93 Explorer project "The Hulk"

[adamsbro2]

Ok so the upgrade on knuckles and brakes has begun. I called one junkyard and they said they had several trucks and for the knuckle, caliper, rotors (if good) was going to be 70 bucks per side. When i got there all they had was 2 wheel drive rangers MORONS!! So while wondering the yard cause im a redneck always looking for a deal my wife points out a mazda b4000 and i scoped it out!! PERFECT MATCH just as the rangers, also it had warn manual hubs that i snatched with the nut kits for 10 bucks each, can we say SPARES . anyway after getting the rotors off i found one of the knuckles was bent and the other cracked from being hit in the front end so back to square one no parts. On a whim and hopeful drive i went to the next pick and pull which was about 20 mins away and again was told they had some rangers but they didn't, They did however have a mazda b3000 and again perfect fit. I wasn't sure what this place was going to charge but was running out of options and time. So i pulled the parts, the rotors were trash but the knuckles and calipers were good so the battle began. I wasn't able to get the abs sensors off without breaking them so i left them in the knuckle, after fighting the parts off i kind of cheated, oh ya i also took the hub nut kit from this truck as well so i have 4 sets of spares , anyway i bolted the caliper and the spindle back to the knuckle and as i said it had the abs sensors still intact as well, The guy there must not have known that i had 3 different parts because he only charged me 25 bucks per side so i got both knuckles, both calipers, both spindles, and both abs sensors for 50 bucks SCREAMING DEAL. Anyway here are some pics.

this is one of the abs brackets off the hulk that got broken before i bought the 12 pt 6mm wrench.

This is the knuckle from the hulk..

This is what happens if you put a beer on the hood and let your wife beat on the truck with a hammer!!!!! LOL PARTY FOUL!!!!!

This is my gorgeous wife wrenching on the hulk...

This is the knuckle from the mazda with spindle and caliper attatched.

This is a comparison of the knuckles.....

here is a comparrison of the calipers.......

So tomorrow i hope to get the parts cleaned up and painted and hope to get it back together by the end of the weekend!!!

 

[adamsbro2]

I'm trying this from my phone and its just a teaser pic for now but here is a shot of one knuckle cleaned up.

 

[wood1]

I know I'm excited!

 

[adamsbro2]

I'm thinking I may get started with the paint scheme by painting the knuckles and calipers a hulk green! Thoughts?

 

[wood1]

Smash

Then we smash!

 

[adamsbro2]

Well I didn't get much done on the hulk today! I got the knuckles spindles and calipers clean and bought, ball joints, brake pads wheel bearings, wheel seals, spindle bearings and spindle seals, new rotors and green paint, its a bit brighter green than I wanted but it'll do. Hope to get paint and ball joints put on tomorrow. I spent the night getting Anthony aka suicide77 hooked up with some warn manual hubs for captain America! Now I gotta get up in 4 hours for work so I'm out!

 

[adamsbro2]

Another teaser........

 

[wood1]

Gonna look awesome foo. I love the idea.

 

[adamsbro2]

Should I paint the knuckles green too or black?

 

[wood1]

I think I'd do it all green.

 

[adamsbro2]

Backing plates too?

 

[wood1]

Yep.

If you don't like it you can always spray it black after.

 

[adamsbro2]

Good point!

 

[adamsbro2]

Ok picked up the rest of the parts, got new balljoints installed and one side of the knuckles painted GREEN, ill put the final paint touches on tomorrow night and should be ready for total install Monday...............to be continued........

 

[Naasau]

Either would look good, I would go with black (hides grease and brake dust better).

Remember to use caliper paint, it is high temp resistant and won't bubble like regular paint will if you happen to get brake fluid on it.

 

[adamsbro2]

I went with green everywhere! And I used engine paint its supposed to be resistant to oil and stuff and good up to 500* should be sufficient hopefully!

 

[adamsbro2]

Ok got the backing plates cleaned up! I'm going to paint them black I think! Also ordered a roof basket for the hulk! Back to work tomorrow! On the hulk that is

 

[wood1]

What basket did you choose?

 

[adamsbro2]

It didn't cost my anything out of pocket and some miss will be made to it as I get down the road for like shovel, hi-lift jack, and lights but here is a pic! It's a curt from cabelas with the extender! 64" long 37" wide and 4" deep.

 

[wood1]

That will free up some room on the beast.