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!

 

[Bigcheck1]

I must say the bumper was built pretty strong. Glad to see it go to a good home.

I actually bought a Kennesaw Mountain bumper and used it for a bit only to return it to them shortly thereafter because of their crappy welds, paint, etc.. That is where the bumper I built came from. I measured everything prior to sending it back and made it with a college roommate of mine. I know that this one pulled a 5500# boat a few miles back in the day.

Use it in good health.

 

[Spas]

I definitely will treasure it, bud. You did an excellent job with the build, seeing as to how it hasn't broken with Micah as its owner

Many shin bruising, elbow biting, head bashing, metal-splinters-in-the-eye gremlins later, Morgan now has some serious ass protection, unbreakable recovery points and when we go camping, I'll finally have a whole hatch area to sleep in again! YAYYYYY!!

Had to cut up and weld on the factory brackets since I needed to take up a 1/2 inch of space in order for the bumper to fit properly. I'll be having new wheel studs welded on in the next week so I can sling the spare up there finally. Oh boy, bring on the butt sag!!

 

[sn0border88]

what did you do to my hub

 

[FROADER]

Didn't you paint that truck black? :

Bumper looks good on there.

 

[explornj]

i know a great bumper that would work great on the front too bad it's going back to nj

 

[Spas]

what did you do to my hub

Eh? I didn't do anything to your hub! It looked the exact same way when I picked it up, other than the gremlins getting out and me grinding off the old studs. Why, what am I missing??

Justin- yes, your old bumper is strong and looks kind of okay on a first gen, but on Morgan it would have taken a ton of fab work just to get it to fit...and still would have looked goofy!


Colin, it's a new color. We call it "stealthy" Someday I'll get him repainted with flat dark gray enamel. Someday.

 

[sn0border88]

in the 1st pic it looks like the lockout dial was missing from the body. Oh well, you just wont have as much traction now.

 

[Bigcheck1]

Looks great. I love seeing all of my old stuff keep on keeping on...

I think I originally welded studs on to match the 5x4.5 pattern, but I suppose as the bolt patterns changed, the need to mount different wheels became necessary. That thing was pretty darn strong though. I remember sitting most, if not all, of the trucks weight down on it @ Paragon. I figured if Jeff's little Zuki could go down the ledge, so could I. Made it out unscathed though. I was really proud of that bumper.

 

[GPRACING]

Truck looks good with the new bumper on the rear!Now you gotta come up with something equally as nasty for the front

 

[Spas]

Thanks for the compliments. Micah, I don't remember ever seeing a lockout dial on it, guess it fell off somewhere. Oh noez, how will I ever maintain traction now? Lol.

GPR, I would love to find a Trailready bumper for a Grand Cherokee and modify it to fit

 

[Spas]

.......i think i may have to have him neutered.

 

[Blee1099]

.......i think i may have to have him neutered.

You have entirely too much time on your hands at work.. I'd better tell your boss that you like to clean up things.. I can see you becoming the new wash bay employee

 

[IZwack]

That Mustang looks sad.. or "droopy".

 

[JDraper]

Lindsy, when y'all gonna get one of these in (preferrably in vert form) so I can swap the Mach for it????

 

[Spas]

Lindsy, when y'all gonna get one of these in (preferrably in vert form) so I can swap the Mach for it????

No convertables here, sorry. We has this though

 

[Spas]

So since I have a new bumper, I decided I need new stickers XD

Messed up the 'a' in 'that'... I suck at putting stickers on :

 

[Tbars4]

...I really like the Good, Bad, Ugly sticker...

 

[Spas]

I put it on the side that has the most rollover damage

 

[gilamtnman]

Nothing hotter then a sexy lady who knows how to use tools!

 

[FROADER]

I don't know what you heard about him
A trick can't get a dollar outta him
No cadillac to perm you can see
'cause he's a motha effin' P.I.M.P.

Nice first post!

Welcome to the site.