93 Explorer project "The Hulk"

[wood1]

I'd probably crawl under the beast and start checking everything to make sure nothing is loose.

 

[adamsbro2]

Well I climbed under and glanced and everything seemed ok! Pretty sure I've narrowed it down to the anti-sway bar making the noise because I didn't replace the bushings yet. I plan to disconnect it and take it for a drive and see what happens. But right now its at firestone getting an alignment. Got a huge reminder of why I don't pay people to work on my ****! They charged me 1 hour of labor 90 bucks just to replace the bushings I thought that would be part of the alignment but guess not, then they wanted me to give them 36 bucks per bushing when oreilly only charges 14 and then tried to tell me that they won't let me bring my own parts in! But I talked them into it. I did pay for the lifetime alignment so all in all this alignment is costing me like 300. Now I have a question! They said the castor should be between 2 and 7 and that its best to keep it as high as possible does this sound right? They said the toe was toed in a little but pretty good for an eyeball and tape adjusting. Camber they said was pretty bad! I plan to get all the numbers from them when I pick it up tomorrow!

 

[wood1]

Dude, are you a victim of auto correct?

There are a couple threads on alignment in my useful threads list, not sure on the camber question.

 

[adamsbro2]

Dude, are you a victim of auto correct?

There are a couple threads on alignment in my useful threads list, not sure on the camber question.

Yes I was a victim of auto correct! I think I got it all fixed now!

 

[wood1]

Ha ha ha...

How's it drive now?

 

[adamsbro2]

Ok so after the alignment there is definitely less pull, however they said they couldn't get the camber on the drivers side to move even with a new bushing, I'm not sure how that could be but none the less it doesn't pull so that's good! Bumpsteer is still there but that's due to the steering angle! The thing I find weird is that it seems to take more power from the engine to move now? But it was a short drive so when I actually drive it to work ill know! This week I will be changing the fluid in the rear diff and disconnecting the front swaybar to pinpoint the noise then I will retorque all the bolts and nuts as well as removing this dumb crossmember I see no need for it but to get in the way! And hopefully find a place for some poser pics!

 

[Naasau]

You can also check the front drive shaft, as the splines can bind and start making the weirdest noises.

 

[adamsbro2]

Well I have some pics but most of all a couple updates. It has been aligned and that's quite a long story but its good enough for now! I climbed under and started checking things and found some bolts that had backed off a bit on the axle pivot brackets, not bad just had to be retorqued a little! Also on the radius ARM bushings I didn't torque them at all t first just tightened them up til I thought the bushings looked pretty squished but when torquing them down I found I was quite a bit off and now that they are torqued I feel a little more difference on the handling. Then started looking for noises! The spring noise I spoke of was just that the drivers side spring is rubbing the back of the spring mount guess its just size difference cause the springs are turned to the stop point on top so kinda sucks but ill deal til I get my jd spring hangers! Lastly today I put it on all jackstands and drove it to listen for noises in the rear end and front end! All sounded ok except exhaust, and the front passenger side noise. Upon taking the tire off found a bad wheel bearing caused by the abs sensor sticking through the back of the knuckle rubbing on the inside of the rigor and throwing up a **** ton of metal flakes into the bearings! So I beat the sensor senseless til it was out of the.way and replaced the bearings and noise gone but now obviously the abs light is on! So ill be researching a way to eliminate the abs system and get the light off! I'll post pics hopefully later today! Not even sure what all I took pics of!

 

[wood1]

I decided a while back that the 4 wheel ABS system on the ex left a lot to be desired. The fuse panel under the dash, fuse 15 is the one that supplies power to the ABS control module. I switched that fuse so I can flip it on and off, I always drive with it off mind you, I got really tired of sliding farther than I knew it would stop without the ABS, listening to the whirrr whirrr whirrr... makes me angry!

PM me your email if you want the wiring diagram in pdf.

 

[adamsbro2]

Well I thought i took more pictures than this but for some reason they aren't here! But here are the pictures of the Rear end gears when i changed the oil.

Here is a picture of the tooth i had to grind down so i could get the center carrier pin installed. With the bigger gears i probably should have gotten a different carrier but i have seen this done successfully so i tried it. So far so good even though im only like 800 miles in it seems to be ok.

 

[adamsbro2]

Well I lost the drivers side wheel bearing on the way home from work today!!! AAARRRGGGGHHHH!!!! Anyway i am going to have to figure this out ill take pictures this time around to show but i think that damn abs sensor was rubbing the inside of the rotor again on the little splines that it reads and i think thats what caused it! The same thing happened to the passenger side last 2 weeks ago. Has anyone ever seen this before?? Ill update with pictures when i get time to work on it! I have 1 day off this weekend so ill probably knock it out then!!

 

[Naasau]

You and the X okay? I've had bearings blow before but once I was sure it was faulty Chinese bearings, and another time I decided was due to improper torque.

If you're having knuckle and rotor problems... why not look at this as a blessing, and upgrade to the newer dual piston brakes? For the upgrade you'll want/need new pads, rotors,and bearings; and they even use the same abs sensor. (Of course, I got non abs rotors.... ~snicker~)

 

[adamsbro2]

Ya luckily i heard the bearing going and stopped not too far from my house. Waiting on the tow truck now! I would love to upgrade but due to the fact i just dropped $2500+ in it for lift and gears and such that i am limited on funds for now!! And the more i think about it when i go to upgrade brakes im pretty sure that i will be doing a SAS!

It got me 30 miles on the freeway before it finally let loose to where i wouldn't drive it!!! God was seriously watching over me today cause that would have been ugly to loose the bearing on the freeway at 70 mph!!!

 

[adamsbro2]

Ok so I or should i say I guided my awesome wife through taking apart the wheel bearings on the drivers side to evaluate the damage! Hey she wanted to so i said HELL YA and she will be helping put it back together. Anyways It was as bad or worse than i thought took some pictures of the damage from buying cheap VALUCRAP bearings..... SO ON WITH THE PICS.

Already you can see some metal shavings on the outside top part of the rotor..

These are pics of the outer bearing.. which by the way looks AWESOME compared to the inner..

Pretty awesome to see the wifes pretty nails all covered in grease!!!

A view inside the rotor with the outer bearing removed.....

Then she took the rotor off and this is what the inside of the rotor looked like!!! no more teeth for the abs sensor.

Here is the ABS sensor TRASHED!!!!

Here is a picture of the inner bearing and seal.. Top left is the outer bearing and you can really see the piece missing in this pic. As you can see the wifes pretty toe nails didn't get dirty...

Here is a pic of the inner part of my inner bearing as well as my spindle..

And another view of my spindle minus the inner bearing portion...

Here is a couple pics of the inner bearing inner part..... and my wifes beautiful dirty nails again... dont lie and say it isn't sexy!!!

OK... there ya have it DAMAGED and i feel lucky to be alive since i was doing 75 on the freeway with this OMG i should be dead.. So the plan is tomorrow Junk yard and first looking for a 95-97 Ranger that i can UPGRADE the brakes and rotors and everything depending on cost i hope to go this route and still put new wheel bearings on but worst case scenario i will be getting a new spindle..... So more to come and ill let you know!!!!

 

[Tbars4]

...Sorry to see another join this club..

 

[adamsbro2]

...Sorry to see another join this club..

ya i wish i had read up on it sooner.....but im glad to see that it wasn't just something i did wrong cause i have changed LOTS of wheel bearings and NEVER had one go out 2 months down the road.

 

[wood1]

He he he... I was going to ask you about the painted toenails and tat on your right foot...

Love women that don't mind getting their nails dirty, very sexy.

 

[adamsbro2]

He he he... I was going to ask you about the painted toenails and tat on your right foot...

Love women that don't mind getting their nails dirty, very sexy.

She loves it!


So truck will be outta commission for a couple more weeks! Decided to go ahead and upgrade to the ranger brakes just gotta get a little more cash! And find out exactly what vehicles I can swap from!

 

[Naasau]

95-97 rangers with 4x4. You'll need the whole knuckle out assembly, and if you can find em, grab manual engage hubs too. I would buy new bearings, rotors, ball joints, pads, and maybe even a set if caliper rebuild kits (not necessary by any means, but nice to have). There is a thread around here somewhere on how it's all done... I think I have a link to it in my registry.

 

[adamsbro2]

Ya I found that thread but I was hoping a 94 Mazda b4000 would work cause I could get the. Stuff cheaper