Prerunner/weekend toy Explorer

I have a thread up in modified 95-01 Explorers, but since mine is mainly off-road I figured it would be more suitable to have a thread in here.

What I am working with

97 2wd Explorer 4 door with 5.0L V-8

Front suspension: 14" Wheel travel

Modified LCA to accept a 1" uniball as the outer pivot then boxed in accordingly. Custom UCA with 7/8" heim as outter pivot and 3/4" heim on frame pivots. Fabtech lift spindle tapped out for the heim and drilled knuckle for a 7/8" on the outter tie rod as well. Fox twin tube bypass shocks as well as a 2.0 body air shock per side assist the stock torsions with spring rate. Fox hydraulic bump stop off of the UCA

Rear suspension: 18" wheel travel

62" race leaf springs by Deaver with custom 12" long shackles. 18x2.5 triple bypasses by Fox though the wheel wells.

Other:

Baker 8" front fenders with FIberwerx 8 " fiber glass rear panels. Front and rear bumpers with a 2" rollcage threaded throughout still in the making. Fullsize axle out back with 4.56 gears and a L/S. 35x12.50 BFG Baja TAs and some Pro comp rims to hit the ground running.

 

[RangerX]

Damn, there's a lot of work going on! I love how tight that cage is, and how tied in it is. I like the tubbed rear wheelwells. I like the rear shackles, and I like the seat adjuster!

 

[specialized7]

i want that bumper

 

[danwaters]

Damn, there's a lot of work going on! I love how tight that cage is, and how tied in it is. I like the tubbed rear wheelwells. I like the rear shackles, and I like the seat adjuster!

Thanks, there is alot of work going on and so much more to do. I am 6'5" and my lil lady is 5'1 so I needed to make a seat adjuster that would remain race legal when the time came. When we go out and I start drinking she takes over the wheel and I push buttons from the passenger side, lol. There is just under 8 inches of forward slide from my position so it works out well.


Future plans are as follows:

New Front suspension full fabricated "race" style front end with coilover and bypass with much larger than stock hubs to be more safe running heavy ass 35" tires. Drop in my 32 gallon fuel cell and finish off the cage and finally 4 link the rear end. I am in process of building a over the windshield light rack right now that houses 5 HIDs, and will have a linear actuator behind the rack to be able to adjust the pitch of the lights on the fly as well as fold the rack down to fit in the trailer and garage.

 

[RangerX]

I am 6'5" and my lil lady is 5'1

I'm 5'8' and my wife's 5'1', I thought WE were mismatched!!!

Oh, I forgot one 'like'. I like that rearview mirror! I wish I could find one like that to mount to my stock location.

 

[crazyflights]

Very nice!!!

 

[Demo1986]

how is the torsion bar working out? i've heard of guys running them but suddenly just trade up to coil overs.

 

[danwaters]

how is the torsion bar working out? i've heard of guys running them but suddenly just trade up to coil overs.

Working fine. I have had the front end the way it is for 4 years now. The torsions are about half way cranked. This is why I use the air shock in combination with my dampening. The air shock at 350psi takes a good amount of torsion out of the t bars so I don't need to max them out to get the proper ride height and spring rate.

 

[explorinitup]

Working fine. I have had the front end the way it is for 4 years now. The torsions are about half way cranked. This is why I use the air shock in combination with my dampening. The air shock at 350psi takes a good amount of torsion out of the t bars so I don't need to max them out to get the proper ride height and spring rate.

i was wounderin that. cuz the t bar would be to tight to get that kind of travl. it would snap right in half lol.
jellious again hahahaha

 

[danwaters]

The torsion twist on my set up cycles beyond 15.5" of wheel travel without binding. Im bumped and strapped at 14" of wheel travel. Its not that the travel will snap it. If I had them cranked all the way I would have a fairly strong opinion that they would break but only fully cranked. That's why I don't crank mine any more than they come stock.

 

[explorinitup]

ok u also dont have ball joints. and u have extended control arms. on my old explorer my bars where so stiff. it road like i had no suspension.it just baffles me u can get all that travle lol

 

[danwaters]

ok u also dont have ball joints. and u have extended control arms. on my old explorer my bars where so stiff. it road like i had no suspension.it just baffles me u can get all that travle lol

Yeah. I have a 1" uni ball for the lower pivot and a 7/8" heim for the upper. The width addition is about 3 inches per side. I can adjust the stiffness of the suspension by adjusting PSI in the air shocks and by the valving in my bypass.

 

[RockRanger]

Nice build.

 

[danwaters]

Well we finished up my light rack for now. I just need to get two more lights up in there before the New Years Glamis trip. All the lights are converted to 55w 5000k HID from DDM tuning down here in San Diego. I will get more detailed pics of how it mounts and stuff when its light. I was just stoked to get her back in her garage.

 

[danwaters]

Well took the truck out this weekend to Glamis for New Years. Light rack worked very well. Got it back and painted yesterday. Still need to get the outside two lights buts shes getting close. Next on the list is a new front end. Heres a pic from the weekend. i wish I had some action picks but my chick never got out of the seat to do so. haha

 

[Demo1986]

You have a nice expo! Wish you had action shots tho!

 

[danwaters]

Ill get some action shots next time as well as some gopro footage. I actually have a buddy that had a go pro in his truck and was following me through some stuff so we'll see what hes got and Ill post it.

Well got back from Glamis and the light rack worked amazing. Tuned out the glare with the depth of the rack. Its nice to have some HIDs up there. Ill get two more for the top this week sometime, as the outer two up there right now are off my front bumper. It was my design and Sloppy did all the fab work. He designed the way it came out of the cab. I was struggling with that. Always nice to have great friends help you out with great work.

How it comes out of the eyebrow tube in the cab

Looks like antlers

Support goes back to...eventually Ill throw a linear actuator in there to have some in cab adjustment. Thats not just welded to the cab either. Slits were cut and the tabs are welded to the tube that spans between both b-pilars of the cage.

Rack folds down pretty far, but obviously wont with the lights attached. Goes about half of that because my ballasts are mounted behind the rack.

You get the idea...

With 5 lights

 

[Brandon96]

love the way that thing folds down! nice and clean!

 

[danwaters]

love the way that thing folds down! nice and clean!

Thanks. Once I get the actuator hooked up Ill be able to just push a button to fold it up like that and run during the day or just when its on the trailer to keep wind resistance to a minimum.

 

[Brandon96]

... Ill be able to just push a button to fold it up like that...

Ok now your just taking it too far... :