My wheeling adventure with my ST

[ChallengerDave]

Well im sure some of you have seen my Sport trac slowly transform into a more capable truck. Id never thought I could to the things I did with it last sunday. I when to a place called Whispering Pines in Geneva NY. Its an off road park with many steep hills sharp turns and mud pits. Your typical off road getaway. Let me say this was my first time truly wheeling, and that also means this was most likely my st's first time. That day It was raining and it had been raining the day before, so you could imagine how sloppy the trails were. I went with a buddy that had a 95 full size blazer on 33's who had a winch. Now these trails were clearly made by jeeps. I found myself making multiple attempts to make a tight turn in my truck. When it came to the long steep climbs my truck shined. It seemed the only real disadvantage was my tires. The BFG all-terrains just were not cutting it. Dont get me wrong. They did great for the conditions I were in, but they didnt seem to dig or clean out well enough. The limited slip defiantly helped out a ton. But I now seen a grave need for at least a front locker.

And I know. Pics or it did happen......

Only pics I have for now because photobucket just decided to die in the middle of this.

 

[theluke19]

****, yeah! Those pictures are nice, looks like it was a good time!

Now the fun part - the after-wash

 

[MidnightRebel07]

Definetly get the mud off the suspension parts and regrease all the greasable parts asap or they'll fail prematurely. I know from experience, this is why I don't go muddin' anymore.

 

[ChallengerDave]

Haha. I washed it the second I got back. We have a very nice pressure washer. Today, just about all the mud is gone. That is a PITA alone. Now has anyone installed grease fitting into their factory joints? I would like to before they go dry and completely wear out. If someone says its safe ill go drill, tap and install grease fittings tmw. lol

 

[JohnnyO]

Looks good. I used to do the same with my old '05 Trac.
BFG A/T's don't work very well in mud.

 

[MidnightRebel07]

I wouldn't try to drill into the factory balljoints. You can get new Moog or Raybestos ProGrade series parts cheap from rockauto.com. I have all Raybestos ProGrade Series parts on mine.

 

[sport97]

Stock ball joints have no fittings. I've heard you can get a small needle like attachment for the grease gun and poke it into the boot, fill it up and then put a gab of silicone or gasket seal over the hole you made. Never tried it though. This reminds me, I need to get fresh grease in mine from going off road.

 

[ChallengerDave]

I Have seen the needle grease ends. I think they are useless seeing as there has to be a snowballs chance in hell that the grease makes its way back into the joint. If im going to have to replace them sometime in the near future then what do I have to loose installing zerk fitting? Now that needle may be good for stuffing some grease into the CV shaft boots. That may be worth trying.

 

[LONO100]

its always sweet to see a sport trac gettin it off road. i think there need to be more videos of sport tracs wheeling out there besides john rocks so this summer i plan on shooting a bunch of video.

just my opinion, but if you plan on getting lockers and your st is still your DD, get the lockers in the rear axle.

great pics again, ive followed your build and its great to see that thing doing great for you.

 

[interscope8]

Very nice!! I'm hoping I can do some real wheeling soon too. Definitely inspiring hahaha.

just my opinion, but if you plan on getting lockers and your st is still your DD, get the lockers in the rear axle.

wondered when someone was going to chime in...

 

[theluke19]

its always sweet to see a sport trac gettin it off road. i think there need to be more videos of sport tracs wheeling out there besides john rocks so this summer i plan on shooting a bunch of video.

Here's a video I love watching...


http://youtu.be/qKsUKlNJT-o

 

[MidnightRebel07]

You can get a locker but need to get an air or electric locker to disengage it while on the road, see Chad's and others for more info.

 

[Clusterpup]

With a locker in the rear you would have got through worse terrain then that even with ATs. I speak from experience.

 

[ChallengerDave]

Here is some more pics now that photo bucket is working. Finished that day off with some mudding back home. The first two were from the trails. had to rescue my buddy when he slipped into a deep drop.

 

[LONO100]

sweet pics bro. make sure you get all that mud off the underside of your ride!