DP96XLT
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- November 29, 2019
- Messages
- 124
- Reaction score
- 49
- City, State
- New Berlin, WI
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1996 Explorer XLT 4WD
Hey guys, figured I would make my first post over in this section since I have reached a point were everything I am doing is now considered "modifications"...
First off, I picked up back in November a 1996 Explorer XLT with the 4.0l OHV V6, Electric Currant Red Metallic with Medium Graphite Metallic Trim exterior, Light Gray leather interior with sport seats, automatic with ControlTrac 4WD. It is optioned with 3.73 gears front/rear along with cassette deck headunit with rear seat controls. It had just over 42k miles on it when I picked it up.
I originally picked it up for my daughter to use for college, but it is in such nice condition I decided to pick her up something different and keep the Explorer for myself. In looking at it the only thing I noticed that was done was it had aftermarket rear leaf springs, the heavier-duty 967s, the fan clutch was stuck "on" and running the fan all the time, was obviously not run for a while and in general just needed some TLC. It sat low on the front drivers side (rear drivers was way too high and rear passenger side was low as well) but it braked fine and everything was tight and wear-free as a low-mileage vehicle should be. The steering wheel did not match the rest of the interior (leather was worn/loose and the cruise control buttons were deteriorating) so I figured at some point someone "stole" the good one it had.
So, I started in on all the regular maintenance stuff, new plugs (three were loose from the factory), wires, fan clutch, tensioner (was bouncing) and pulleys, belt, air filter, did an oil change to synthetic along with oil filter, changed all the axles/transaxle fluids to synthetic, changed the transmission valvebody to the upgraded version with all the fixes along with all new solenoids and switched to synthetic transmission fluid with a new filter and a pan with a drain plug and basically took care of the "maintenance" stuff. Ran a couple of bottles of Techron fuel system cleaner in a couple of tanks of gas (1 bottle per fill-up). She ran much better, but still didn't seem "right"... Within about 400-500 miles a bunch of stuff gave up the ghost, such as brake pads (front right inner was gone and the backing plate was touching the rotor), alternator bearings were knocking at idle under load (in drive at a stoplight for example), ended up turning out the front passenger side torsion spring adjuster almost all the way out to level out the truck (but it is perfectly level left/right/front/back), found out the lower front balljoints boots were ripped up and delaminated which means they were worn to all heck and got a good idea on what I wanted to do to it.
With all of that out of the way I decided to do some upgrades:
- Rancho 9000XL adjustable shocks all around (also used a Monroe axle damper shock)
- new "normal spec" leaf springs for the rear (fixed the rear tire system while I was in there since the plastic pressure maintainer was busted up)
- Power Stop Z36 truck & tow brake kit with new painted calipers and drilled/slotted rotors (along with new DOT3 brake fluid and new rubber brake lines)
- new Ford OEM steering wheel and cruise control buttons
- all new lift struts all around (hood, tailgate, rear window)
- new rear wiper arm (car wash broke the one that was on there)
- new Moog lower ball joints/drivers side upper ball joint (found there was a little bit of play while replacing lowers, passenger side upper was replaced at some point with a Moog replacement for the adjustable part of the 2-piece unit)
- stock replacement 130 amp alternator
Now with it being fully "functional" I decided to add in a few things that I felt were appropriate to how I want to drive it:
- 240 amp super heavy duty alternator upgrade (hand-built from the best selected parts including an overdrive pulley)
- 2-gauge and 4-gauge primary wiring upgrade (both to support the higher output alternator and to provide better all-around power to the truck as well as support the stereo upgrades)
- GPS-NAV headunit, 5 channel amplifier and a custom sub enclosure
- Component speakers up front
- Coaxial speakers in back
- Rearview camera installed into the tailgate
- Alarm system with Remote Start (integrated into all the stock alarm provisions/options as well)
- Rear optional privacy panel
- Window Tint
- Stainless Steel brushguard w/Rugged Ridge 5" Stainless Steel off road HID lights
- Upgraded lighting system with hot-wire harness (12-gauge for both low/high beams and offroad lights, integrated into the stock fuse box with 30amp and 20amp additional fuses added)
- New fog lights and new bulbs for low/high beams and fogs
- Gibson single-side-exit exhaust system (didn't like the sound, so I went with a Borla XS muffler)
- K&N cold air intake system with water-resistant mesh "sleeve" add-on
- Accel Performance Coil
I'll do add-on posts for a bunch of these upgrades.
Pics: (As picked up)
Now:
First off, I picked up back in November a 1996 Explorer XLT with the 4.0l OHV V6, Electric Currant Red Metallic with Medium Graphite Metallic Trim exterior, Light Gray leather interior with sport seats, automatic with ControlTrac 4WD. It is optioned with 3.73 gears front/rear along with cassette deck headunit with rear seat controls. It had just over 42k miles on it when I picked it up.
I originally picked it up for my daughter to use for college, but it is in such nice condition I decided to pick her up something different and keep the Explorer for myself. In looking at it the only thing I noticed that was done was it had aftermarket rear leaf springs, the heavier-duty 967s, the fan clutch was stuck "on" and running the fan all the time, was obviously not run for a while and in general just needed some TLC. It sat low on the front drivers side (rear drivers was way too high and rear passenger side was low as well) but it braked fine and everything was tight and wear-free as a low-mileage vehicle should be. The steering wheel did not match the rest of the interior (leather was worn/loose and the cruise control buttons were deteriorating) so I figured at some point someone "stole" the good one it had.
So, I started in on all the regular maintenance stuff, new plugs (three were loose from the factory), wires, fan clutch, tensioner (was bouncing) and pulleys, belt, air filter, did an oil change to synthetic along with oil filter, changed all the axles/transaxle fluids to synthetic, changed the transmission valvebody to the upgraded version with all the fixes along with all new solenoids and switched to synthetic transmission fluid with a new filter and a pan with a drain plug and basically took care of the "maintenance" stuff. Ran a couple of bottles of Techron fuel system cleaner in a couple of tanks of gas (1 bottle per fill-up). She ran much better, but still didn't seem "right"... Within about 400-500 miles a bunch of stuff gave up the ghost, such as brake pads (front right inner was gone and the backing plate was touching the rotor), alternator bearings were knocking at idle under load (in drive at a stoplight for example), ended up turning out the front passenger side torsion spring adjuster almost all the way out to level out the truck (but it is perfectly level left/right/front/back), found out the lower front balljoints boots were ripped up and delaminated which means they were worn to all heck and got a good idea on what I wanted to do to it.
With all of that out of the way I decided to do some upgrades:
- Rancho 9000XL adjustable shocks all around (also used a Monroe axle damper shock)
- new "normal spec" leaf springs for the rear (fixed the rear tire system while I was in there since the plastic pressure maintainer was busted up)
- Power Stop Z36 truck & tow brake kit with new painted calipers and drilled/slotted rotors (along with new DOT3 brake fluid and new rubber brake lines)
- new Ford OEM steering wheel and cruise control buttons
- all new lift struts all around (hood, tailgate, rear window)
- new rear wiper arm (car wash broke the one that was on there)
- new Moog lower ball joints/drivers side upper ball joint (found there was a little bit of play while replacing lowers, passenger side upper was replaced at some point with a Moog replacement for the adjustable part of the 2-piece unit)
- stock replacement 130 amp alternator
Now with it being fully "functional" I decided to add in a few things that I felt were appropriate to how I want to drive it:
- 240 amp super heavy duty alternator upgrade (hand-built from the best selected parts including an overdrive pulley)
- 2-gauge and 4-gauge primary wiring upgrade (both to support the higher output alternator and to provide better all-around power to the truck as well as support the stereo upgrades)
- GPS-NAV headunit, 5 channel amplifier and a custom sub enclosure
- Component speakers up front
- Coaxial speakers in back
- Rearview camera installed into the tailgate
- Alarm system with Remote Start (integrated into all the stock alarm provisions/options as well)
- Rear optional privacy panel
- Window Tint
- Stainless Steel brushguard w/Rugged Ridge 5" Stainless Steel off road HID lights
- Upgraded lighting system with hot-wire harness (12-gauge for both low/high beams and offroad lights, integrated into the stock fuse box with 30amp and 20amp additional fuses added)
- New fog lights and new bulbs for low/high beams and fogs
- Gibson single-side-exit exhaust system (didn't like the sound, so I went with a Borla XS muffler)
- K&N cold air intake system with water-resistant mesh "sleeve" add-on
- Accel Performance Coil
I'll do add-on posts for a bunch of these upgrades.
Pics: (As picked up)
Now: