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Blue's 91 XLT

Hello, this is my new to me 91 xlt. i just got it from a friend who has had it for years and just got a new truck, he needed space in his driveway and i needed a vehicle and it was one of the two vehicles i was thinking about getting, (an explorer or a blazer were on the top of my wish list) and so i bought it for 300$. Of course, with any 22 year old vehicle you buy for 300$, it has lots of little problems, but i still love it anyway.
Almost ran into his new truck trying to turn around in his tiny driveway on the way out after i bought it hehe.

Future plans includetrying to restore it as much as possible, this wont be hard inside, as the interior is almost mint aside from a small tear in the drivers seat leather, but i have to fix the rear shocks eventually, fix the tail lights, and some cosmetic stuff like minor rust and the dissapearing clear coat.
I plan to get larger tires, probably 31's. New or different leafs in back, maybe an f150 leaf pack, and manual hubs for the 4wd, along with some custom cosmetic upgrades like running boards and maybe a brush guard.

This will be a long project for me as money is and will be pretty tight for quite a while. and at first my priority is just getting it to respectable shape mechanically.


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that is how it sits right now, i hope to improve it as much as i can, it has about 156k miles right now, my goal is to go to at least 350k.

any changes i make i will post on this thread as well

enjoy. thanks!


EDIT: The image site i originally used to host my earlier pics decided to delete all my photos because they started requiring a paid account to host on their site. My normal computer with all the pics on it currently does not have a charger that will work, so once i get a new charger i will repost all of the missing pictures if i can. you can see the basic progression though, just missing some of the pics on the first 2 pages. all the cool stuff is on the 2nd and 3rd pages anyways, but i'll repost the pics as soon as i can. thanks!
 



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conduit is weak and id never trust anything but maybe 20 pounds sitting on top of it. The metal rips its so thin....

If i got a roof rack, id want it for a spare, hi lift, maybe a few jerry cans and a cooler. No more then 100 pounds.

Depends how it's built then I guess...I'm 170lbs and was walking around on mine the other day...didn't flex, bend or move...
 



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Depends how it's built then I guess...I'm 170lbs and was walking around on mine the other day...didn't flex, bend or move...

Come On!!! :thumbsup:
 






I can stand on my rack and its made from conduit. When properly braced, its plenty strong.
 






I like this old truck, im partial to 1st gens tho. That roof rack is sweet, alot better then these things they are making with conduit LOL.

Im not exactly sure what you could do to save her, maybe a body swap?? Thats easier for me to say, as im in Texas and we dont have much rust. Good luck to ya!

I like it too, my first truck and aside from this brake line, it has never actually left me stranded, and that's saying something especially because its got 181k miles, the brake lines were due to rust, something that was my fault for not keeping better track of, and I actually COULD still drive it, I had brakes about an inch off the floor and they still had enough power to stop me, and I did drive it around a decent bit before getting to the shop.


As far as saving it and body swaps etc. this has been discussed before here, (reference the posts after it was T-boned) As much as I would love to restore it, it just isn't worth the trouble.
The body swap would solve a few of the problems but it needs a transmission (I messed it up a bit more the other day, hitting the gas before it was fully in gear. loud thunk when I tap the gas now audible from outside, though I have run it for like 20k miles with no 4th gear)

The engine also doesn't run that great, terrible gas mileage, rough idle (still can't figure that one out) and sort of weak power-wise

The frame is actually in decent shape aside from some pitting far back where the spare used to be, but the suspension is totally shot, like it is BAD. It needs just about everything other than ball joints and bearings.


Now, even though I say all this, don't think It's getting scrapped.
Eventually, when I have some money to mess around with and fewer projects, the explorer is getting sort of a resurrection. I'm thinking exo cage, lift or SAS (I said eventually don't get tooo exited) Half doors (skinned not tube) and some other fun stuff, what better for a trail rig than an explorer in rough shape you don't have to worry so much about beating up on the trail.
 






Also Conduit isn't that weak, I'm sure it would hold up just as well as my roof basket if built properly. The basket itself is only 1/2" hardened steel so while it is rugged and would bend, it does flex a lot (always rebounds though, one of those choice qualities of hardened steel) but I don't think I would put more than 2-250 lbs on it for any extended period of time, as the "floor" of it is just regular expanded steel without much for bracing aside from the 1/16" wall square tubing cross bars.. I originally wanted the basket to be very similar to store-bought ones but materials and teachers that are smarter than me said otherwise haha.

I weigh about 230 lbs and can sit on mine and its fine, little bit of flex right in the middle where the expanded steel isn't supported. I just wouldn't want to have to have that much weight up there all the time.
 






Also Conduit isn't that weak, I'm sure it would hold up just as well as my roof basket if built properly. The basket itself is only 1/2" hardened steel so while it is rugged and would bend, it does flex a lot (always rebounds though, one of those choice qualities of hardened steel) but I don't think I would put more than 2-250 lbs on it for any extended period of time, as the "floor" of it is just regular expanded steel without much for bracing aside from the 1/16" wall square tubing cross bars.. I originally wanted the basket to be very similar to store-bought ones but materials and teachers that are smarter than me said otherwise haha.

I weigh about 230 lbs and can sit on mine and its fine, little bit of flex right in the middle where the expanded steel isn't supported. I just wouldn't want to have to have that much weight up there all the time.

Eh i guess.....i can bend conduit easily. I cant square tubing. Just my OCD thing.
 






Eh i guess.....i can bend conduit easily. I cant square tubing. Just my OCD thing.

Oh I'm not talking the square tubing. I wouldn't use conduit for the crossbars, just the basket. I meant, the 1/2" hardened flat can easily be bent, like conduit, so weight load probably isn't all that different depending on design, just the hardened springs back (unless you reallybend it)

Also a drawback to what I used is that it really doesn't look as good in my opinion, at a distance the 1/2" can barely be seen so it doesnt have that rugged look of a tube or conduit roof basket unless you have something in or on it (ie: tire and lights)
 






Try ripping flat stock.
 






Try ripping flat stock.

That is a good point. Especially 3/16" thick flat stock. Also much easier to weld without worrying about blowthrough. But also a decent bit heavier (maybe not hardened steel, the basket on mine is very light but crossbars are much heavier), and I think conduit and tube baskets look better.

In the end, everything has its benefits and drawbacks. Mine works find for what I need it for (could have been wider but what ya gunna do) and other people don't need anything more than a storebought or conduit basket.
 






You guys remember those rust holes, well I fixed them for now, good enough to pass state inspection, but they don't look super pretty. If it works it works I guess. Unfortunately I can't find my camera at the moment and my mom's new camera saves in these weird files I can't open on my computer so pics won't be coming until I find my camera. Plan to try and get the truck inspected on maybe Wednesday or something.
 






Explorer is going to be getting new Radius Arm crossmember halves and new bushings this weekend! should make a huge difference in how the truck rides and handles
 






New Radius arm crossmembers are in! The truck feels a bit tighter and is much quieter over bumps, made a huge difference. I did kind of mess up with aligning the new crossmember on the driver side so I have a bit of a pull to the left but I should be able to fix it by loosening the bolts and pushing the cross member forward with a hammer.Then saturday I hope to put in new upper ball joints and do an alignment on the truck to fix the pull and tire wear issues.
 






New alternator (mine crapped out) and finally removed the resonator on my exhaust and aligned the truck, didnt end up needing ball joints just needed to adjust the cams on the uppers and retighten the pinch bolts. saturday I will probably be grinding and painting the frame rails in prep for winter. Might do a little body work too if i have time.
 






So this project will go on apparently. not right off, but soon. I was recently given another vehicle by a friend. Its a 96 jeep grand cherokee that needs a lot less work than the explorer or my ranger. So, the plan is to get that thing ready for the road this weekend, and park the explorer for a while. This is a good thing because that means I can start investing my free time in the explorer while I drive the jeep, allowing me to take more time to fix it and do it right. It is a big project but now that I won't have to worry about making it to work the next day if I bite off more than i can chew in a weekend, I can take my time and bring the explorer back to respectible shape, and it won't have to suffer through another winter, which would almost surely kill it (rust wise anyway). Here is some pictures because I know everyone likes those.

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Yes I towed it with the explorer, out of the woods and down the road, needed 4x4 to get it out of the woods in the mud, and it actually towed pretty well seeing how I did not have my brake controller hooked up and the tongue was a larger size than the tow ball I had (very unsafe I know but it was all we had and only had like 5 miles to go, safety chains were on) but it did cough and sputter a little when i started it up afterwards.. came out of it though.

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Well I'm back to working on the Explorer. The jeep turned out to be a little more of a project than I expected, as usual, but it still doesn't need much more work, so I'll fix it a bit more and sell it. The explorer has been getting all sorts of new parts lately though. I replaced the front swaybar bushings, axle pivot bushings, diff fluid in both axles, rear drums (full rebuild other than wheel cylinder) and rear driveshaft U-joints. This week I am trying to fix as much of the rust as possible. I already rebuilt the bottom of one of the fenders, and I'm midway through the driver side rocker panel and B pillar. Still have more work to do on the rocker and also the rocker panel on the passenger side, rear floor braces, and passenger quarter panel.

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This is just test fitting, Nothing is welded yet. I also finally got the pillar somewhat straightened out so my doors fit properly.
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Fender post metalwork:
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My ramps sunk a bit in the mud..
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more to come when the weather cooperates..

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I don't think I would have admitted the tow ball part. Good thing Lady Luck was on your side.

We didnt realize it until after we arrived at the destination, weren't sure what the issue was until we re-checked it after..
 






Well I finished the rocker panel. I had the shop at work for a few hours (I work in a body shop at a local Ford dealership, though I do a nicer job on the dealership cars than i do on my own since I'm not rushed as much) so I sanded down the paint I put on a couple areas I couldn't finish and started to do up the metalwork and finish the panel.

One of the areas I didn't quite get to before, though I Ran out of time again so I wasn't able to take the door off to really smooth down the welds (Yes I did wel;d the whole edge)
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More sanding and body filler
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Primered up
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And finished product, the wavyness at the bottom of the pillar is due mostly to me rushing (I had to be out by noon) and using a flap disk and grinder to sand that area of body filler.
m6ioYOa

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And Yes, I do have the door panel, I'm waiting to put it on until I can get a new plastic cap/handle for the lock pin, It broke off before I had the door and got jammed on the inside of the old panel which in turn broke my inner handle and made the door useless. I will be replacing the panel with the old blue one off the original door.
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And an over all photo, ignore the door paint, rushing is the enemy of good body work. (and It got very dusty over the week) It will get sanded down and repainted soon, Though I'm not too worried about it, seeing that the whole truck will be repainted once I finish the other body work, and that part of the doors will be black truck bed-liner.
M6Uf4HM.jpg
 









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If you get a chance bedliner the under body too, I did that to my Z71 because I had perfect rockers on a 22 year old truck.

That is the plan. As much as i can get at, but that will be down the road, as I repair more and more of the rust, those areas will be cleaned up and bedlinered as I go. as will the outside of the body below the bodyline/plastic shopping cart bumper
 






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