03 fliptrac $700 daily driver (summer of fun with 4 sport tracs)

[410Fortune]

Trac sprayed off wash today
LED light bar all wired up details to follow

The truck was tested at speed and lots of 4wd
Front diff and driveshaft, new brake pads all good….

Topper is blue but almost looks black

I really like the light bar fit

 

[410Fortune]

So I piggybacked the pigtail for a second factory dog light switch
I robbed power illumination and ground from the factory fog switch
I ran one wire through the firewall, the ground, relay trigger wire
This feeds the led light bar relay

The relay was re wired to be “ negative triggered”
Fused power lead and led bar all wired up
It came out!

Battery Power from here

Relay was hung using factory inner fender nutsert, ground for led bar at same location

All splices made using heat shrink solder connectors and heat gun.

Tested good!

 

[dvdswan]

All those great pictures and none of the switch. LOL

Nicely done. KUDOS.

 

[410Fortune]

Oopsies

 

[dvdswan]

TIME OUT!!!!

You have a manual t/case? not fair, not fair at all.

 

[410Fortune]

3 pedal v8 conversion and manual t case
Yes sireee she’s a baddass trac

 

[97Sandbox]

All the cool kids are doing it.

 

[allmyEXes]

I just noticed the second switch where the Explorer rear defrost switch resides.
So, from the factory, the fog light relay wasn't negative triggered? Good upgrade.
Then is the under hood "switched ground" too?
I was just looking at 20" light bars. Maybe after the 2002 revival, I might install a 20" light bar low in the grill behind the honeycomb grill plastic. I'll try it first without opening up the grill in case I don't like the location.

Good idea !

 

[410Fortune]

The factory fog lights are negative switched
There is a fog light isolation relay and a fog light relay from the factory

The aftermarket harness that came with my light bar was modified, I converted the relay to be triggered by the negative feed coming from the second factory switch

Sport tracs have no rear defrost so this was a good use for the open hole in my 2wd bezel

I could have ran one more wire through the firewall, a + feed when the light bar is on, this wire would act to light up the little green indicator letting you know the light bar is on. this is similar to how the factory dogs are wired… they ran a fog light power all the way back to the switch just for the indicator
Hindsight is 20/20

I’m just glad to have 4wd again with a good front diff (now with an drain) and a new driveshaft! Extra light for the dark winters here and a camper shell to keep snow out of the bed. Studded snow tires and wheels are ready when the snow starts falling again. I could get used to this sport trac stuff… my poor bii just sits … for now

The real question is “superlift?” I have one that could go on here. 35” tires would help with my highway rpm and make the obstacles on the road smaller

 

[410Fortune]

Ordered new lifters (ford from summit) new pushrods, rocker arms, along with lower intake gasket, and new spark Plugs (rockauto)
Sport trac getting all new factory lifters and valvetrain. My pushrods are currently 1/4” toooo long

 

[410Fortune]

Drivers precision wheel hub failed today
Was installed last May 2024.. lasted 15 months
Good thing they have 3 year warranty, they are $220 each! What a joke Geeze man

They better replace this one no cost to me

 

[410Fortune]

Two new precision bearings with fresh 3 year warranty no problem. Just took a minute to find my transaction in the computer
Granted I beat on this truck
It’s driven daily
We have a dirty road that is rough, lots of mudd, silt, water, snow, etc
She is in 4wd much of the winter
But the factory wheel bearings put up with this abuse. The aftermarket has such a hard time, that it has me buying them in town, because I need a 3 year warranty… and at $450 for a set of front hubs I think they can afford to give me a set or two if that’s what it takes to get to 60-70k miles trom a $220 wheel bearing… Moog last 2-3 seasons, raebestos, 2-3 seasons, timken, 3-4 seasons, motorcraft service grade 3-4 seasons…. But precision 1 season

I need to seriously look at putting f150 suspension under a sport trac… ttb bearings are cheap
Or
Raptor 8.8 ring gear ifs under a gen ii? We shall see. That stuff can handle 265 tires and a some dirt

 

[Fordtruckfan89]

Drivers precision wheel hub failed today
Was installed last May 2024.. lasted 15 months
Good thing they have 3 year warranty, they are $220 each! What a joke Geeze man

They better replace this one no cost to me

How many miles on it?
* I think we posted right at the same time.
I ended up going with skf bearings on mine but I doubt they're any better than what you've run. I really think aftermarket is a crap shoot.

 

[410Fortune]

Maybe 10k miles maybe

 

[CDW6212R]

I'm glad you were able to get it replaced at low cost.

I've been using SKF hub bearings since 2019, I think they are a good choice. I replaced my right one in Spring when I was hunting a noise that turned out to be the RF UCA bushings. The hub seemed okay but I was in there doing a TRE, brakes, and the UCA. The Mevotech CTXK80068 TTX control arm was toast, both bushings were worn out, in about 75k miles.

Go for the 8.8 front diff, I'd love to see that shoehorned in the truck. I think it's way too big at the oil pan, but it's great wish.

 

[410Fortune]

The fun continues… they ordered me a masterpro replacement bearing… which is $140 and carries a one year warranty. I looked at the guy like “really?” I spend $220
For the upgraded pos with the 3 year warranty. This way I get a new one in town when needed I don’t have to wait a week to get a decent bearing online. That is the whole reason I get them in town and buy the upgraded ones. He offered me a $20 gift card for my trouble I said “its okay dude I don’t need a gift card I just need a wheel bearing” So the correct precision bearing will be in late this afternoon…. He was going to have a chat with the employee who ordered in the wrong unit
So we wait

Going back together
I notice the upper control arm and ball joint, Moog, also 15 months old. The boot had a ton of grease around it and it took 8 pumps on the grease gun to fill the boot. The Moog boot does not seal in the grease well. Big shock after all the boot trouble Moog has had

The lower ball joint is the heavy duty Dorman part (MAS) it took 1.5 pump and the boot was full. It has a spring that hold the boot tight. I wish Dorman hd would make us some UCAs the Moog and ttx parts are blah

I am meticulous upon re assembly everything is cleaned carefully and serviced, the brake caliper especially
The grease from the failing wheel bearing is impregnated in my Rotor… will see how long that rotor will last
New ceramic brake pads were also installed. Receipt shows I have a new 3 year warranty on the wheel hubs…

So while I wait for the pass side bearing to come in I decided to finally remove the stock running boards. I like them because they offer some protection from
Flinging mud and sometimes
I would use one as a step. I also like the way they kinda hide my 2” body lift. I don’t like how the passenger side was slammed up into the rocker panel when offloading from the trailer years ago and I don’t like their big
Bulky look…
So I unbolted them.. if I decide to put them back I have a cleaner set off a 05 trac

Those bolts are a pita… tons of dirt stuck up in there. See how the pass side brackets were just slightly bent? Bwahahahahahahahaha sucker got hammered

 

[Fordtruckfan89]

I tried using mevotech ball joints and UCAs they started clunking, used xrf, they did too. Boots dry rotted, greased plenty. Finally went with motorcraft/OEM ford and no issues. They aren't serviceable but they are sealed well. I think TRW is Ford's supplier. I don't offroad but downtown Raleigh beats the crap out of them in potholes and I do about 500 miles a week.

 

[BKennedy]

Lately I've had better luck and better prices with NAPA Gold products than AutoZone stuff.

RA is hit or miss.

Amazon is all counterfeit parts.

I have had luck with eBay resellers that say they found a dusty NOS OEM box in a storage unit that's what I'm looking for. Really good luck with O2 sensors, coils, and discontinued electronic parts found that way

 

[CDW6212R]

The UBJ's haven't worn out much ever in mine, but the boots are the weak link there. My last Moog set had the boots come apart after about two years and maybe 15000 miles. I was going to use urethane boots someone pointed to, but I think they were going to leave a big gap during articulation. So I put on a pair of NAPA gold units, they were similar to what OEM used to be, $125-$135 each.

The UBJ boots might be improved by adding a level of RTV added to the seams when they are first installed and clean. I bet RTV would hold well if the boots hold closely at least, not flex away and leave a big gap. The RTV wouldn't have worked with the urethane boots I have.

 

[BKennedy]

I replaced the upper control arms and lower BJ's on the 2010 2wd Ranger with Napa Gold over a year ago. They had them in stock, they went in nice and tight, aligned well and were substantially less cost than the Duratec AZ crap.