1994 explorer superduty one tons build

[bftank]

figured id share this over here too. there may be a few more details on my pirate thread since i started it over there.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/ford/2132986-1994-explorer-superduty-one-tons-build.html


its a 1994 explorer,
the one tons are from a 2004 f350.
regeared with 5.38s, and zip lockers front and rear.

i started with ford explorer rear springs in the front and went to f150 2wd springs for a little more height and flex.

went with a forward shackle to keep the height low.

boatsided it with 3"x5" rocksliders, that double as air tanks for the lockers. about 9 gallons.

63" chevy rears spring over.

f250 shock towers all around and bilstein 7100s. 10" in the front 12" in the back. front is going to need longer shocks.

hummer beadlocks and tires from trailworthy fab. they like running at 5psi. been a decent tire so far.

things are a little out of order. and ill post more up as it goes to keep it up dated. and as i find my pictures. lol.

 

[bftank]

i still need to do a tremendous amount of clean up work on all the stuff i fabbed. it was done in a hurry with limited garage time over the winter. and a lot of this stuff didnt get painted because i wanted to see if it worked first, or needed adjusted. hopefully get some of that done this summer.

so when the original explorer rear springs went in the front of this i ended up with 3" of up travel. that combined with crappy monroe shocks, and tight clearances, led to some changes. the axle is also pushed forward a couple of inches.

items clearanced for s.d. dana 60 to fit were:

1). engine crossmember on the front got cut out. the ruff stuff diff cover was hitting it.

2). left side frame rail on the bottom. the yoke was chewing holes in this, sounded terrible, when i hit a bump at any speed.

3). the last place it hits is on the left rear side of the engine crossmember where it contacts the top of the diff snout. im probably not going to do anything with this one because it is a rare occurence and only happens when im in a hurry. fix was bumpstops. eventual plan is hydro bumps, but for right now daystar pyramid bumps are doing the job. courtesy of ruffstuffs fab booth at King of the hammers this year. which was awesome.

4). almost forgot, the rear spring hangers used to over hang forward of the spring eye, and when flexed the springs would touch the metal. this also got lopped off at king of the hammers.

so to help resolve the smacking things due to low ride height issues, i looked into some different springs. and it was suggested that i use 2wd f150 springs. so i snagged a pair from the junkyard. at first glance these are what i should have used in the first place. the springs are much thinner, and have much better tapers on the end than the explorer springs do. plus they have a bigger arch.

i am just now finishing up swapping these in the front. they ended up lifting the front 2" over the explorer springs. and i was able to get rid of the 8" monroes and put i my 10" bilsteins, with 5" up and 5" down travel. should be close to perfect.

i did get to take it out on a run at chinamans gulch in buena vista colorado, and had some trail carnage there.

1) wasted airline from front diff smashing it.
2) broken shock eye one of the old monroe shocks
3) pancaked steering stabilizer (which was slated for removal anyways)

over all it did great, was really pleased with how it handled and crawled.

i put in some pics from the king of the hammers trip this year as well.

 

[madbutcher]

Awesome ex

 

[FullBlownModz]

Awesome rig man! I've been following your post on pirate 4x4 for a while now, and I'm really liking the do not enter skid plate

 

[bftank]

thanks guys!

 

[madbutcher]

I just bought axles from a 2003/2004 F250 superduty for my 92 Explorer so i love to see builds like this

 

[bftank]

awesome! are you going to go leaf or coil?

 

[madbutcher]

awesome! are you going to go leaf or coil?

Leafs . Is the plan. .