willis 's 2000 XLS

[willis146]

Purchased 2/26/2015
92,680 miles
4door automatic

Sole purpose will be a daily driver to keep miles off my Ranger ... but I cant leave anything alone

step bars and bug deflector went in the trash

sharing the garage

 

[willis146]

tossed on the temporary 31x10.5's today, along with a little torsion twist while I'm part hoarding the rest of the lift and wheels/tires

 

[97xlt4.0]

I like! What's your plans for lifting?

 

[willis146]

thanks man! planning on a SOA on 33's ... i have the perches, just waiting the rest of the parts to get in.

Right now I'm just cleaning everything up and finishing some much needed maintenance! I dropped the rear seats forward for the first time and found what looked to be an entire 2 liter of coke spilled probably 5 years ago :/ needless to say it was pretty gross so I completely gutted the interior and just waiting on the carpets to dry before I paint/dye them and put it all back together

 

[willis146]

after 4 days of drying in the sun, was finally able to paint the carpet and get it all back in.
Used Krylon Fusion Satin Khaki. Came out just a shade darker than the OEM tan, but looks fresh and clean so no complaints

took a trip to the junk yard to look for a few random items the truck is either missing or are broken and stumbled across this gem! For $9 i couldnt leave it behind

and the wheels are gloss black now

 

[willis146]

Moog upper arms - #'s K80068 and K8708T
Moog lower ball joints - # K8695T (x2)
Rancho RS5000 - # RS5374 (x2)

Think it was past time

 

[willis146]

Ready for tomorrow ...

was going to go with spindles, but cheap'ed out and decided to do a sloped Body Lift.
followed Nick26's thread found here; http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=127121&highlight=pa

and cut the Performance Accessories 833 kit down as follows:
2) untouched, 3"
2) @ 2-3/16"
2) @ 1-9/16"
2) @ 3/4"

Spring Perches came from chassisunlimited.com
7" long x 2-1/2" wide x 3-1/4" diameter axle

just picking up some shorter bolts in the AM and then firing up the welder

 

[willis146]

Ran into a couple complications on the SOA so it got put on hold for another weekend or 2.

Did finally find a mountaineer grill at the yard though.
Plastidipped it black and tossed it on.

 

[willis146]

Pioneer DEH-X3700UI w/ Scosche FD1327B fit kit and 2) pairs of Fosgate R168X2 6x8's

Pulled the rear window defogger and rear wiper switch and added a 2nd fog light and 2nd cigarette lighter

 

[willis146]

got the sub box installed and cut out the pocket in the rear hatch.
found some speaker grill cloth at the local fabric store and wrapped the trim bezel

and slowly making progress on the lift

will include all the details and lots of pics once complete but here is a little teaser (;

 

[willis146]

Lift is complete. Hoping to get some 33's this week.

 

[4DoorFord]

Jealous of the mileage and the quick progress. Nice truck!

 

[willis146]

33/12.5/15 gt adventuro mt's

 

[xXFR0STBYTEXx]

So jealous, I wish I could SAS/SOA mine... Why change the grille for a Mountaineer? Do you still have the factory one?

 

[2TimingTom]

Holy long u-bolts!