01 STrunner's Sport Trac | Page 10 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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01 STrunner's Sport Trac

My name is Patrick and now that I've finally done some work I'll start a registry to keep track of where it's been and where it's going. I'll try to organize it chronologically as best I can.

I got the truck in June of 2008 with 70,000 miles on it.

Newest Setup: SAS/SOA, 3" BL, Warrior Shackles for ~12" total lift.

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Some quick stats:
2001 Explorer Sport Trac
4X4
4.88 Gears
LP Dana 44HD Front Axle with leaf springs
SOA Stock 8.8 in the rear
35x12.50 BFG KM2s
17x9 Cragar Soft8 wheels
6x5.5 bolt pattern all 4 corners
Advantage Hard Hat bed cover

Here she is the day we brought her home

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And of course it had to be approved by our skilled research team

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The first thing I did to it was add a little ford emblem over the door badging. This pic is pretty recent but the best closeup I have of it. And when you're 15 stickers are still fricken sweet haha.

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Another pic after a nice bath and detailing

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My backyard; well sorta. Shenandoah National Forest is about 20 or 30 min away. I really like the view

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This is a mountain bike park my buddies and I hit up a lot. The sun was at a cool angle so I snapped a quick picture.

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Next thing (About a year and a half later) was a new set of shoes as beach driving was in the very near future and I needed a tire I wouldn't get stuck with. Got a set of Hercules Terra Trac A/T's in the stock size yet again. Before the beach trip I added a CB since we were traveling with RV's as a little group to OBX. That was just mounted on the passenger side of the console and the antenna was run under the carpet to the magnet mount antenna on the roof.

And the best way to go to the beach:

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After the beach trip I decided I needed a little extra light in the back for hooking up trailers and just for more light whenever I wanted. Or to tell someone behind me to shut their damn high beams off. So I went down to Autozone and for $20 picked up a cheap pair of 3X5 Pilot Aux lights and hooked them up to a switch that I put down on the side of the console.

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Also that was after a little fun with friends in an old park I found near my high school. Also from this next pic you can see how worn out the old shocks are. They were creaking over every little bump. Ended up having a local shop replace all 4 - Monroe Sensa-Tracs on the front and Monroe air adjustable shocks in the rear so it could be leveled out under heavy loads.

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Heres a somewhat side shot with the new shock. Easily an inch or 2 higher. Before I learned mud was the devil...

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A pic of the air shocks getting a workout. The setup is about 6000-6500 lbs. - Little overloaded but at the time it was our only choice for a tow vehicle since we got rid of our 3/4 ton with the 8.1 liter Vortec. Truck did fine the temp gauge didn't even rise but she didn't like overdrive at all.

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My friends and I are big into snowboarding. Since the bed is so small, had to put the board up on the roof. So a Yakima rack was added on top.

That sunbleached gray cladding just wasn't cutting it anymore and I started to see guys on here that painted theirs black and I loved the way it looked. After researching a little I found Krylon Fusion to be the main paint everyone used. Got a few cans and started the project.

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And After:
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For a year and a half the truck really didn't change. I was too busy with school, sports and helping remodel the entire house to really think about it.

I then got into Clemson University and joined the Offroad club. There was already a sport trace in it!! although it was stock. But hey 2's better than 1.
We took a couple trips but I've really only got pictures from Uwharrie Nat'l Forest just outside Charlotte.

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Decided while I was there to get my wheels repainted dirt brown. Still haven't learned my lesson about mud
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I went to the wrong state to want college and coming home to VA only gave me a little hope before our annual trip to Snowshoe WV. And yes we're dumb enough to men bike in a couple inches of snow.

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Back at school I was starting to go crazy not bing able to do work on my truck after looking over projects on here all winter. I got a small fix when Offtrac said there was a guy selling a brush guard which I had been looking for. He also threw in some clear corner lamps for nothin!

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Finally finals week was done and I could start working on the TT/Shackle Lift

Heres a picture of it before the lift:

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I was experimenting with the front bumper and was too lazy to put it back on for the picture.


Like Lono I put the jack stands on the frame right in front of the wheel wells and used the bottle jack to push the leaf springs down so i could put the bolts in.

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With the shackles only: the stupid bolt killed what daylight I had left so the torsion keys had to wait for the next day.

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After the TT so its all done! And now the cladding is off to be painted minus the front bumper. I wanted to see what it looked like.

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Finally looking like a truck

After that the body lift was next:

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TT/Shackles:

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And after body lift:

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There wasn't a terrible amount of trimming to do. Still waiting to see how it all flexes out. It took me long enough. After 4 years of owning the Trac and almost 60,000 miles later its barely the same as when I bought it home from the dealer. It took about 2 and a half years before I even started looking to do anything. I really have to thank everyone on here for their help and guidance. Now she sits high but there's always room for improvement and I'll update as I go along.
 



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Awesome Midnight! thats pretty much the same thing i posted in my link, except cheaper i think (and it included the tubing!)

Im thinking that i'll most likely order that set up.

But do you think that it will clear the soa with out a high steer set up?
 






Well it's official, I'm now a member of the SAS Trac club! I got the truck back down to SC this past weekend. It drives great and can do a steady 75 mph but is much more comfortable at 65mph. The gearing helped to adjust my speedo closer to correct. Its now showing 4mph faster but I will adjust that using the ScanGauge. I still have to climb under and check out the transmission crossmember and get dimensions for a front driveshaft. That's probably going to be the last thing for a while as work and crew is getting crazy, taking all of my time. If you have questions about any of the setup ask away. Enough talk, here's some pics.

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I'd say the trackbar and sway bar work well at what they are supposed to do. The truck is solid at speed, in crosswinds and around semis. Quick disconnects and a track bar removal will be in store soon.

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Looks great man! I'm so jealous!
 






I also need to get some urethane bushings for the leaf springs. I had 17" of travel at the wheels before they were torqued down and now I'm down to about 12" which is still a ton more than it used to have but I want the maximum amount of flex out of it. The shocks are great too. They're Bilstein 5100's made for a JK with 6" lift. I think they're 10" travel, I can't remember now as it's been a while.

$40 extra got me hi-steer over getting separate parts (pretty much same parts from the same company) so I decided to go with that. Much cleaner looking and much better steering angle. The steering box is from a Super Duty hooked up to the stock pump. The box is 4 turns lock to lock vs. the stock rack & pinion that is 2.5. The wheels turn so much easier and there is a lot less strain on the pump now to turn the 35s. Only thing is I'm turning the wheel like crazy while parking and tight places but that is a small price to pay in my eyes.

Also, the 4.88s were a perfect match. The effective gearing is just a little lower than my stock 4.10s but I love how it drives compared to the 4.10s and 35s, it actually has a little get-up-and-go.
 












Looks great bro, I'm so jealous but super happy for you at the same time! Just keep feeding us pics of that thing in action and represent on the trails for all of us sport trac guys. Can't wait to get my conversion going, hopefully in October.
 






Looks great bro, I'm so jealous but super happy for you at the same time! Just keep feeding us pics of that thing in action and represent on the trails for all of us sport trac guys. Can't wait to get my conversion going, hopefully in October.

Thanks man I'll definitely keep em coming and start an SAS build thread with all my parts.
You sticking with IFS or going with TTB? Sorry I've been so busy, I've been away from the game for so long haha.
 












Man we're gonna need some better flex pics, you were flexing better than that with IFS and sway bars :D
 






That. Thing. Is. AMAZING. looks really nice! So you decide on tires yet haha?
 






Right now the ttb has been ruled out since it would involve me dropping off my rig to a shop. A big reason why I want to do the conversion is that I'd like to document it in detail for the forum and for others in the future. I am leaning ifs still, but dang your trac making it easier to sit on the fence. I'll be ready to sit my trac down for a while in October, I'll let fate decide. If I find a good donor rig or the perfect axle for this conversion, whichever I find first, that's what I'll go with. I'd like to get it done for under 4k if possible. Again, your trac is looking great!
 






Btw did you make your front cross member from scratch, or did you plug one in from an SAS kit? If it came from a kit, which one did you use?
 






Looks sweet man. Only constructive criticism I have is I would move the spare from the roof to maybe bed mounted or one of those swing out tail gate mounts. Good work :thumbsup:. I'd like to thumb through a build thread if you put one together (compare notes).
 






Absolutely fabulous. I love your rig. Keep posting pics and letting us know how it performs.
 






Right now the ttb has been ruled out since it would involve me dropping off my rig to a shop. A big reason why I want to do the conversion is that I'd like to document it in detail for the forum and for others in the future. I am leaning ifs still, but dang your trac making it easier to sit on the fence. I'll be ready to sit my trac down for a while in October, I'll let fate decide. If I find a good donor rig or the perfect axle for this conversion, whichever I find first, that's what I'll go with. I'd like to get it done for under 4k if possible. Again, your trac is looking great!

Thanks again man. For retaining ABS I think your best option would be stick to the ifs like you said plus you can do it yourself. It's too bad you're in California or I'd send you all the parts off mine.

Btw did you make your front cross member from scratch, or did you plug one in from an SAS kit? If it came from a kit, which one did you use?

My cross member is a custom piece of 2x8 square stock capped on both ends.
 






Looks sweet man. Only constructive criticism I have is I would move the spare from the roof to maybe bed mounted or one of those swing out tail gate mounts. Good work :thumbsup:. I'd like to thumb through a build thread if you put one together (compare notes).

Thanks a ton! You're rig is a beast and hope you can get it on some trails soon. As far as the tire that came off as soon as I got back to school. I just had it up on top because I had to fit my old wheels and some ifs parts in the bed so there was no room for it where it usually lives I. The bed under the cover out of sight and the weather.
 






Yes!!! That thing is a monster!! Congratulations!

Man we're gonna need some better flex pics, you were flexing better than that with IFS and sway bars :D

That. Thing. Is. AMAZING. looks really nice! So you decide on tires yet haha?

Absolutely fabulous. I love your rig. Keep posting pics and letting us know how it performs.

Thanks guys! I will definitely get some picture once I get my transmission cross member modified. I need to talk to chad and see what he did to get his driveshaft to work.

Colin, you might be right but I don't think it flexed that much. I can't wait to ditch the track bar. I kept it on there for safety sake on the 500 mile drive to school. Then some quick disconnects for the sway bar and urethane bushings for the springs.

Feared, I'm keeping my current tires until they're done. I think the 35s look good with it. I may go with a wider instead of taller tire next. I haven't decided but I don't think that'll be for another year or 2.
 



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Thanks for the info. I know, you and rebel would both have parts that I need for this. Can't wait yo get mine going. This summer I'll be building up our wrangler jk and getting it ready for the upcoming winter, and then in October I'll be sidelining the ST for the big conversion. I can't say enough how great your trac looks. It'll be feasting on trails!
 






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