Bkennedy's SAS and Rebuild Thread

[BKennedy]

Packing up to go back to San Diego tomorrow. Decided to do a backhoe flex test. Ford picking up a Ford.

 

[410Fortune]

Okay now flex the tractor!
Safe travels!!

 

[BKennedy]

Okay now flex the tractor!
Safe travels!!

Thats about the max flex from that tractor. It's the same on flat ground as anywhere else.

I've been chasing a rattle under the Explorer for months. A small part of it was the cat hear shield. I drilled some more holes in it and used more bailing wire to tighten it against the cat flange. Thats noise is gone. This morning I set the idle just right to cause the loud rattle with a 2x4 against the seat. I crawled around under the truck, fearing it was coming from the transmission or flywheel area. Turns out it's the muffler. It has a small crack dead center, and the noise is coming from the front of the inside of the muffler. Whe. I pushed on it with a wood hammer handle, the noise stops. I put some small, ball peen hammer sized dents in the muffler and the noise went away. Beat the crack shut as well, its too small to bother welding. It's not a permanent solution, but will keep until I get around to replacing the muffler. I'm fairly certain it's a Flowmaster that's about 18-20 years old. The exhaust was done nice and straight to the back when the 700R4 was installed. The muffler is behind the skid plates and 3-4" below the body, so will be fairly easy to replace. It's had a good life. I'll find a muffler shop in Kingman if it starts making noise again.

 

[BKennedy]

I finally got around to getting the muffler replaced. The shop had Magna Flow in stock and they have a lifetime warranty. He also said the new FloMasters are Chinese garbage. It's a lot quieter, and there are at least three vibrations and/or rattles in different places that are now gone. I thought I might be having a potential driveline issue because it had a slight vibration in 3rd, but its gone. The only issue I see is it's a little fatter than the old muffler, and is about 1/4" below the frame rail. Might get creamed by a rock someday.

 

[FAKRWEE]

I finally got around to getting the muffler replaced. The shop had Magna Flow in stock and they have a lifetime warranty. He also said the new FloMasters are Chinese garbage. It's a lot quieter, and there are at least three vibrations and/or rattles in different places that are now gone. I thought I might be having a potential driveline issue because it had a slight vibration in 3rd, but its gone. The only issue I see is it's a little fatter than the old muffler, and is about 1/4" below the frame rail. Might get creamed by a rock someday.

 

[FAKRWEE]

Hi Brian, you still have that piece of crap? lol. It’s Fakree. Hope you’re doing well.

 

[GRNMACHINE]

I finally got around to getting the muffler replaced. The shop had Magna Flow in stock and they have a lifetime warranty. He also said the new FloMasters are Chinese garbage. It's a lot quieter, and there are at least three vibrations and/or rattles in different places that are now gone. I thought I might be having a potential driveline issue because it had a slight vibration in 3rd, but its gone. The only issue I see is it's a little fatter than the old muffler, and is about 1/4" below the frame rail. Might get creamed by a rock someday.

Thats wild, last year I had to replace my Flowmaster muffler (rusted out from inside, Explorer hardly ever saw snow), it was muffler from their Force II cat back long discontinued. I believe it had a lengthy 1 year warranty… Having dealt with Magnaflow and their lifetime warranty it was a no brainer to purchase a Magnaflow. Found a model similar in specs and had local muffler place install for about $50. magnaflow customer service was awesome when I needed replacement on Pathfinder many years back and they were helpful verifying specs etc.

 

[BKennedy]

My Flomaster did the same thing, rusted out from the inside. It's at least 15 years old so I can't complain. Explorer has never been east of Colorado.

 

[BKennedy]

Took a drive through the Hualapai Mountains today. It takes about 20 minutes to get into pine forest from Kingman. Drove the last half of Moss Wash Trail backwards. Rained a little on the way in. When I stopped for lunch I noticed a screw in the right front tire. It was in the tread so I thought maybe it's not long enough to penatrate. Wrong; it was a 2.5" drywall screw. It took longer to dig out the plug kit than repair the tire.
Lunch location:

I turned off to Ceder Wash Rd. It parallels Moss Wash in the next canyon to the south. I'd never been down it and didn't want to drive through the difficult section of Moss Wash after all the rains. Last year the rocks got a lot bigger, and there was hardly any tracks on the trail so I am thinking they are even bigger after the last several storms. I'll check it out some weekend when there is a better chance of someone else being on the trail.
The sun was at the right angle so most of the rocks were sparkling with some type of reflective mineral.
This rock is granite and crumbling quartz, and sparkled in the sun. The red is probably iron ore.

Anyways, Ceder Wash Rd appears to be a graded ranch road. That took me east to Blake Ranch Rd. I was going to head north to I-40, but I could see some seriously dark clouds, heavy rain and lightning in that direction. I headed back up the mountain on Antelope Valley Rd.

Then back to Kingman on Hualapai Mountain Rd. It rained on the way down the mountain and I was gifted the sight of a huge rainbow in the mirror. Stopped to take a pick. The end is in the canyon the road goes through, but no pot of gold was visible.

Even with the screw in the tire, it was a good day. About 50 miles of dirt, 25 pavement.

 

[BKennedy]

Hi Brian, you still have that piece of crap? lol. It’s Fakree. Hope you’re doing well.

Is this really Tom? I figured you would be dead by now. lol. Last time I heard from you, you said you had moved to Florida and would call me later... That was what, 15 years ago?

 

[Kirby N.]

Tom! Never should’ve sold your piece of crap Navajo. It was inspiring. @FAKRWEE

 

[410Fortune]

Mufflers rust out from the inside when you don’t put enough long trips on your truck! Short trips condensation collects in the low spot of the exhaust (muffler can) and stays there
The truck has to get hot enough to evaporate all the water

I had my “flow pro” muffler rust out the same way, a cheapo chinesium knock off of the already cheapo flowmaster.
My exhaust guy pointed out to
Me I just be making short trips in my bronco… he was right.
To school and back, to auto parts store and back… never hot enough to Evap the collecting water

Magnaflow Makes good stuff! They are my second favorite behind Borla for mainstream mufflers but man I gotta tell you guys if you want a good tough muffler that won’t rust out anytime soon look at spintec

 

[donalds]

I drilled a small hole in my muffler in the lowest spot just like the factory muffler
Water came out just a little
but I can see how they would rust with no way for the water to escape

 

[Kirby N.]

I run cheap glass packs. They are thicker than a normal muffler. More compact too. And if you put a long one in there they get pretty quiet.

 

[BKennedy]

Took a few great trail drives this week from the Arizona property into the Black Mountains. Wednesday, I went through Golden Valley on the 68, then took a dirt trail that parallels the highway up to the Richardson Homestead site. It was a gas station and very small hotel that served travelers going to and from the Catherine Mine north of Bullhead City.

From there you have to backtrack, but I wanted to see if there was a way through the mountains to the west instead of taking the highway. A trail heading south eventually ran into a easy trail to the summit along a buried fiber optic cable line. At the summit, it heads down very steeply (real steep, like 3.8 Atlas in 4 low and trans in 1st gear steep) to one of my favorite trails, which runs along the west edge of the Mount Nutt Wilderness area.

View from the summit of the Colorado River, Bullhead City and Laughlin.

Panoramic pic

From there, I took the 68 back as it was already late in the day and mission acomplished.

Today, I went down R66 to Silver Creek Rd, which is just north of Oatman. Then north across the trail that goes along the west edge of the Mount Nutt Wilderness area. It's a fun trail through a very scenic area with a few technical spots. Ended up at the "Stripper Pole Panty Rock". I had always continued north or south from this spot, but there is a trail heading due east into the mountains. That turned out to be one of the coolest trails I have been on in a long time. Mostly moderate with a few spots that were challenging, but not enough to turn around. Mostly rocks and off-camber spots. This trail heads way up the mountain, and over the summit, mostly through a steep and tight canyon. Once you get through the canyon, the views are spectacular. Very cool. About half way down the back side heading into Golden Valley area, I saw the other easy trail about a mile off to the north. There are a bunch of interesting side trails and old mines around for future exploration.

This trail ended up in Golden Valley on a county road. I figured out I could get to the east end of this area in about 45 minutes of highway driving from the property. It ends near a portion of the Arizona Peace Trail. I post some pictures later.

Only issue I had was I kept smelling gas. My year old 20 liter fuel can on the bumper developed wrinkles in the sides and cracked. -POS- The trails within the washes are also seriously wash boarded compared to last year. I overtook two groups of side by sides because the faster the Explorer goes, the smoother it gets. Took 15 minutes of following a group of two before I think they noticed and let me pass. Either that, or they don't understand basic trail etiquette.

On R66 heading towards Oatman, I saw at least 30 Ford Raptor F150's doing Raptor stuff (speeding, passing over double yellow lines, etc.). They were coming from both directions, must have been some meet in Oatman.

 

[dvdswan]

Beautiful pictures. I certainly miss AZ. Thank you for sharing.

 

[410Fortune]

Side by sides don’t come with rear view mirrors which is ridiculous… was the first thing I added

With the advent of the rzr everyone is a pro Baja racer
Don’t you get the memos?

 

[BKennedy]

Last week I changed the oil and did my annual suspension inspection. The rod end at the top of the track bar is blown out, again. I have been using Rough Stuff rod ends, but at this mount they only last about a year. I ordered one from FK. They cost twice as much, but are supposed to be the best. See how long it lasts.

I found the passenger side radius arm rod end jam nut is loose. It seems to loosen up on a regular basis. The driver side never loosens. I crank them down with a 28" long wrench, so lots of clamping force. Going to use thread locker on it this time.

 

[dvdswan]

One has to ask, how a rod end on a track bar go bad? there's really no forward/back movement only up/down with a slight twist.

 

[BKennedy]

One has to ask, how a rod end on a track bar go bad? there's really no forward/back movement only up/down with a slight twist.

The lower mount is a Bronco/F100/F150 bushing so the upper rod end mount does most of the work. The lower bushing helps control road and tire vibrations. The front suspension has 14" coil over shocks, 43" long radius arms, and the 35" tires can drop below the body line. Its a very flexy suspension. I routinely bomb down Arizona desert dirt roads at higher speeds, and rock crawl where I use every bit of the suspension. When I go off roading, I tend to cover ground faster than most people, which makes the suspension work harder. There is a lot more movement and stress on that rod end than with a regular truck doing regular truck things. It's also a 3/4-16 x 3/4" bore, which is on the small side. Its the same size rod end as my steering so I don't have to carry a bunch of different spares.