Mike Draper
Member
- Joined
- July 21, 2007
- Messages
- 41
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Riverton Wyoming
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- '94 XLT
My step-son Chris was in a head-on collision a couple years back totaling his Mazda B4000. We stripped most of the damaged parts and started the search for replacement pieces. Jobs, school, hunting and fishing trips kept the project on the back burner until recently...we heard an advertisement on the radio for Andys truck parts in Basin Wyoming. I gave him a call and he had the same model pickup with good parts and a very reasonable prices. So we drug the truck to the shop and started cleaning up the damage.
Chris, myself and Greg discussing the project. This is what we started with Wednesday afternoon
Showing Chris where to drill out the spot welds that hold the front inner fender/radiator support in place.
Chris removing wiring/electrical from inner panels.
With the front sheetmetal removed we had to remove what was left of the crossmember and swaybar.
Thursday, we made the 2 hr trip to Basin, gathered the parts scored a set of manual hubs from an Explorer and headed home. the frame horns were bent in a little so we used the porta-power to get them pushed back in place.We then started replacing pieces starting with the inner fender/radiator support.
With the support tacked in place we installed all the front sheetmetal and double checked the fit, when we were satisfied with the fit we removed the sheetmetal and welded it all in, then put all back together...again.
We installed a battery, topped off the antifreeze and after resetting the inertia switch and after chasing an electrical gremlin for a while it fired up.
We're planning on doing more bodywork and giving it a camo paint job similar to my Explorer later this year so until then Chris gave it a quick rattle can paint job, he was painting at 1:00am Saturday.
On Saturday we swapped out the hubs, adjusted the alignment, and installed the bumper.
I'll update this as we continue to make progress..
mike
Chris, myself and Greg discussing the project. This is what we started with Wednesday afternoon
Showing Chris where to drill out the spot welds that hold the front inner fender/radiator support in place.
Chris removing wiring/electrical from inner panels.
With the front sheetmetal removed we had to remove what was left of the crossmember and swaybar.
Thursday, we made the 2 hr trip to Basin, gathered the parts scored a set of manual hubs from an Explorer and headed home. the frame horns were bent in a little so we used the porta-power to get them pushed back in place.We then started replacing pieces starting with the inner fender/radiator support.
With the support tacked in place we installed all the front sheetmetal and double checked the fit, when we were satisfied with the fit we removed the sheetmetal and welded it all in, then put all back together...again.
We installed a battery, topped off the antifreeze and after resetting the inertia switch and after chasing an electrical gremlin for a while it fired up.
We're planning on doing more bodywork and giving it a camo paint job similar to my Explorer later this year so until then Chris gave it a quick rattle can paint job, he was painting at 1:00am Saturday.
On Saturday we swapped out the hubs, adjusted the alignment, and installed the bumper.
I'll update this as we continue to make progress..
mike
