97exploderXLT
Active Member
- Joined
- January 4, 2013
- Messages
- 68
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Newport, TN
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 96 explorer xlt
Hi all,
My name is zack and I'm. From the Newport TN area with my inherited 97 XLT with all the options but running boards (ick) and a sunroof lol.
A little history on my truck, my grandfather bought it back in '04 for the princley sum of 13k. Not too bad considering it already had yoko mud radials and only 68k miles and was in mint condition. My grandparents both passed in 2010 and I inherited everything they owned, which included this wonderful exploder. Now in my grandfathers last few alzheimers induced demented months he managed to hit one of the gokart sized boulders at the end of my driveway and tore the front left suspension out of the truck and warped the frame. Since then it has ben fixed and beat on since day one of my ownership.
First thing I did when I got it was replace the michelin street radials with a set of goodsmear wrangler at's. And the came poly swaybar endlinks, new front halfshafts and new brakes. Once all that was done, it was time to hit some trails and hit some trails is what I did (old abandonded logging trails to be exact). I wanted to test how well these things were off road with basically no mods and a decent set of tires. Needless to say, I'm impressed. I couldn't find anything it couldn't climb over or crawl through. And for me to be impressed was saying something since my previous rig was a '79 'yota with 33's and 4.10's and you guys know as well as I do yotas are some of the best wheeling rigs you can get your hands on. After many 3 wheeled experiences, and about $70 in quaters at the local car was I'm in love with my exploder. Its been through hell and back a few time and still starts up the next day asking for more. Its been put on its side, almost wrapped around a tree, took a nose dive, hit a deer (my wife driving) and, I used it to push and pull a house over. And like I said, its still alive with 189k on it and its still got the original motor and tranny, with no 2-3 flare, no knocking, no flashing o/d light or anything typical I've read or heard here on the 2 years I've been lurking the site. The only problem I do have is the auto 4x4 crap. It decided to kick into 4L and only lock the drivers side hub while I wals doing 60 down the highway.
Long story short I love my exploder! I would post up some pics but the only internet I have is my phone.. lol
My name is zack and I'm. From the Newport TN area with my inherited 97 XLT with all the options but running boards (ick) and a sunroof lol.
A little history on my truck, my grandfather bought it back in '04 for the princley sum of 13k. Not too bad considering it already had yoko mud radials and only 68k miles and was in mint condition. My grandparents both passed in 2010 and I inherited everything they owned, which included this wonderful exploder. Now in my grandfathers last few alzheimers induced demented months he managed to hit one of the gokart sized boulders at the end of my driveway and tore the front left suspension out of the truck and warped the frame. Since then it has ben fixed and beat on since day one of my ownership.
First thing I did when I got it was replace the michelin street radials with a set of goodsmear wrangler at's. And the came poly swaybar endlinks, new front halfshafts and new brakes. Once all that was done, it was time to hit some trails and hit some trails is what I did (old abandonded logging trails to be exact). I wanted to test how well these things were off road with basically no mods and a decent set of tires. Needless to say, I'm impressed. I couldn't find anything it couldn't climb over or crawl through. And for me to be impressed was saying something since my previous rig was a '79 'yota with 33's and 4.10's and you guys know as well as I do yotas are some of the best wheeling rigs you can get your hands on. After many 3 wheeled experiences, and about $70 in quaters at the local car was I'm in love with my exploder. Its been through hell and back a few time and still starts up the next day asking for more. Its been put on its side, almost wrapped around a tree, took a nose dive, hit a deer (my wife driving) and, I used it to push and pull a house over. And like I said, its still alive with 189k on it and its still got the original motor and tranny, with no 2-3 flare, no knocking, no flashing o/d light or anything typical I've read or heard here on the 2 years I've been lurking the site. The only problem I do have is the auto 4x4 crap. It decided to kick into 4L and only lock the drivers side hub while I wals doing 60 down the highway.
Long story short I love my exploder! I would post up some pics but the only internet I have is my phone.. lol
