Brian1 91 XLT 4x4

[Fix4Dirt]

It took a long time to clean the mud off under the vehicle and that is why I hate mud and try to avoid it if I can.

I went in to Discount Tire to get my tires rotated and balanced for the trip. I pointed out a cut in the sidewall I got in Utah over a year earlier. It never leaked and it wasn't into the cords but they said the tire was compromised so I got a brand new replacement free under the road hazard warranty I bought ~6 years ago. Dick Cepek no longer makes the tire (The entire brand was discontinued) but I got the same exact tire which is now under the Mickey Thompson brand. Always buy the warranty! (More on that coming soon...)

You clean the mud well? I just hose it and whatever remains remains hahahaha

What Ive learned! Or buy costco tires if not for offroad tires. They did a good job of pro rating w/o paying extra for road hazard. On the X knock on wood only 1 flat so far.

 

[Paul]

Great stuff, thanks for sharing. Convert me to “opt in” on tire warranties . . .

 

[410Fortune]

I get my tires online and mount them myself
We live in a “resort town”
These shops want $120-150
To mount 4 tires if I bring them in.
I get it they are trying to stay alive, but I do 10+ sets of tires a year…
So just got our own tire
Machine and balancer… way cheaper in the long run

I hate extended warranties on anything they have never come through for me
Costco Amazon and eBay already protect the buyer even without extended warranty. Never got tired from Costco but I would for sure!

Superduty sway bar links are real similar
To the ones you built

Saw a dude take a concrete floor
Cleaner and mount it upside down on a furniture dolley with his pressure washer.. turn it on, kick it around under the rig = undercarriage wash

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Brian1]

I also have a Coats tire machine and do mount/unmount tires myself sometimes, just wish I had a balancer! I did buy a balancer at auction once but it turned out to be complete junk unfortunately.

I have also seen some homemade contraptions for powerwashing but I bought an attachment for my power washer about 5 years ago. It works pretty well. I use this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0834NFPTP?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1&th=1

My tire warranties have saved me $500 worth in new tires just the last month, on tires that are over 6 years old. I consider that a win on the small amount the warranty cost me back then. Amazon and ebay would have never done that, not sure about Costco since I'm not a member and haven't used them.

 

[Brian1]

Last week I took a 1400 mile trip to Big Bend Ranch in Texas. It is right next door to the national park but is much more remote and has rugged off-road routes. Spent 4 days in the park with remote camping 3 nights and logged 140 miles in the dirt. An unusual cold front came into Texas which dropped the temps to 20s at night and 50s in the day, not the warm weather I was hoping for! I'm glad I had my insulated window shades that I made a few years ago, I am certain they helped keep it a little warmer inside the Explorer. I wont go into too much detail here, perhaps I will make a proper write-up in the off-road trip forum soon.

First stop was the roadside Prada store in Marfa, TX. Its a fake store made as an art installation in 2005.

The park is full of awesome roads that seemingly go on forever, skipping between valleys and cresting over steep and rocky hills.

One particular campsite books up months in advance because it is located on the edge of a cliff with great views into Mexico.

 

[Brian1]

Heading out of the park early Saturday morning I made it within eyesight of the pavement when the Explorer started to become sluggish, pulling hard to the right and the front corner sinking rapidly while doing 45 down a well-maintained gravel road. Pulled over and as I suspected, flat tire. I have only got flat tires while off-road on my Explorer. The last time was doing some solo exploring north of Moab and now in Big Bend Ranch state park. I'm not sure how it happened, maybe a slow leak sidewall cut while coming out of the rocky canyon that morning or it picked up something on the gravel road that punctured it. Made a fairly quick change with my Milwaukee impact and hydraulic bottle jack but had to get creative with the jack, some rocks and digging as when the tire is this flat, the bottle jack didn't have enough stroke to raise it high enough for the spare. Now I'm looking at 2-stage hydraulic bottle jacks but the Amazon reviews aren't confidence inspiring.

Made it home with no spare but did have to cut the travel plans a little short and bypassed another off-road route I had planned to do. Discount replaced it under warranty, the 2nd tire in less than a month so now I am rolling on 2 brand new Mickey Thompson EXP tires. $500 in new tires for buying the road hazard warranties that were probably around ~$60 back when they were purchased.

 

[Rick]

I also have a Coats tire machine and do mount/unmount tires myself sometimes, just wish I had a balancer! I did buy a balancer at auction once but it turned out to be complete junk unfortunately.

I have also seen some homemade contraptions for powerwashing but I bought an attachment for my power washer about 5 years ago. It works pretty well. I use this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0834NFPTP?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1&th=1

My tire warranties have saved me $500 worth in new tires just the last month, on tires that are over 6 years old. I consider that a win on the small amount the warranty cost me back then. Amazon and ebay would have never done that, not sure about Costco since I'm not a member and haven't used them.

I have a Mayflower tire machine and balancer from Amazon. Both work great.

I used to get "tire certificates" from Big O on all my trailer tires. I was replacing them so often that the shop I deal with would no longer sell me certificates for trailer tires.

 

[BKennedy]

You take your self on some very cool adventures.

I always get Discount Tire warranty when I buy tires from them. The last set of Explorer tires I bought off Tire Rack, and their warranty is free. Have never used their warranty so I can't say if it's as good as Discount Tire.

I made an extension for the 4 ton HF bottle jack I keep in the Explorer. It was made from a piece of DOM that slips over the shaft.

 

[Paul]

I made an extension for the 4 ton HF bottle jack I keep in the Explorer. It was made from a piece of DOM that slips over the shaft.

That’s a great idea, thanks for sharing that tip…

 

[Josh P]

Harbor freight has a nice big tire offroad floor jack. The part that goes under the axle is adjustable or can be unbolted and changed out with longer extensions. I talked my dad into buying one to move a kitchen cabinet with a 1 inch stone counter top on it.

 

[Brian1]

Re: the jack - It isn't a problem with reach and needing extensions, it is a problem with how far the jack will lift before maxing out. With the rim on the ground like it was, I had to dig a hole to fit the jack under the beam. Once the jack was fully extended the new tire was a full locking hub lower from fitting through the wheel. I had to get creative to lift it even more, wound up using my friends Toyota manual jack for the last bit of lift. I could have used my hi lift if it came down to it or stacked more rocks as a sketchy jackstand to reset my bottle jack.

Those off-road Harbor freight jacks are nice and I have one for using in the part of my yard that is dirt. Way to big and heavy to carry around in the Explorer for trips though.

 

[Josh P]

My friend's Excursion needs one for the 37 inch tires on it. A standard bottle jack will max out before a tire can go on.

 

[BKennedy]

OK, it's the jack body that is too long. Can't fix that.

The 4 ton HF bottle Jack fits in the OEM jack storage location. The OEM jack won't get anywhere near tall enough to get a larger diameter tire off the ground. The HF jack has a nifty screw out extension in the shaft and a small round pad that a piece of tube will fit over so you can make any extension length you need.

Here's the bottle jack and extensions I made. I also replaced the thin two-piece handle because it kept separating when using the jack.

 

[Brian1]

No the jack body and height is fine, it is the travel of the ram that is too short. I have a very similar jack to the one you posted and mine also fits in the stock location but just barely. On a 32" tire if it is sitting on my 16" rim like it is in the photo, the stroke of the jack isn't enough to lift it enough. In this case it needs to go a minimum of 8" to fit a fully inflated spare vs the maxed out stroke of the jack which is only about 5-6".

That is why I am now looking at 2 stage hydraulic bottle jacks. The Mercedes Sprinter Van jack looks very nice but is a little too tall at ~10" collapsed (extends to 24") This is an example of a 2-stage bottle jack on Amazon, the cylinder gets about double the length in the same package/footprint of the jack I have now.

Those jack extensions look nice and I can definitely see their usefulness in some situations.

 

[BKennedy]

I feel your pain. I need 14" of jack before it touches the axle.

I also have a Hi-Lift jack that I don't like to use. I have to strap the suspension to get a tire off the ground, and I think it wants to kill me. Those things are evil and I only use it for recovery or to stabilize a rig.

 

[410Fortune]

Harbor freight sells very light weight floor jacks for around $100-150 if you are done with the bottle type jacks
Much smaller then the shop type roll around units very easy to store and carry

 

[gmanpaint]

I carry a hi lift, and noticed you do too. I thought about this scenario a while back and my solution was this.... I carry the Hi-Lift, Lift mate accessory in the back. Instead of the different jacks, or digging to get the current bottle jack to fit, this can be used to raise the corner high enough to set down on your bottle jack to change the wheel, if you have wheels with window holes. We have used it to stack under a tire too. Find it online all over for around $50.

I do carry 3 bottle jacks (4-6-8T) and the safe jack accessories too, just in case. LOL