blazing hot.

 

[BKennedy]

You are going to need some type of insulation to keep the heat out of the passenger compartment. My buddy Mike's green TJ doesn't have any carpet and you can feel the heat through your shoes. If you are looking at a hose out interior, I would go with bed liner and some cheap vinyl floor mats. You could use plastic electrical conduit to run the wiring.

 

[Stic-o]

You are going to need some type of insulation to keep the heat out of the passenger compartment. My buddy Mike's green TJ doesn't have any carpet and you can feel the heat through your shoes. If you are looking at a hose out interior, I would go with bed liner and some cheap vinyl floor mats. You could use plastic electrical conduit to run the wiring.

My fear with something like conduit, is if water gets in there, it's probably going to be stuck in there and do more damage.

I did install the rubber firewall heat shields from the newer sport when I started putting the thing back together this weekend.

 

[410Fortune]

go find rubber floor liner from Sport trac or 4 door ranger and install that..............way less $$$$$$ and they fit like factory

 

[BKennedy]

I wish I had used some type of sound suppression on the entire floor and firewall before I put the Explorer back together. It would be nice to quiet down the road noise. I don't think you have that concern since I think this rig is going to be a trailer queen.

 

[boominXplorer]

My fear with something like conduit, is if water gets in there, it's probably going to be stuck in there and do more damage.

I did install the rubber firewall heat shields from the newer sport when I started putting the thing back together this weekend.

The key to keeping water out is keeping the split at the bottom. So if it does get in there it drains out. Only zip tie it and use minimal tape to seal it up, when it's all taped up it holds water easily.

 

[Stic-o]

I wish I had used some type of sound suppression on the entire floor and firewall before I put the Explorer back together. It would be nice to quiet down the road noise. I don't think you have that concern since I think this rig is going to be a trailer queen.

I actually think I will drive this more on the street then JP. I think I will hold off the axle swap for a bit, and just run it with 35's on the ttb for a year or so. We'll see....

 

[410Fortune]

I drove my BII for like two years with no back seat, no carpet, no headliner, no interior plastics, nothing but front seats bolted in
Then when I finally put in a rubber floor from a Ranger with padding, added the headliner and panels back in I was like OMG this is so much better
WAAAAY better with the interior in place or some sort of matting
Makes me want to go back and install some sound proofing/deadening material behind every panel...I will use that roof tar/foil tape stuff as its much cheaper then the materials they sell for this, plus if installed right your floorboards will never rust because water cant get past the tar......

 

[Stic-o]

Just trying to plan this out before I start putting all the wiring back in the truck, which is kind of where I'm at.

Easier to rhino line without wiring in the way

 

[410Fortune]

I re routed all wires to under my center console or both door jambs so it can all be hidden with or without carpet..........worked out great when I put the pad in, now with the rubber floor I just use a hand held broom to sweep it out....no carpet, no vacuum, no stress!

 

[BKennedy]

Does most of the wiring run through channels on both sides of the interior that is covered by kick panels like the 1st Gen's? If so, you could cover the channels and run whatever is not in the channels through the center like 410 mentioned.

When I redid my interior wiring, I added whatever wiring I needed to go the back to the main harness running down the driver side channel. Also ran 17-18 wires in one sleeve through the dash under the instrument cluster, where most of the wiring from the fuse panel to the center of the dash is, for the console switches and accessories. I have a few wires that run across the floor under the seats (seat controls and I think one wire to the rear AC plug), but they are protected by the console, the heater ducting and a body support. The factory wiring ran through the same place.
Only pictures I could find

Is the Navajo's transfer case manual? If not, you have a lot of extra wiring to move.

 

[Stic-o]

It's a 2wd wiring, and will be a manual tcase. There's a piece of tube running down the channel for the roll cage. I'll see what I can do with it.

Going to just order the vinyl floor mat. Finding a sport Trac in the junkyard isn't easy. I looked for years to swap out JP's carpet with no success.

 

[BruceExploder]

I got lucky and found sport Trac vinyl