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

[dvdswan]

Awesome.

 

[410Fortune]

Both sides done

I made a how to thread for everyone

Enjoy!

Blamo!

One Of a kind! At least for a minute hahaha

How to: - 410customs - Square Mirror Mod

I present to you the square mirror modification for 95-01 Explorer, Mountaineer, 02-04 Sport and Sport Trac (and more). Let’s face it, the old tiny round side Mirrors are outdated! The 06-11 Ranger side mirrors are far superior in styling and vision. After many many years of having explorer...

www.explorerforum.com

 

[dvdswan]

Urethane body mounts
2” body lift
1.25” torsion twist, finally looking proper
265 17 or a 31.5 will go perfect
Working our way up to 285s!

With the v8, manual trans and 4.1 gears our highway rpm pretty high, larger tires will help. This thing is mostly commuter, she may get 3.73s

View attachment 453176

What body mount kit did you use? Did it come with all the proper brackets?

 

[410Fortune]

Energy suspension body mount kit for 02 sport trac 2”

My body lift came from a truck I crushed I believe it was originally designed for a ranger. 4 door ranger is very similar to sport trac as far as the body lift goes… 6 pucks under the cab 6 under the bed worst case can get longer bolts in town

With a 2” body lift less brackets are needed
I did not raise the radiator, instead what I will do is modify a fan shroud to be 2” taller

No steering extension
No mods to brake lines (I don’t have abs pump so that may have helped)
I drilled new holes in the front inner bumper structure effectively raising the stock bumper and cover 2”

The rear bumper took a bit more work, I chop cut and welded but I used all factory bits and raised the bumper 2”
Instead of searching and ordering 2”
Longer bed Bolts I built some from factory Bolts

It was the easiest body mount and lift I have ever done thank goodness.

I’ll post links to what I bought

 

[allmyEXes]

I had considered a 2" body lift on an early Sport Trac if it would make a Windsor fit any better. Detail to a swap part wasn't ever worked out.
An Explorer/Mountaineer damper would need to be used to make it coil-near-plug however the detail is 'can an Explorer 5.0 hb/damper/pulley be modified from 50 oz to 28 oz?' 351 Windsor engines are 28 oz balance. Every piece of the 5.0 brackets, pulleys, accessories and timing cover will bolt on the Windsor.

 

[CDW6212R]

I had considered a 2" body lift on an early Sport Trac if it would make a Windsor fit any better. Detail to a swap part wasn't ever worked out.
An Explorer/Mountaineer damper would need to be used to make it coil-near-plug however the detail is 'can an Explorer 5.0 hb/damper/pulley be modified from 50 oz to 28 oz?' 351 Windsor engines are 28 oz balance. Every piece of the 5.0 brackets, pulleys, accessories and timing cover will bolt on the Windsor.

The 351 Windsors have the same balance weight as the 302's, that is late model versus older engines. So you can build a 351W and use the Explorer balancer with those matching accessories(the FED its called). If you have to have the 28oz weights due to an older crank or a stroker for instance, there is one aftermarket balancer available for that, it's basically a rebalanced stock Explorer unit. Last I read it was over $200, Damper Dudes I think it was.

The 351W is a super tight fit in the Explorers due to the wider and taller Windsor block. The oil pan is much different, you have to modify a ton, a stock 351W pan. The exhaust manifolds are not much bigger of a problem compared to the 302, they are up higher 1.3" though.

 

[410Fortune]

2” body lift for sure helps things fit, especially tires and big engines! For me it was for tire clearance and also so I could run the side exit exhaust

 

[410Fortune]

Here is the blue 05 we v8 and lifted with used ranger superlift

I had to wire it backwards at the instrument cluster to think it’s a 02
Also had to bypass the fuel pressure sensor
05 is a different monster

We lost a tire on the test drive he didn’t torque the lugs that was fun
Only pics I have on my phone

2005 trac 5.0 4r70w and 4406m
Superlift up front spring over in back
33” tires

 

[dvdswan]

That's one bad@ss ST. (sigh) so many desires versus needs. This will just have to be next year's path.

 

[410Fortune]

Really really enjoying the looks and function of the square mirrors

Pumped the tires up to 34 psi and changed the oil, 5 quarts of Mobil one 5-30 and half a quart of Marvel Mystery oil (still cleaning up carbon from putting together unknown mile used engine)
Booked it 6 hours to Seattle, fix truck, 6 hours back. Sport trac is awesome did not skip a beat. However with 265 70 17 tires and 4.10 Gears highway rpm are up there a bit. The truck has 271k miles on it now and the front diff pinionseal let go so she is leaving puddles of gear oil on the ground. The rear axle was rebuilt at some point (aftermarket axle shafts)
I am thinking Im gonna swap this truck to 3.73 for better highway gears… I have a set of axles from a low mile gen ii

 

[Fordtruckfan89]

Could you step up to 33s? Seems like they kinda overgeared these, 4.10s and 30" tires stock is a bit much

 

[410Fortune]

Yes 33’s would help! However I don’t want to lift this truck anymore which is why I’m considering gear change. You see all of our rigs are lifted and on big tires. This is our long trip highway vehicle and 265 70 17 tires can be had on the cheap side because they were stock on Many newer rigs

Now that the front diff pinion seal let go it makes it easier to retire these 4.1 axles

I try to build “purpose
Built rigs”
Designed around its intended usage

 

[Fordtruckfan89]

 

[410Fortune]

Put blue camper shell on the white “stang trac” for fall and winter use. Now looking for a new set of 265 studded snows.

Sport trac with ARE topper looks pretty sporty! The dark blue kinda looks black so it works out ok. More weight over rear axle for traction… will setup a dog bed back there and the 3 dogs can all ride together

Are topper is heavy!! Way heavier than expected. This is good, that’s why they hold
Up so we’ll

Working to get the high mount stop light on the are topper wired up. Sport tracs have two bulb tail lights so no wire for brake only. I believe the factory bed mounted trailer wiring plug will have the brake light wire I need. The old led light that came with the topper is all faded plastic will look at upgrading it to led newness to match the rest of the truck

She’s coming into the shop for new rear shocks and some maintenance

I’ll get pics

 

[Fordtruckfan89]

If I remember right there's a couple taped off wires down near that plug that are labeled, I think one is a brake light wire

 

[410Fortune]

Thank you!
Winter is here

That’s the road in, First real Storm of the season


2003 “stangtrac” not quite ready… you see it has no front driveshaft currently.

Okay so no biggie I have the old d shaft just needs u joints

Turns out sport trac front differentials last exactly 268,877 miles before the pinion goes haywire.



Lucky for me I have a spare diff ready to go 4.10 Front diff already in the shop waiting for this day (came from the black donor trac, supposedly only 110k miles but we may never know)
New diff will get new seals

Looks like I’m swapping diffs and rebuilding d shaft then later more led driving lights…

I have a trip coming up soon I need this truck winter driving ready

New night Vision for north Idaho winters

 

[410Fortune]

I put this first
I got excited

Been wanting to do that for a while!!
Curved 26” light bar tuck

 

[dvdswan]

That looks awesome. It fits perfect. More info on light bar, I would like to do this too.

 

[410Fortune]

Absolutely. I will post the details but basically it’s a 26 inch single row curve light bar from Amazon. Much planning went into its location, size and fit.
I had surgery on my wrist yesterday and everything was going great until the drugs were off now it hurts so I had to stop for the day

 

[97Sandbox]

Turns out sport trac front differentials last exactly 268,877 miles before the pinion goes haywire.



Lucky for me I have a spare diff ready to go 4.10 Front diff already in the shop waiting for this day (came from the black donor trac, supposedly only 110k miles but we may never know)
New diff will get new seals

Looks like I’m swapping diffs and rebuilding d shaft then later more led driving lights…

So, you're saying the front diff is trashed because of the large amount of backlash? Asking for a friend haha.