A tribute to our well made vehicles.

[midnightcarving]

well here it is, i'm convinced, ford makes the finest vehicles in the american lineup, and explorer is right at the top of the line. My 95' xlt has taken the beatings and just keeps coming back for more. First, over the summer it hauled several 25+ foot boats on its factory bumper hitch, no problems, for distances over 50 miles, then, its managed to pull itself out of every bad snow situation this winter no questions asked. now heres where it gets good, i wasnt paying attention a couple weeks ago and went off the road, hit a snowbank and a few small trees, dented in the door, messed up some body panels, but after being pulled out by a friend, it drove home fine (other than the missing trim peices) no alignment issues, no wobbles, squeeks, or anything. To finish it all off, today i was rushing to work and did the same damn thing, this time into a very icy snowbank, ripped the tires right off their bead and i had to be towed on the flatbed, they got it back to the shop, reset the bead, and to their amazement, no alignment issues, no suspension issues, no damages aside from adding to the pre-existing custom body work.

so heres to us, fellow explorer owners, for choosing america's finest.

If anyone else has a good explorer survival story lets hear it, because i'm sure i'm not the only one.

 

[ThePhoenix]

i keep hearing that "real american hero's" song in the background...

 

[00XLS]

I t-boned a first gen explorer, mine def faired out better. Headlight assembly damaged, some brackets and minor paint work due to a bent hood corner. Faired out pretty well.

 

[Willard]

Mines hit a tree, replaced a few things on the front and was fine, I also slid of a winter road into a ditch going about 25, went through a foot deep trench, up the embankment a couple feet, and down back through the ditch. steering wheel is a little off, but no alignment issues other than that. nothing else is broken either. I also got rear-ended sitting a stop light, guy hit me going about 30, barely even moved my bumper, didn't even scratch it. I love Fords

 

[midnightcarving]

real american heros lol, i like that

to further clarify, i love all fords, i had a friend with an f-150 that hit a toyota tacoma, tacoma was toast, he said it went about 30 yards after the impact, the whole front end was ruined and the guy driving had some scrapes and bruises, my buddy's 150 was totalled but only because it was a 92', the damage wasnt that bad.

also, i had a friend with an escort from 89 i believe, and that thing had 196k on it, never missed a beat, finally saved up enough for an f-250 diesel and gave the escort to his brother, still running as far as i know.

 

[HUA99XLT]

I don't have any survival stories of my current Explorer but before this one I owned a '91 Explorer and that thing was a tank! Had 2 accidents with it. Rearended a Dodge sedan and CRUSHED the truck in, the only damage done to mine was a bent front license plate. Second accident I hit a Cadillac Deville smashed his driver's door inward (thank goodness he was okay) but hardly any damage done to my Ex.

Other than that all I have to say is that both of my Ex's have faired pretty well off-road. Now I've never done anything too extreme like many others on this site, although I hope to change that someday , and I've had some close calls, but neither of my Ex's have ever really gotten stuck, they always manage to get out of stuff under their own power.

 

[Gator Jeff]

Not too dramatic, but I had my truck parked at work where the parking lot is very tight. According to one of my guys (I didn't see it), a car backing out of their space, backed right into the corner of my rear bumper. The driver got out, looked at his car, looked at mine, shrugged and drove away. My guy ran out to get his plate (didn't) but then showed me the aftermath. Broken plastic from his taillights and who knows what else by my bumper and me... not a scratch!

 

[LMedina]

My neighbor backed his nissan mini truck right into my left rear tail light - lens suffered a hairline crack while the nissan's tailgate looked like it got t-boned! ha ha! The second "accident" happened mid-day in heavy rain: I was at a stoplight and the guy behind me hit me square in the rear. No damage at all to my Explorer, but the guy's front end (Chevy Cavalier) was crushed with his hood accordioned. What the heck do make Explorers out of, anyway??? ha ha ha!

 

[Paraphoe]

Gotta love the Explorer.

 

[Charlie]

 

[north/west,ex]

Hit a 600lb bear at 100 kmph
explorer 1 bear 0
bent the front bumper and lower valance and cracked the plastic grill

 

[TequilaSnrs087]

My Ex is a tough one.

The first 29,000 miles of its life were spent in a corporate fleet. That probably means very little routine maintenance.

The second owner was very good about maintenance, but he did use the truck to its full potential. It regularly towed a boat for years and his son took it to college. He had it until 147,x.. miles when he sold it to me for $950 with a lot of body damage but no major issues. I talked to him recently about the truck via email and he said that he thinks Explorers are the best SUVs out there. He has owned more than one and swears by them.

I now have 156,000 miles on the truck with the original transmission, engine, axles, t-case, and even the original power steering pump. I don't give it any mercy either. It is very well maintained, but it has to earn it. It has been run into things off road, had the gas pedal pushed to the floor at every opportunity, and is generally driven in a "spritied" manner, on pavement and off. It's a tough truck for sure.