'94 X-Ploder S.A.S. | Page 4 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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'94 X-Ploder S.A.S.

building this cheap and with parts i have gathered. i will not be doing any serious crazy 4wheeling, but i do mud bog at certain events mostly. i run and compete in a 4 & 6 cylinder class where you cant have visible motor mods.

so far i put a 2" body lift in and i did the rear flip kit done using the stock 8.8, 31spline rear, and the center section is welded and i added a set of 4:10 gears. so with all that in the back i got 5 1/2"s of lift.

for the front we are using a d44 out of an early bronco that will be coil sprung. im going to order early bronco spring buckets and 5 1/2" lift coils, we are doing custom steering and eventually custum radius arms.

i plan to run at least 36" tires, maybe a set of swamper ssr's or iroks.

now since ill be usuaing an early bronco rear thats narrower that a full size width, tires shouldnt hang out to far right? that will be about the same as the stock 8.8 rear? or will the fronts hang out way more?
 



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looks like the ra mounts are back wards. try swapping one side for the other and the coil might look better. i think

no they are mounted right, theres no trac bar and thats why they are so shifted to the drivers side, plus they are being pulled back towards the rear
 



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What degree wedges are you running?

That thing is TALL. LOL

Move the radius arm mounts forward. Put the rear bolt in the front bolt mount. That will push the axle forward about 5" from where it is. Putting it about 3" forward of stock.

If it was me, I'd do a custom trac bar, draglink and tierod. All made with 3/4 heims and 1/4 wall tubing. I'm in the process of making my heim steering, just waiting on the tubing.

WTF I saw your junk on craigslist last week, plus the tires separately. Oh yea you still need to stop by the house DON'T YOU?


yea my bad attitude had me in a rage last week lmao, i still gota swing by maybe today. ill talk to u then some more about steering and what not
 






LOL They are backwards! Flip them side to side and your going to have the correct distance on the front axle.
 






LOL They are backwards! Flip them side to side and your going to have the correct distance on the front axle.

bahhaha i just went outside and lQQked, they are freaking backwards!!! well dammit this weather today is going to put a dampoed on things, being my project is being built in the driveway! this snow/rain must stop!!!
 






ahhh its in :thumbsup:..... and its in correct now! c'mon its my first swap lol, but the ra brackets were on backwards, and the spring cups that bolt top the ra's were on wrong pulling the coils in towards the pumpkin on both sides. but i got everything flipped around and on correct. also since it was alot higher then i had expected, i pulled the 5.5" eb bronco coils and put in a set of 3.5" used lift coils that came with my spring buckets from a full size bronco from the junkyard. so now with these springs compressed they actually measure 17" instead of 19.5" from the other coils.

ill have some pics up here shortly they are uploading on photobucket now! ;)

i had a trac bar off a full size and i had to run to my uncles shop to have 1" cut out of it and rewelded together, and then he wrapped it in some roll cage tubing and welded that on. after i put that on i used my old ttb steering components to make some temporary steering which actually worked out for now.

now i need to get calipers, brake lines, pads, shocks and a 2" block for the rear to make it sit level.

thx for all the help thus far!!!
 






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Take the passenger side beam bracket off the engine xmember. You might hit it under compression. And it will do a number on your axle housing.

Now you need to make a tranny xmember. 2 pieces of flat stock on the arm mounts. A piece of 2x2 between the 2 mounts. Then another on top of that with some more flat stock to bolt the stock tranny bushing to. Easy xmember and very tough
 






Take the passenger side beam bracket off the engine xmember. You might hit it under compression. And it will do a number on your axle housing.

Now you need to make a tranny xmember. 2 pieces of flat stock on the arm mounts. A piece of 2x2 between the 2 mounts. Then another on top of that with some more flat stock to bolt the stock tranny bushing to. Easy xmember and very tough

yea i need to get that ttb bracket off still lol, get lazy on grinding rivits. :thumbdwn:

but what do ya think, look decent? i feel as if the rear is still to far back, but theni look again and dont think it is. other than that do u have any longer u-bolts, i got blocks for my rear but no u-bolts for me to use tomorrow.. what u got in stock lol?
 






I don't have any. Bud springs on the manheim pike is where I get mine.

Steering is going to be your problem. You said not streetable right? Heims over to the steering knuckle. It will give you alot better angle on the draglink.

I think the rear is good.
 






I don't have any. Bud springs on the manheim pike is where I get mine.

Steering is going to be your problem. You said not streetable right? Heims over to the steering knuckle. It will give you alot better angle on the draglink.

I think the rear is good.

correct, not streetable. and do you have a picture of what you mean?
i hope this looks decent enuff, im pretty damn pround i pulled it off lmao!
 












still dont see how thats going to impove it, do you mean the harshness of the angle, or just a good steering idea?
 






Improve the angle of the drag link. Plus the DOM 1/4 wall tubing is about 3 times stronger then stock.
 






ok yea my uncle just stopped by and he said the same thing. i gota keep saving up and get some more funds for this project, but so far im very happy with where i am
 






well today i mounted up my shock brackets, put 2" blocks in the rear and painted the rad arm and the drivers side fram, which turned out damn good! the next things i need to tackle are getting calipers and brake lines run, and to get the steering all taken care of!

but here i got some more pics to put up...

im very happy with how it sits now with the back level!

and after all the darn work this weekend, i ran to autozone for my blocks.. came home and had a flat in my daily driver!


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the frame turned out perfect!

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ugh, must fix this rust, any ideas? :eek:

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my flat

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lurking in the garage in front of my explorer is my dads '96 ranger, 2.3l, 5spd, 4" superlift, 3" body, 5:13's, locker in front (thx FIREZAPPER), welded back, 35x12.50 swamper tsl's on 15x8 black soft 8's, 10point cage

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Three things that need to addressed with this swap.

1. Steering, it's already been addressed by FireZapper
2. Tracbar bracket, the point where it mounts to the frame needs to be beefed up and reinforced otherwise you're gonna have a cracked frame in short order.
3. Tranny x-member you're gonna need something to mount between the radius arm brackets and the also support the tranny. I made something like this \----|-|----/ out of 2x2" box tube and some 1/4" plate.
 






Three things that need to addressed with this swap.

1. Steering, it's already been addressed by FireZapper
2. Tracbar bracket, the point where it mounts to the frame needs to be beefed up and reinforced otherwise you're gonna have a cracked frame in short order.
3. Tranny x-member you're gonna need something to mount between the radius arm brackets and the also support the tranny. I made something like this \----|-|----/ out of 2x2" box tube and some 1/4" plate.

all that is going to be done. i did all this out my house to get it done, then itll be off to my uncles shop to be weled, reinforced and all buttoned up. i plan to build longer radius arm with heim joints, "rock proof" steering, etc. but thanks for the info on the tranny x member, i need to get that done
 












Looks good. Its a great start. I would say Zainy has some good suggestions. Also when you address the steering make sure your trac bar is the same angle as the drag link. Move the mount up on the axle end.
 



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If it were my truck I'd lose the body lift too, but that's just personal preference.
 






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