1999 Mounty 5.0 aka My Great Bad Idea

[allmyEXes]

My wife's '97 Explorer, "GW", Came from the factory with graphite on the bottom. My '97 Mercury Mountaineer had wheels with the same color of inserts, so I put them on the Explorer. I hope the twisted bumper is because of the bumper and not the frame horn. I haven't had time to see what the issue is.

Meet "GW" (graphite & white)

 

[97Sandbox]

Thanks!

I've seen other 2nd gens with dark grey on the bottom, but I'm not sure any with white as the main color besides other Mountaineers. I'd like to find a painted grille and do that in grey too, my peeling chrome grille looks awful and the chrome grille looks out of place on a vehicle without chrome bumpers IMO.

 

[CDW6212R]

Look at the last 2nd gen's, they didn't have many chrome grilles on those.

That bent bumper is probably the brackets behind it, less being the bumper or frame snout. I fixed my 99's frame snout in about 15 minutes with a baby sledge and a large chisel. I just pushed it around to straighten it back, nothing torn and it's fairly easy to nudge.

 

[Josh P]

Congrats on the new baby!
I like how Ford / Mercury went with what's referred to many as storm trooper look, white with dark grey /black trim / cladding. I have that with my WJ ...great look for a white vehicle imo....first time I've seen it on second gen, I guess it was only available on the Mercury version / Mountaineer.

What year WJ and which motor? I remember you mentioning you have one but I've got half timers.

 

[Turdle]

Congratulations ol man! Where's my cigar!

 

[EB4X]

What year WJ and which motor? I remember you mentioning you have one but I've got half timers.

2002 ....with the venerable inline 6 / 4.0
Did you mention you have / had one too ....can't recall ...I have half-heimers as well.

 

[Josh P]

2002 ....with the venerable inline 6 / 4.0
Did you mention you have / had one too ....can't recall ...I have half-heimers as well.
View attachment 447460

Yeah, mine is a 99, green and grey. It's 4 wheel drive with the 4.0. I've towed 10+ tons with it. 25 years of maintenance free gas and go driving. I've flogged the living hell our of it.

 

[EB4X]

/\ My Expo's the 4WD and WJ daily d peg-legger....I like to confuse people, they're thinking "isn't the Jeep suppose to be the 4x4 vehicle...?"
I have 212K on the Jeep... same pistons/ piston skirts.... what about yours? Jeep decided to thin the walls on them in '96.....not an issue on most but...

 

[Josh P]

/\ My Expo's the 4WD and WJ daily d peg-legger....I like to confuse people, they're thinking "isn't the Jeep suppose to be the 4x4 vehicle...?"
I have 212K on the Jeep... same pistons/ piston skirts.... what about yours? Jeep decided to thin the walls on them in '96.....not an issue on most but...

Only thing I've touched is the tps, water pump and the oil pressure sender. Other than that, it's all original at 240k miles.

 

[allmyEXes]

Thanks!

I've seen other 2nd gens with dark grey on the bottom, but I'm not sure any with white as the main color besides other Mountaineers. I'd like to find a painted grille and do that in grey too, my peeling chrome grille looks awful and the chrome grille looks out of place on a vehicle without chrome bumpers IMO.

My '97 Mountaineer is the dark metallic blue almost the same as 1966 Ford Mustang nightmist blue. The bottom color is graphite.
ADDED: Are we talking about the Jeep colors or Explorer/Mountaineer colors?

 

[97Sandbox]

I was only talking about Explorers, I hadn't seen the first WJ post before I replied.

I'm more of an XJ guy myself, although we do have the ZJ to thank for giving us the 5.0 Explorer in a roundabout way.

 

[97Sandbox]

I'm not a big fan of chrome wheels on our trucks and as much as keeping the Mounty looking like a grandpa-mobile appeals from a sleeper standpoint, I've been thinking about getting a set of OEM 15" or 16" teardrop alloys. I always liked the 15" teardrops on my '97, but sold them after installing '01 Sport front brakes on my '00 and they wouldn't fit anymore.

However, before I made it a priority to go to the salvage yard, a set of 15x8 American Racing Nitro wheels popped up on Marketplace and I got them for a steal. They're not it great shape, but most of the rough spots won't be visible after installation.

They're certainly period-correct and will be fun to run on the Mounty for a bit. My only question is, should I swap the 235/75 tires onto the Nitros, or look for something wider like a 255/70?

 

[CDW6212R]

The stock 16" Explorer tires were 255/70's, I've gone through many sets of those, and 245/70/16's(often cheaper and only 1/2" shorter).

I have a set of not very old stock 16" teardrops, I got them before finding the Limited wheels that I liked the best.

 

[410Fortune]

Wider is better

Factory 15’s are a 7” wide wheel hard to fit wide tires on
Most aftermarket 15 will be 8” wide much easier to fit a wider tire on

 

[Turdle]

I'm not a big fan of chrome wheels on our trucks and as much as keeping the Mounty looking like a grandpa-mobile appeals from a sleeper standpoint, I've been thinking about getting a set of OEM 15" or 16" teardrop alloys. I always liked the 15" teardrops on my '97, but sold them after installing '01 Sport front brakes on my '00 and they wouldn't fit anymore.

However, before I made it a priority to go to the salvage yard, a set of 15x8 American Racing Nitro wheels popped up on Marketplace and I got them for a steal. They're not it great shape, but most of the rough spots won't be visible after installation.
View attachment 447511

They're certainly period-correct and will be fun to run on the Mounty for a bit. My only question is, should I swap the 235/75 tires onto the Nitros, or look for something wider like a 255/70?

I want to coat those flat black so bad

 

[97Sandbox]

I started cleaning one and am already thinking the same thing haha

 

[97Sandbox]

Wider is better

Factory 15’s are a 7” wide wheel hard to fit wide tires on
Most aftermarket 15 will be 8” wide much easier to fit a wider tire on

What's a good width for stock height on a 15? Just 255? I needed spacers to run 275s on my Sport, but my Saleen knockoffs are +24. The Nitros are -19, so I shouldn't have to worry about hitting the UBJ

 

[410Fortune]

Match the body color

 

[97Sandbox]

Yeah the graphite would look sweet

 

[97Sandbox]

This thread has certainly stagnated as I've been struggling to make progress on an exhaust manifold solution. Hopefully I can get the rusted TMHs sorted out in the coming weeks and finally get the Mounty running again.

For those running headers, what have you done for the steering DC joint boot? My boot is toast but the joint isn't too bad. I'd like to lube it up and put on a new boot to protect it from the sandy gravel roads I live on. I was thinking of making a boot from two shock boots cut and spliced together, but they're bulkier than the original boot and I'm worried they'll touch the #5 primary.