I hit a deer with my Navajo... WITH PICS

[wantdeath]

Hi everyone, I was going to post this in the new members section but I wasn't sure.. Anyway, I bought a 92 Navajo 2 weeks ago, and last week I hit a deer with it. I'm pretty upset because it was in really good shape. Well I'm having trouble finding the parts. I bought the right fender, right marker light, and grill. I bought the right headlight too but the guy cancelled saying the socket was melted. But I REALLY need to know, if I buy another headlight, will it even bolt on to anything? because the piece behind the headlight is broken off. http://cdn0.autopartsnetwork.com/images/catalog/brand/apn-auto-body-parts/640/sherm576-150R.jpg this is for a ranger/ explorer but it shows there is a piece behind the headlight. What should I do? I can post pics if anybody wants to see.

 

[yostyexplorer94]

If you buy what you posted in the picture then all you have to do is unbolt the old one from the radiator support and bolt the new one in place. Here is a pair on ebay click me!.

Post pictures up.... everyone likes pictures!

 

[wantdeath]

so what your saying is that i can buy the ranger headlight mount, and bolt in my navajo headlight? because the navajo headlight mount is different, it is a grill reinforcement type of deal. one peice as far as i can tell goes all the way from right to left behind grill and headlights. maybe i could just cut it off at the right headlight and mount the ranger one with my navajo headlight? here are pics....

 

[wantdeath]

i'll check on here tomorrow when i wake up, hopefully someone thats done the explorer to navajo conversion reads this thread.. lol

 

[wantdeath]

so i went ahead and bought another navajo right headlight, even though it didnt come with any mounting besides adjusters. i think i may go to one of the local junk yards when i get it and see if it fits in the ranger/ explorer mounting.
p.s. i hate ebay

 

[mayhem1605]

That headlight set up looks identical to the ones my buddy replaced in the 89-92(can't remember which exact year it was) ranger he used to have.

 

[Boodaggy]

I was up at cherry picked parts in toledo and they had a few first gen explorers there headlights, grills, the whole front ends on them were untouched! Mainly the only thing missing from any of the explorers was the manual transmissions, and that is what I was there for lol. It might be worth your time to head up there, if your close enough, and see what they got but like I said there were some up there this last sunday.

 

[wantdeath]

I was up at cherry picked parts in toledo and they had a few first gen explorers there headlights, grills, the whole front ends on them were untouched! Mainly the only thing missing from any of the explorers was the manual transmissions, and that is what I was there for lol. It might be worth your time to head up there, if your close enough, and see what they got but like I said there were some up there this last sunday.

I work in findlay! well, in van buren. lol ill have to check that place out. ive never been there. all i know is ive got about 300 in this front end now, and i only need to mount the headlight somehow.

 

[Bruces expo]

i did an explorer front end swap on mine , check here - http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=217205 -

 

[wantdeath]

do you still have the old grill reinforcement? ill buy it! nice mud slinger you have there also.

 

[Bruces expo]

do you still have the old grill reinforcement? ill buy it! nice mud slinger you have there also.

no sorry i did the same as you but i was going about 85mph when i hit the deer , i hit it so hard that the battery wires pulled out from the terminals , and broke the radiator right at the mounts , pushed my bumper into tires , but no frame damage , insurance gave me 1900 to fix , so i bought another 1992 4 door ex and swapped the bumper , bought a new radiator and bought all the grille and headlight pieces used , its not a mud toy now its a DD and i just drove it home to GA from IL and was getting 19-21 mpg on the way here if my math is right ! , good luck with the parts , i gave up on finding them and just did the swap

 

[wantdeath]

that sucks, i have everything i need except the grill reinforcement, which is what the headlight mounts to. im still waiting on the headlight and grill. i had to get the grill from mazda. was $192 shipped. deer are stupid.

 

[wantdeath]

oh, a little side note, i would have done a ranger swap, but i figured that since there are no parts for a navajo, i MUST have the only one lol. and i like having rare vehicles.

 

[Bruces expo]

i like the fact that everyone asks is that an explorer , i say no its a mazda , then they look at my truck and say What ? , lol i did not like the navajo front end from the get go , i also shaved all my emblems on rear hatch , so the only thing that says mazda is my horn button on the steering wheel lol

 

[wantdeath]

if anybody out there has a spare navajo grill reinforcement i will buy it. here is a link to the diagram. it is part number 3. i am not willing to spend 267.00 plus shipping for a new one.

http://www.parts.com/parts/1992/MAZDA/NAVAJO/LX/?siteid=2&vehicleid=1191675&diagram=5430030

 

[wantdeath]

ok so i finally found the last piece to my puzzle. i was on car-part.com and found a navajo header panel for $90 shipped from new hampshire. called and they actually still had it! so some time next week ill have everything and ill post some pics of the job.

 

[Boodaggy]

good deal! its nice and some what calming for you im sure to know soon it will be back to whatever is normal lol

 

[wantdeath]

My new to me header panel. Mazda catalog has this listed as a grill reinforcement.

Old front end all stripped off. pretty easy, something like 10 screws in the top and 6 or so in the grill. 8 bolts in the header panel. need to take corner lights out to get side bolts.

When the deer decided to rip my front end off he didnt leave the corner light pig tail. so here is my new one i used crip connector wrapped in heat shrink tubing.

The header panel installed with my new to me headlight and my old drivers side headlight. they dont match in clearness but i will try and buff out my old one. aslo note that i have not ordered the bumper filler panel yet, because its too cold to paint in my garage anyway. my new fender and filler panel will get paint the first 50+ degree day i get.

the hood is up a little bit, because of the little foam piece the holds the hood from moving on the fender. i had to move the fender in slightly to line up the header panel. im not too worried about it because like i said, i have a new fender just waiting on weather to warm up. then ill line it all up nice and pretty.

 

[Bruces expo]

looking good, wish i had pics of my old setup i did with the turn signals inside the bottom part of grille right up under the mazda emblem in the actual grille part , let me find pics and scan them , i think you will like it better than on the bottom of bumper , looks custom and very different

 

[Govna47]

looking good now