The rig gets some much needed TLC

[wood1]

Love those welds Josh. You got game...

 

[Josh S.]

Thanks!

The oil pan is a summit one. Got it home and the dipstick is on the wrong side...go figure!

 

[Josh S.]

35's or 37's?

 

[colindo94]

37's

 

[james t]

I think everyone is pretty much going to say 37's.

 

[Josh S.]

Had a few too many last night and inadvertently blew the majority of my paycheck on some goodies for the race motor
Hooker Blockhugger headers

K&N 4"x14" intake

Trickflow fabricated aluminum valve covers

Also threw together the crappy mockup motor last night, waiting on the rest of the parts i just ordered to get the footprint for building around. Need to get my tires and beadlocks...looking at Walker Evans beadlocks, 17"

 

[mounty71]

Never go grocery shopping when hungry, and never buy goodies for your truck when intoxicated.

And i vote 37s too.

 

[Josh S.]

Never go grocery shopping when hungry, and never buy goodies for your truck when intoxicated.

And i vote 37s too.

Words of wisdom! I ALWAYS find myself grocery shopping when I am super hungry, buy $100 worth of crap then get home and wonder what the heck I am going to eat for dinner??

I'll go take a snapshot of the mockup motor for kicks...Warning: It ain't pretty!

I'm kinda leaning towards MT/R's for this thing, what do y'all think? I always thought I wanted BFG AT's for the desert, but I'm thinking I need something more aggresive.

 

[Josh S.]

I just re-read the whole thread from the beginning and WOW I used to do some pretty hack work lol. Thanks to y'all for supporting me along the way. Here are a couple pics of the crappy mock-up motor. Remember, this is a MOCK-UP MOTOR which does not represent the motor that will eventually be dropped into this truck.

It was definitely interesting for me to go back and look at the old crappy shock hoops I was trying to wedge around the brake booster. Learned my lesson...never try to "half" build a truck, you need to go all the way.

Ohhhhhhh and for another interesting update...you guys remember that sweet ranger I built this summer? 2000 4x4 4.0L DBR kit? Yep, turns out it will soon be mine.Thread here

Selling this:

For this:

 

[Josh S.]

Goodies arrived today

Need tires and wheels bad...anyone wanna donate a couple grand?

 

[Josh S.]

Got some welding that needed to be done on the cage finished, gonna be a PITA to fix the body lol...Bondo

Got the driver's seat in, need to make more tabs to mount the pass side.

Rolled a new 35" BFG KM2 from a customer's rig over to the explorer for fun. I'm thinkin 35's are gonna be the ticket.

 

[410Fortune]

37 37 37 cough cough

check out the Mickey Thompson Baja MTZ, its a great tire for a mostly trail rig IMO, sand, rocks, mud, snow, these tires kick ass

I love the MTR but they are getting to be old technology

 

[Josh S.]

Seats are finally in:

 

[XLT9]

your welds are amazing, subscribing

 

[Josh S.]

Thanks a lot! I still have a ways to go but they have come a long way

 

[XLT9]

anything new?

 

[Josh S.]

Nope just been working on getting the explorer 8.8 into the ranger

 

[chezoom]

subscribing

 

[Josh S.]

Well she is for sale sadly. Don't have enough time/$$$ to build two rigs and the ranger has more potential for what I intend to do. It is a great platform with all of the PITA work already done. Just needs suspension and a driveline!:

 

[aiiraciing]

What ever happened with this Exploder? Did it get sold o finished