$200 96 4.0 Project

[koda2000]

listen fellas I moved to within 60 miles of Canada the closest town has a population of 7500 people with the biggest city of Spokane Washington being 1.75 hours away.
This is rural America, alot less money and customers then my old stomping grounds....but I have found that people here will come from even further away and are even more careful with their money and they keep their trucks ALOT longer...parts and work may not sell as quickly, but the people still find a way. Parts still sell, trucks still sell and people will come from 6-10 hours away to buy stuff/get things fixed if it is at a good price.
I was not going to raise my kid and grandkids that near 7 million people with all the corruption, gangs, pressure....I wanted them to grow up more like we did, back to our roots!
Parts market strong or not....if you post it they will come.

I hear what you're saying. I moved to a very small rural town, from a large northern suburb of Atlanta, nearly 20 years ago. At the time I was mainly looking for a slower pace of life and less traffic. Now all I see on the Atlanta news is car break-in's, shootings, murders, gangs, drugs and the traffic has gone from bad to ridiculous. Any time I'm looking for a used vehicle (or anything used in good condition) it takes forever to locate what I want and it's pretty much a given that I'll have to travel to the Atlanta area to buy something. This is because there's not much money in my area and as I like to say "you can't find good used stuff in the town I live in, because this town is where stuff comes to die". I recently spent close to 2 years looking for a good used car for one of my daughters (I'm very picky on condition) and when i found one we had to drive 2 hours each way to go get it. If I still wanted to fix other peoples cars I could make a good living doing it.

Don't get me wrong, there are still plenty of drug users in my town. Their drug of choice seems to be mostly meth and of course pot is everywhere these days. There are occasional drug busts in my town, but I'm not reading of many/any shootings over it. That's probably because when the meth users here run low they just make more.

 

[96eb96]

3.73 explorer rear axle is worth $300-500 depending on your local market
Front diff is worth about $75-150
v8 drivetrain is worth $500-1200 depending on the condition
A non running or bad 5.0 is worth $2-400 as a core, the 4r70w trans is worth $100 or so as a core
4 ea cat converters from the 5.0 can fetch you about $30-60 each depending on the market prices for palladium and platinum
good tires and wheels, battery, seats, and scrap metal, aluminum and copper are the rest of the ways to recoup your $$$ from a non running exploder. (You can see why the scrap business is lucrative)

Some 96 with the 4.0 had 4.10 gears, rare yes, but they do exist.

I have 4.10s
I wonder why they would put something like that on a explorer.That is for serious towing. I have the 16" tires too. I don't even have a tow package. Would be great for the boat launch.

I know in 4wd low it could probably pull a house off its foundation :lol: At some lower RPMs I think the OHV has a bit more torque than the SOHC.

 

[CDW6212R]

I have 4.10s
I wonder why they would put something like that on a explorer.That is for serious towing. I have the 16" tires too. I don't even have a tow package. Would be great for the boat launch.

I know in 4wd low it could probably pull a house off its foundation :lol: At some lower RPMs I think the OHV has a bit more torque than the SOHC.

The numerical difference between the 4.10:1 gears and the 3.73:1 gears is small.

Check the difference between the two factory tire diameters, the 29" 15's versus the 30" 16's you have. I bet the comparison of the gears and tires is about the same. The taller tires need the bigger gears.

Best fuel economy in the 2nd gen Explorers is about right at the 3.73 gear set, with 15" tires(29" tall). The 4.10's are just about right given 30" tall tires.

 

[410Fortune]

true dat
Years ago I paid big $$$ to install 4.10 in my BII with lockers.....whoops. Could hardly tell the difference from the 3.73 to 4.1 now on 35" tires and possibly wanting 37's I should have gone at least 4.56, 4.88 was not available then.......live and learn!

 

[RandomNerd2000]

So the front end seems great excluding it needs bearings on one side. It's growling, gets quiet going around right turns. Jacked it up, doesn't make a sound in the air, ABS isn't throwing a code, and it's got no play. Going off the right turn making it quiet, it's left side correct?

 

[410Fortune]

when making a right turn the leverage is put on the left wheel and vise versa
Wheel bearing issues can be hard to diagnose when dealing with these unit bearings. A growling noise is a good sign that bearing is dry and getting old
A visual inspection might be a good idea, remove the wheel and have a look see. Any blueing of the metal? Any brown grease?
Try swapping tires side to side and see if noise moves

 

[RandomNerd2000]

Unit bearings? This is a 2WD truck, so it's got the regular spindles and cheap bearings I like. Can't beat how cheap they are to rebuild. I have had a look see, didn't see anything alarming. What I'm going to likely do is just do both sides and let it go at that. Keep on top of things going wrong that way.

 

[410Fortune]

ah well heck yeah! My daily drivers (1988 and 1997) both use the older style spindle and bearings I love them! $30 to replace instead of $300
So then I would remove the wheel/rotor and have a look at the bearings and spindle. Get a new grease seal for the rear bearing and re pack or replace them as needed.
A growling noise on a 2wd front end is almost always a bad / loose / worn bearing or worse the spindle may be worn down.
Easy enough to check and cheap too!

 

[koda2000]

Yes you can remove the old bearings, clean them and inspect them for signs of pitting/wear, but considering how inexpensive it is to just replace the tapered roller bearings, the races they come with and seals I'd just go ahead and replace the wheel bearings. I did this a couple of years ago on our old Mountaineer 2WD when I replaced the warped rotors. Piece of cake. Worst part of it is dealing with the grease, which you'd have to do anyway.

I wonder why no one ever puts "bearing buddies" on cars/trucks? Seems like it would be a good idea, especially if you off-road and go through water.

 

[RandomNerd2000]

I find bearing buddies most times to be large enough that they would interfere with the center caps, although I think they would benefit a truck application more than a utility trailer. Most utility trailers need repacking due to age before the buddies can benefit you any. I can do trailer bearings in about 20 minutes a side, it's a piece of cake. I hate pulling stuff like this down to just patch it though, when it comes to anything with grease, I just rebuild and move on most times. I think the last truck I did this to was my 01 XLT I had years ago, $35 or so for both sides and it was whisper quiet. I'm doubtful at 98K it's a worn spindle, I'm thinking it's just old bearings.

 

[RandomNerd2000]

So to answer the question about axle gears, it's 3:27 open gears, which amazes me because it's got plenty of power. I had a blinking OD light start though . That's gonna suck, 4th gear and OD were hard, and reverse slow, but only when cold. I pulled codes, it had a slow reverse code and a code for the EPC sticking. I dumped some Trans X in it, I've had decent luck with that before. The truck's sat since early 2014, and it was 2.5 quarts low when I bought it, so I bet a good cleaning will help. It already seems a TON better driving around, shifts are better actuated.

I've started the hunt for another V8 truck, I found one but the guy refuses to name his price, wants me to name it, I never do that, because I'd come across wrong.

 

[410Fortune]

Any offer can be counter offered
Going too low can be an insult, but you can always offer more if it is. You can never go lower then your first offer....so its a fine line we walk.
Some trucks I get for a song, some I have to pay close to market price for...but the machine keeps moving forward.
A good friend of mine once told me when dealing cars, "you don't make your money when you sell"
So true!

meaning you make it when you buy.. I would not be afraid to name a low price and let him counter

 

[koda2000]

I'd just tell him, "hey, I can't buy it and sell it". It's ridiculous that he wont throw out a number. I'd walk away. Either that or offer him what you think it's worth. By now, with as many Explorers as you've bought, you ought to know what's it's worth better than him. If he gets insulted and you've offered a fair price that's his problem.

 

[RandomNerd2000]

So good news, it's got great reverse now, it shifts like it's a new truck now. EPC must've actually been stuck. It seemed amazing to me that the trans on a babied old man truck would be crapping at 98K. The fuel float is sticking now though, nevermind how I just learned that.

On that V8 Eddie Bauer My price on it honestly is $500 - $650, it's been sitting a year and a half, his road flooded but he swears it didn't, but I'd check BEFORE buying the carpets. The hatch isn't anything close to right on it, it's two inches too high and doesn't shut and I know from experience it leaks. It's got third gen wheels on it, but the tires all match. The good about it is, it's a AWD V8, it's got good paint all the way through and the hatch matches. If memory serves, it's a dark graphite leather truck, with good seats and a good headliner if they didn't wreck it putting that hatch on.

When I saw it last it wasn't a pretty truck, it had major potential, and originally it was the inspiration for mine, but it's been a while since that, mine went uphill, his went down. Here a good condition V8 truck will run you $1500, no more than 2K unless it's exceptionally nice. In my opinion he's drove it with no regard for it or how it looks, and I'm offering accordingly. I'm no stranger to neglected V8s, my 2000 was neglected badly when bought and it lasted for years.

 

[koda2000]

From what you say $500-$650 seems like a fair offer for that truck. He may think differently. I sometimes see average Gen II's on CL where the seller thinks their worth $6000 or more. It's crazy.

My dad thought that things he's bought and used for 20 years were worth whatever he'd paid for it 20 years ago and you couldn't tell him differently.

 

[RandomNerd2000]

Before I buy it though, there's a county surplus auction here the 22nd that I'm going to be on, where they sell all the impounded vehicles and seized ones, for everything you get arrested for where they tow the car basically. I'm curious what will be on it, there might be one I get for $200-$300, no way of knowing. I'm no stranger to auction stuff, I bought this very 96 off an auction, and the guy before me bought it off an IAAI auction.

Speaking of this 96 though, main concerns are power windows being non working in the front, and the vents are stuck on defrost. Vents first, any idea where to look?

 

[koda2000]

vents stuck on defrost almost always = a vacuum leak.

 

[RandomNerd2000]

Anywhere to look? Turning the knob does nothing and the idle sits too high.

 

[koda2000]

I'd start by checking the plastic vac lines at the resv ball and anywhere they go, but a vacuum leak anywhere (evap system, power brake booster, under the dash, intake gaskets, PVC valve) will have the same effect. Idle is probably high because it's sucking in un-monitored air and running lean.

 

[RandomNerd2000]

Stuff like vacuum lines makes me glad a lotta stuff now is electric instead of vacuum actuated. I'm hoping it's somewhere that doesn't involve dash disassembly, that would suck. The windows I took the door panels off and discovered are literally braced shut, so that's fantastic. So far though it's been kinda straightforward.