bats's 94 XLT

[lynchy wa]

Awesome score and heap's of good luck!!!!!!!

 

[Glen4X4]

Sounds awesome Dan, can't wait to see it lifted! Then time for 33" m/t's

 

[ld50]

Hey man, just watchin...

but I don't want to get too crazy

hehe, that`s pretty well what I said when I just wanted enough lift to run 31 inch tires.

 

[rookieshooter]

Hope the install goes good for ya. Ought to be a sweet ride when done.

 

[bats]

Some progress has been made. I didn't get to work on the truck as much as I had hoped this vacation, too many distractions (free Against Me show with FREE beer!). Than Friday night Skunk/Spas were out by me getting his Mits dyno'd. They left a nice present for me though: manual t-case to the Explorer! Whoa, one project at a time.

So as for progress on the truck.... Some one had already replaced the radius arm bushings so the rivets were already done. The problem was my socket stripped one of the two front bolts so I took a grinder to it. Carefully. Sucks not having a Dremel any more. Finally get them out, all the other RA bolts came out no problem.

I'm pulling the pitman arm second because I just got a puller yesterday. That thing is a little b!tch. I'm going to have to grind the points so it gets a better bite. What a fing pain in the a$s. I also removed the passenger side beam eye bolt.

After an afternoon snack, I'm going to tackle that pitman arm. From there it should hopefully be pretty smooth.

 

[bats]

Made a lot of headway this weekend. I'd consider this the half way point of the front end. Here's where I'm at:

Steering disconnected, pitman arm still attached. Dropped the passenger side beam. Went to fit up the drop bracket but something was wrong. There's an existing bracket in the way! The instructions kind of failed to mention that, as if the original beams were held in with magic. Heh.

So I run out and buy a new dremel and some more discs for the grinder. It was tight so switched back and forth between the two so I didn't completely mutilate my cross member. Those rivets are a ***** and a half.

According to the Superlift instructions you're supposed to drop one beam at a time and do each side on it's own. No way. It's just too crowded under there. I ended up just dropping the entire front suspension. The only thing left attached to the truck was the front drive shaft. I HIGHLY recommend doing this since you're going to be replacing everything anyway and it give you A LOT more room to work with.

So now everything is on jack stands. I removed the existing pivot brackets. Here we are in the home stretch! It's all down hill from here! Right?

Wrong. I line up the passenger side bracket and put the bolts in. The instructions told me to use the 4 larger bolts that came with the hardware kit... That would work except they're too big for any of the flippin holes! Fine. Must be a misprint I have an abundance of slightly smaller hardware that will fit.

Had a hell of a time getting the two bolts on the drivers side torqued to spec. Torque wrench wasn't lining up right with the socket. I finally get the wrench to a spot where I can move enough and watch the pointer ease towards the recomended spec when SNAP! The bolt sheared in half. $@)* I locate the head and yep, there's your problem, Grade 5 hardware.

Cue the trip to McDonalds for some brain food and grab a beer.

When I wrapped up tonight I had installed both brackets almost 100%. I just have to drill the hole for the last bolt on the driver side beam bracket. Thing. I don't know how much one extra bolt will do but why the hell not?

Didn't even both trying to drill because mine is burnt and my bits are too soft.

We're getting there.

 

[rookieshooter]

When things go horribly wrong for me, I'm going to come back to this post, re-read, sit back, lick my wounds and say to myself..."It could have been worse".

And like the cartoon of the big bird eating the tiny frog with the frogs front hands around the neck of the bird...Never give up.

 

[bats]

I'm too stubborn to give up. Haha. Here's some pics to tide every one over til the next update:

High quality hardware

Disconnected

Reinforced Superlift bracket. One less thing to break.

 

[bats]

Things are moving along quite nicely now.

Both drop brackets have been installed. The Passenger side bracket was no problem at all. The drivers side bracket required a decent amount of muscle to the the pivot eye hole lined up properly. (Note to self, tighten driver side pivot i bolt.) I have yet to drill the hole for the extra bolt for the passenger side axle bracket. I should be getting a new drill and a nice set of bits when I go out tomorrow.

Up until now I really didn't realize how much the stock radius arms limited flex. Just lining up the beams for the axle drop brackets they caused some minor head aches. I considered leaving the stock RA's and just using the drop brackets like a few other members did. Then I did some more reading and decided against it. Do it once and do it right.

Yesterday I put in the order for some James Duff extended radius arms. Nearly killed my paycheck but hey, why else do I work overtime?

This morning I removed the stock radius arms in anticipation of the newer, bluer replacements.

Does any one know if the shocks that came with the Superlift 5.5 kit will work with the JD radius arms or do I need some slightly longer ones? They're superlift shocks.

Also need to pick up some new bump stops. The brackets in this kit are fairly new <a year old so they're the improved redesigned ones. From what I can tell I should be exempt from the bump stop kiss of death. However, I'm not taking any chances. I have the bump stop extension brackets. It doesn't look like I can just 'unbolt' the existing bump stop like the instructions say so I'll be cutting them out and replacing them out.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

yet another one gets lifted. looks like evil and hotness will be the short ones again at next years afn! lol

 

[bats]

Weekend update: Brackets are in! Hardware is tightened up.

Next up, bump stops! I figured it would be best just to take care of them now while everything else is out of the way. Plus I was waiting on a special delivery....more on that later. According to the almighty Superlift instructions I should be able to simply unbolt the stock bs and just bolt them on to the new drop bump stop relocators ...of doom.(Or dumbness.) I groped around the inside frame rail and found the recessed bolt head, underneath a layer of crud. Cleaned it out best I could and shoved a socket on it. This ain't so bad I thought to myself, and foolishly so. No room to swing the ratchet and the socket kept jumping off. Fine. I'll grind the old one out.

This was a terrible idea as I ended up covered in hot burning chunks of rubber, many of which are still stuck on me in placed I'd rather not mention. (The secret to removing them is baby oil. Who wants to come give me a rub down?)

Enter sawzall, big chisel and hammer. Exit blood, feeling in my left arm and eventually bump stops. I had terrible aim today with the hammer. I also may have overheated the sawzall and caught stuff on fire once or twice...

Had to drill bigger holes for the bump stops I bought. Bolt them up and..... wow, those drop brackets go down further than I thought. The included brackets don't look like they allow for much compression at all. I'll probably turn them sideways and see how much travel they allow.

So remember that delivery I mentioned earlier? Few nights ago I hear my UPS guy shuffle up to the door step cursing *whomp* One package. More cursing. *whomp* second package. Special delivery from a Mr. James Duff.

Extended radius ares are teh sex. I didn't think they'd be so hefty. I definitely feel like I got my money's worth. (They're like pieces of art.)

Started putting the driver side bracket on. Need to drill a bunch of holes. Halfway through drilling the first hole the drill jerked and caught my hand between it and the frame rail. Also sheared off my brand new step bit. Tools may have been hurled before I decided to call it quits for today.


Summary:Drop brackets in. Bump stops were massacred, removed, dropped and replaced. Fires put out. (Temporarily.) James Duff extended radius arms installation under way.

 

[bats]

Progress has been non-existant due to a ridiculously busy schedule with work. In a moment of clarity (ie 30 some odd hours of no sleep) I decided to change my plans. Eleanor is a nice truck. Comfortable ride, quiet inside. Roomy and much newer than the Bronco II I picked up for an interim DD.

Earlier this year I got the Bronco with 45,x.. original miles. Clean enough but not the most road worthy car. Ridiculous wind/road noise, sloppy ride and most recently it's been burning oil. It got me to work and to PA and back a few times, each ride more stressful than the next.

After reading rookieshooters thread he made a great point, the BII is an awesome platform to build an off road truck on. Pair it with a 302 swap (my original plan when i got the truck) and some lift and you've got a a very capable machine.

Long story short, I have decided to put the Explorer back to stock as I think it will serve a better purpose as my daily driver/road car. I saved all the original parts and reversing my work will not be terribly difficult. All I really need is an 8.8 with 3.73 gears and I have everything.

As for the Bronco II.... stay tuned.

 

[bats]

A few weeks ago I picked up a rear axle from a 2000 explorer. 3.73's, open. Spent the last two weekend putting it on. Was pretty straight forward. Got a master cylinder from a 95 with no ABS and no proportioning valve. Took it out for a spin today and everything worked fine. Truck stops without a problem.

It was both a happy and sad moment for me. I'm used to the Ex having some pep but not it's back to normal and drives slightly better than the BII with the current set of tires. The happy part is that I now have a solid plan of how I want to build my dedicated offroad vehicle. But that's another thread entirely...

I'm just about done with projects for the year and the next few months will be spent gathering parts and sorting out my tools. Possibly a good wash and wax job too. I'm pretty beat up from trying to get everything done in between work and stuff. Time to settle in by the fire with a glass of something strong and the James Duff catalog...

 

[Glen4X4]

Good to hear its bck to normal and working properly.

 

[bats]

Justified killing.

This afternoon I took Eleanor for her last ride. A very bittersweet moment. The plan was to clean her up and try and sell her as a station car. After this drive I knew I had to bite the bullet. The amount of time/money to get her back in shape is the value of the car.

On top of the front end problems typical of the TTB it needs a new exhaust. The rust spots finally let go. Hard starts on cold mornings. The list goes on.

I made the decision to use her for parts. The Bronco II build (now known as the Little *******) is struggling along and everything needed to finish it by Carlisle is in the Ex.

It kills me to kill a running vehicle. However, I have too much going on (BII, work) and I already have a DD (the Volvo). To push this decision off was delaying the inevitable.

Tonight I parked her and half the front end is already under the *******.

 

[parli22]

sorru to hear that but Eleanor will live on in the evil one