How I got here: I became a registered user of Serious Explorations back in August of 2003. Initially, I had been searching Yahoo! to see if I could find any performance parts for my Explorer. I stumbled upon Explorer4x4.com, and the rest is history. As I began to peruse the many threads available here, I began to realize that there was a whole lot more I could do to my truck than just make it perform better. Before me, I saw a whole bunch of cool stuff that I thought I could do to really make my Explorer stand out among the sea of grocery getting soccer mom X's---and it wasn't until I found this website that I even considered lifting my truck. With around 70 posts under my belt, I decided I wanted to be Elite. I wanted to have a cool avatar---and I was so thrilled that I fixed my IAC from the info I found here, that I figured this would be $30 bucks well spent. I wasn't wrong.
A little background on me: My name's Bill and I'm 24 years old. I've lived in New Jersey, on the water at the Jersey Shore, all my life. I graduated from The College of New Jersey (it sounds fake, doesn't it?) in 2002, and I'm a Voice Network Administrator for the State of New Jersey. In a nutshell, I run a digital phone network for one of the largest state agencies in New Jersey. Amazingly, it works just like a data network--except it carries voice traffic and people get a lot more pissed when it doesn't work. They eventually get over it though.
Shortly after I graduated from school, I hit a deer with the car I had had since I got my license: A 1990 Ford Thunderbird Supercoupe. Like anyone's first car, I loved that thing. It was a real money pit though. Being fresh outta college with no job yet, I decided it would be more economical to repair the T-Bird and try to get a few more miles out of it than buy something new (used)...at least I knew the history of the 'Bird. So, $2300 worth of body work later, I had her back. Three months after that, it blew the head and she was dead. What a waste! I was able to sell it for a grand though, so it wasn't a total loss. After being car-less for a few months, my mom told me that a friend of her's was looking to sell her Explorer. Begger's can't be chooser's, so I definately considered her truck to be an option. I didn't think it would be in my price range being as though it was an Eddie Bauer and the Blue Book Value seemed to be more than I could pull together. Turns out that the woman had put a brand new trans in it, had bought a Volvo and was ready to ditch the X. Being a family friend and all, she sold the truck to me for $4800. The truck was flawless: one very minor dent in the rear hatch, perfect paint, and EVERY option---even the factory grille guard. I was totally psyched to get my hands on this truck--it was May, we were going into summer, and I was finally able to haul my jet skiis to a race behind something cooler than my Mom's Bonneville.
My Mod's and Future Mod's: I debated with myself for a while: Did I want to 'pimp' this truck, or did I want to lift it? A lot of guys in my town are running around with a lifted this, or a lifted that...but no lifted Explorer's. And it seems like everyone and their baby's' daddy is pimpin' an Escalade or some other too-big-for-a-soccermom-to-handle SUV on 20's. My mind was set...I was going UP.
With some research and thread-posting, I figured I'd start simple. I purchased the Warrior Shackles first....and then found out that AAL's would help also (being as though I had the infamous butt-sag). I found out that Sk1er17 (Matt) lives very nearby, and I began consulting with him as far as what I needed to buy and do to get the show on the road. I ended up buying the double AAL's instead of the single. Of course, up front I did the good ol' Torsion Twist to gain some lift. So far, I've installed the Shack's and the AAL's and completed the TT. I knew that I wanted to go with 32's instead of 31's, because I knew that I would inevitabley go bigger and I figured 32's would satisfy me for a while (at least).
Right now I'm playing the waiting game. I ordered the ProComp All-Terrain's from 4 Wheel Parts. For the longest time I wanted to go with BFG's, but in talking with Sk1er, I found out that the ProComp is a very capable tire that (unfortunately) doesn't look too aggressive on the computer screen, but is hella-good in real life. I took his word for it, saved a couple hundred because of 4WP's 3 for 1 deal, and am awaiting delievery of these beauty's mounted on AE 589's. I expect to be doing some trimming, but it's all good. I'm way excited. Expect pictures soon! My future mods will most likely include a body lift, a slammin' audio system (Being an audiophile is my other hobby ), and anything else I find I "need". As Matt put it last Sunday, "The bug's bitten you, man." Indeed.
If you've read this far, I thank you. I also thank this entire board for being a fun, informative, and friendly place to be. I've read many posts on other boards and the flaming and berating that goes on elsewhere is discouraging. You truly are a stand-up group of people who I certainly am proud to be associated with. Thank you!
BH
A little background on me: My name's Bill and I'm 24 years old. I've lived in New Jersey, on the water at the Jersey Shore, all my life. I graduated from The College of New Jersey (it sounds fake, doesn't it?) in 2002, and I'm a Voice Network Administrator for the State of New Jersey. In a nutshell, I run a digital phone network for one of the largest state agencies in New Jersey. Amazingly, it works just like a data network--except it carries voice traffic and people get a lot more pissed when it doesn't work. They eventually get over it though.
Shortly after I graduated from school, I hit a deer with the car I had had since I got my license: A 1990 Ford Thunderbird Supercoupe. Like anyone's first car, I loved that thing. It was a real money pit though. Being fresh outta college with no job yet, I decided it would be more economical to repair the T-Bird and try to get a few more miles out of it than buy something new (used)...at least I knew the history of the 'Bird. So, $2300 worth of body work later, I had her back. Three months after that, it blew the head and she was dead. What a waste! I was able to sell it for a grand though, so it wasn't a total loss. After being car-less for a few months, my mom told me that a friend of her's was looking to sell her Explorer. Begger's can't be chooser's, so I definately considered her truck to be an option. I didn't think it would be in my price range being as though it was an Eddie Bauer and the Blue Book Value seemed to be more than I could pull together. Turns out that the woman had put a brand new trans in it, had bought a Volvo and was ready to ditch the X. Being a family friend and all, she sold the truck to me for $4800. The truck was flawless: one very minor dent in the rear hatch, perfect paint, and EVERY option---even the factory grille guard. I was totally psyched to get my hands on this truck--it was May, we were going into summer, and I was finally able to haul my jet skiis to a race behind something cooler than my Mom's Bonneville.My Mod's and Future Mod's: I debated with myself for a while: Did I want to 'pimp' this truck, or did I want to lift it? A lot of guys in my town are running around with a lifted this, or a lifted that...but no lifted Explorer's. And it seems like everyone and their baby's' daddy is pimpin' an Escalade or some other too-big-for-a-soccermom-to-handle SUV on 20's. My mind was set...I was going UP.
With some research and thread-posting, I figured I'd start simple. I purchased the Warrior Shackles first....and then found out that AAL's would help also (being as though I had the infamous butt-sag). I found out that Sk1er17 (Matt) lives very nearby, and I began consulting with him as far as what I needed to buy and do to get the show on the road. I ended up buying the double AAL's instead of the single. Of course, up front I did the good ol' Torsion Twist to gain some lift. So far, I've installed the Shack's and the AAL's and completed the TT. I knew that I wanted to go with 32's instead of 31's, because I knew that I would inevitabley go bigger and I figured 32's would satisfy me for a while (at least).
Right now I'm playing the waiting game. I ordered the ProComp All-Terrain's from 4 Wheel Parts. For the longest time I wanted to go with BFG's, but in talking with Sk1er, I found out that the ProComp is a very capable tire that (unfortunately) doesn't look too aggressive on the computer screen, but is hella-good in real life. I took his word for it, saved a couple hundred because of 4WP's 3 for 1 deal, and am awaiting delievery of these beauty's mounted on AE 589's. I expect to be doing some trimming, but it's all good. I'm way excited. Expect pictures soon! My future mods will most likely include a body lift, a slammin' audio system (Being an audiophile is my other hobby
), and anything else I find I "need". As Matt put it last Sunday, "The bug's bitten you, man." Indeed.If you've read this far, I thank you. I also thank this entire board for being a fun, informative, and friendly place to be. I've read many posts on other boards and the flaming and berating that goes on elsewhere is discouraging. You truly are a stand-up group of people who I certainly am proud to be associated with. Thank you!
BH
