Clevalley's '00 XLS Build Thread

clevalley · January 2, 2015

Pics - Stock

Here are the pictures after bringing it home - completely stock. I do have to fix the rust on the fender well but will start on that once I know all the fluids are changed, lift and new feet are installed.

Not bad - but needs attention...

clevalley · January 2, 2015

Day one of work - fluid change...

Jacked up the front end and started at front differential - holy hell in a hand basket - the front differential cover is not coming off unless I drop the diff... not going to happen now. I pulled the fill/drain plug and the gear oil which came out was not bad (smell/color) so I buttoned it back up and will get a fluid extractor to pull it out... I actually have one on order for another purpose so I figure I might as well use it on this (MightVac 7300).

I drained the engine oil and replaced the filter - non-eventful...

Dropped the transmission pan, cleaned pan and replaced filter/gasket - buttoned pan back up. The torque specs for the bolts where in inch-pounds and it quickly converted to 10-foot lbs. per bolt - could someone check me on this?

The bottom of the transmission pan had no metal shavings pieces, but did have quite a bit of black build-up - not quite a sludge, but it was rather heavy - cleaned up quick with brake cleaner. I did a resistance check on the solenoids for a piece of mind and all were within tolerance.

Drained and refilled transfer case with Mercon ATF - non-eventful. Can tell it was done at least once in its lifetime from the plugs being re-wrapped with teflon tape.

All fluids were dirty, but did not smell burnt or contain metal shavings.

Got cleaned up and watched the end of the Winter-Classic - what a great way for the Caps to win, at the last 12-seconds of the game.

This evening since it is still jacked up, I will replace the front shocks (Rancho 5000), lower back to earth, fill with engine oil and transmission fluid to full.

I plan on pulling the transmission cooler line on top of radiator and pump out old fluid while adding fluid through dipstick to get most of the old fluid out to ensure I have fresh Merc V in there.

That's all for now - Happy New Years to all.

clevalley · January 12, 2015

Starting measurement (from lip of fender well to ground);

Rear - 32 1/2"
Front - 33 3/4"

Dropped the leafs last weekend and have been slow rolling the install doing a little here and there - but finally wrapped it all up yesterday.

The long pole in the tent was the front eye bushing for the leaf spring was too small... after punching out the outer OEM sleeve (badly rusted) the ID of the inner eye was ~ 46 mm, the Energy Suspension bushing OD was 40mm. I eventually wound up taking a 1.5" OD x 3" long threaded nipple (for plumbing) and grind down the outer to ~46mm to act as a new bushing. After some time and patience, these were complete and work remarkably well.

I put in the AAL, reinstalled the leaf spring pack (with new Energy Suspension bushings) coupled to a set of Rancho 5000’s, installed the rear tires (32x11.5x15) on and rear end came up to 37” at the fender well. Installed front tires, gave two full turns of the torsion bar bolts and front end at the fender wells came out to 37” as well.

I drove the truck a short distance (100 yards) and it is definitely stiffer all around – not in a bad way, but suspension is stiff. I plan on taking it out for a short drive tonight to see how it handles, bring it back in the garage to re-torque the u-bolt nuts and check the front end height due to settling.

Will drive it in to work tomorrow to get some more road time on it… also, need to schedule the front end realignment due to the TT.

Will post pictures when it is not raining – but so far, it has turned out well.

RockRanger · January 12, 2015

Interested to see the pictures. I want to get some lift one of these days on my wifes explorer.

clevalley · January 13, 2015

Will post pics of it in its current state - right now it is down at the tire shop getting a front end alignment.

With just the AAL, WAR 153 Shackles and TT the 32x11.5's mounted on 15x8 Desert Rattler Tracker II Polished Rims, the front tires rub at 75% turn - they rub on the bottom fender plastic trim. I do have the Performance Accessories PA-883 lift to put on there which should take care of that, but I wanted to get the front end aligned before I put it back in the garage for surgery.

The toughest part of the entire job was getting the old bushings out. At first I started to drill them out but after breaking a bit I said 'eff this and got my propane torch (typical blue cylinder with brass nozzle).

I placed the tip of the nozzle inside the inner sleeve and let it sit for about 3 - 5 minutes until the rubber bushing started to bubble, then moved the torch to the outer sides and got them burning. I grabbed hold of the inner sleeve with a pair of needle nose vice-grips and they eventually slid out with no force.

I took a sacrificial screw driver and started to peel the outer part of the rubber bushing away from the inner part of the outer sleeve, while it was still burning. Eventually, it just knocked right out then I put the flames out. The inside of the outer sleeve was clean as a whistle.

To remove the outer sleeve from the spring eye, I took a air chisel and followed down the seam of the spring eye. Once the outer sleeve was cut through a couple more cracks with the air chisel in other areas had the sleeve coming out the other side... took 5 - 10 minutes per spring eye.

For the frame bushing - I did the same torch procedure but kept the rubber burning more 'controlled' with my son (both of us are firefighters) and got the rubber bushing out with no problem. We were laughing while doing a 'control burn' and was coming up with cover stories for when the truck went up in flames! LOL! Seriously, nothing is around the area to catch on fire - but use common sense and do not go hog wild.

For the front spring eye I needed to make up some space and used a pipe nipple from Home depot to fill the gap - after grinding the outside down to so it would hammer (not too much force, wanted it tight) in the front spring eye, the bushings fit PERFECT.

At first I put one of the springs in backwards (yes, backwards) and was wondering 'why in the eff' is the nut for the spring sooooo far back from the rear... after getting up and grabbing a drink I realized my stupidity, turned the spring around, mounted the other correctly and placed the axle on the springs by lowering the axle down/jacking springs up; luckily I have two floor jacks and a small bottle jack - made life super easy.

All in all it was not too bad - but I am dreading the body lift and don't know why. The truck comes back this evening and I will snap some pictures/post before I put in in the garage to drop the bumpers and start the body lift.

clevalley · January 13, 2015

Pics after War 153 - AAL - TT

Back home from front end alignment, surprising enough it was not too far out of whack.

ZWilson07 · January 14, 2015

Nice build so far. Looking forward to seeing where this goes.

clevalley · January 22, 2015

PA 883 Lift Installed

I started the process last weekend using 3 main sources;

Mike's Brothers Post - http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=337884

Shadow Ravens How-To - http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=240957

Mud Marine's How To - http://mudmarine.tripod.com/3bodyliftinstall/index.html

These 3 links were invaluable.

Another thing to think about. I went to Tractor Supply and bought the large metal container of PB Blaster and a squirt bottle. Not only does it save a few $$'s, but you can control the amount of how much you put on - but I used this stuff liberally. Soak the ends of the body bolts as much as you can before you start.

Short of regurgitating information from above, which is VERY well documented I just will report on my experience;

Removing the bumpers - rear was not an issue, but the front bumper killed me. All 4 bolts spun and the only way to get them off was to drill through the plastic fascia (2" hole saw) and jam a screw driver against the puny bolt 'heads' to keep them from spinning. I plan to glue the plugs back in and fill with a plastic resin, then shoot the bumpers with bed liner.

Dropping the radiator - make sure you drop the tabs of the radiator below the original mounts. I thought I did this, but did not before I started lifting the body. I caught myself in time and readjusted as needed.

Body bolts - Holy Christ, the body bolts... they were not too bad in retrospect. You MUST heat the bottoms of the bolt with a torch (benzomatic propane in my case) for 30 seconds and smack it with an impact gun or 1/2" breaker bar. This was after soaking them with PB Blaster. The two fronts were the toughest but I used Mike's Brothers tip of attacking from the top and bottom - worked like a charm. The remaining 7 of the 8 zipped right out, the other I had to grip with a HUGE pair of channel-lock pliers, but it came out. For bolt size I used this and it worked like a champ! (Forget who to give credit too);

Front mounts - 180MM
Mounts that are in front of the front seats - 140MM
Mounts just under the rear of the front seats - I used the stock bolts from the very rear mounts.
Mounts in the front of cargo area - 160MM
Mounts in rear of cargo area - 200MM

I still have to deal with the front bolts (drill out threads), but I will tackle that this evening

Cable/Line relocation - I disconnected the ground straps and put the extension on in the firewall. The body to frame rail, one is rotted through and the other I disconnected. I am going to make new grounds straps.

Brake Lines, I disconnected 3 at the drivers side shock tower and that was it.

Emergency Brake Cable - disconnected cable guide in drivers side fender well.

Shift Cable - I tried to figure out how in the hell to disconnect the cable from the transmission, the metal clamp... I pulled the white tab and realized this is for the adjuster. I disconnected at the shift selector on the trans and will deal with putting it back together this afternoon. The cable is a bit tight, but not bad - but I am going to free it from the connector on the lower portion of the drivers side firewall, that should give me what I need to make it right.

No extension of the gas filler tube was needed.

Steering extension - piece of cake.

Actual lift - This had me nervous, not sure why but it is unsettling seeing the body ****ed at a weird angle! LOL! What I did was jack up a side just enough to get the pucks in position 2 and 3. Once I new the jack and lifting block was stable, I raised a bit more and slid the rest of the pucks in. I lifted just aft of the center post between the front and rear door. I took a piece of landscaping timber about 20" long and used that against the body, and a piece of 14" 3x6 rough cut to go between the jack and landscaping timber - this worked like a charm. NOTE - PLEASE have a second person there just for sanity reason AND SAFETY! You never know what can go wrong. Luckily, it went smooth for me.

Tonight I plan on getting the front bolts in, radiator remounted and the rest of the truck put back together and start eyeballing the bumpers. I am not sure of whose method I will use for the rear bumper but will report back once I get this done. :salute:

Below is a picture of the truck in the garage, minus the bumpers. Kind of hard to see the actual finished product, but so far it gave me what I wanted. Once it is finished, I will follow up with more pictures.

In the end, I am glad I tackled this project myself - at this point I probably have about 12 man hours of work invested in the body lift alone.

clevalley · January 23, 2015

Lift - finishing up

Finished the actual lift last night -

Freed transmission shift cable from holder on lower part of drivers side firewall - the angle of attack to the transmission is much better.

Drilled out front body mounts to allow PA 883 bolts to slip through. The key is a good set of drill bits and step your way up until you get to 1/2" - took about 5 minutes per side. I also undid the front of the fender well (two small 6mm? fender style bolts) and peeled the fender well back. The bolts for the front mounts were easy to get to... with a 19mm box wrench on the nut and an impact gun on the bolt head (bottom) they zipped right in - less than 20 minutes per side.

Radiator Drop - At first I was pissed at the lower drop brackets, the ones where you put the rubber pieces in and you need to nut/bolt to the original lower radiator holder... the holes do NOT line up. I quickly remembered this is for a Ranger and not and Explorer so I gave them a pass LOL!

I removed the threaded clip, popped them in a vice, busted out the Plasma Cutter (because I wanted to play with it) and had the holes elongated in less than 30 seconds each. The rest of in the install was uneventful - but we did play with the Plasma Cutter on some steel plating to mess around.

I did not have to tie back the A/C hose - everything was clear. Put the air intake back together, connected the negative battery cable, put the key in the ignition and fired it up - worked the shifter and all seems well.

Now - the tires still nick the plastic trim, I am going to have to trim. I did measure from the fender well to the top of the tire and I have a 1/2" difference from front to back (lower in the front). I know my drivers side TT bolt is maxed in so I need a longer bolt to get the 1/2", but for now I will trim the plastic.

On to the bumpers, I will start that goat rope tonight. I thought about tack welding the piece of crap bolt to the metal slots on the bumper, but the metal is so thin on the bumper I think it will burn through. I might just get some new bolts threaded all the way and run a nut to where it will hold at the bumper - then a second nut will hold the bumper to the bracket. Not sure, I will look at it this evening...

clevalley · January 24, 2015

Lift Complete (except for rear bumper)

Finished the lift and all seems well. MUCH stiffer than before.

I epoxied the plugs I had to drill out back into front bumper fascia and it looks, meh... I half-assed sprayed it with bed liner just to cover it up. Wife said 'buy a new front bumper' so I might pull the trigger on a fab'ed unit from RLC Welding, but for now what I have will get me by.

I started to mess with the kit brackets and just said 'eff it. I will get some steel stock and make my own with the templates from Blee1099, or measure and modify the ones from the kit... but I am tired and going to enjoy driving the truck for a bit, let the front end settle and keep fine tuning the TT until it stabilizes.

Pics from today;

ZWilson07 · January 27, 2015

Looks good. How are you liking it so far?

I have both put a body lift on my own before as well as taking the same lift back off before I sold it and I will say, I will probably never have another one.

The bang for the buck is nice but I could just never get over the look of it versus a suspension lift. Even though most people never even notice, it always stuck out to me. Unfortunately we just don't have any very good options and it is the same thing in the ranger world.

It took me about 10-12 hours from start to finish with me and just one of my friends, never doing it before. I took it off by myself in about 6-8 hours. Once you do it and figure out the perfect tools to use in situations and how to go about doing certain little things, you can fly through it. By the way I kind of like that blue color!

clevalley · January 28, 2015

So far I am liking it. Drive-ability seems to be fine but you can definitely tell your center of gravity is higher, but stiffening the suspension made a world of difference as there is no body roll. I debated about the higher $$$ suspension lifts, but at nearly $1500 that is what I paid for the Explorer - just could not justify it. After looking at pictures of other Gen 2's with the TT, AAL, and Body Lift that was the look I wanted.

My wife loves the looks of it - she now wants me to do a body lift on her 2013 F-150, I will wait a bit before I decide to tackle that job LOL!

You are right, I love the look and the rims really set it off; kind of an old-school classic look, at least in my opinion. My neighbor flipped out when he saw it, he could not believe the difference from the day I brought it home and until now.

I have had a few people complement the look of it saying 'I have never seen and Explorer like that before' LOL!

The color - my dad's 1999 Ranger is the same color and I like it. I am debating about bed liner over the whole truck, but I am leaning towards just the fender lips and lower door panels - this will wait until spring

You are also 110% right, now that I have done one (about 12-16 hours) I can definitely shave about 4 hours off that time because I know exactly what to do and what tools to grab.

ZWilson07 · January 29, 2015

clevalley said:
So far I am liking it. Drive-ability seems to be fine but you can definitely tell your center of gravity is higher, but stiffening the suspension made a world of difference as there is no body roll. I debated about the higher $$$ suspension lifts, but at nearly $1500 that is what I paid for the Explorer - just could not justify it. After looking at pictures of other Gen 2's with the TT, AAL, and Body Lift that was the look I wanted.

My wife loves the looks of it - she now wants me to do a body lift on her 2013 F-150, I will wait a bit before I decide to tackle that job LOL!

You are right, I love the look and the rims really set it off; kind of an old-school classic look, at least in my opinion. My neighbor flipped out when he saw it, he could not believe the difference from the day I brought it home and until now.

I have had a few people complement the look of it saying 'I have never seen and Explorer like that before' LOL!

The color - my dad's 1999 Ranger is the same color and I like it. I am debating about bed liner over the whole truck, but I am leaning towards just the fender lips and lower door panels - this will wait until spring

You are also 110% right, now that I have done one (about 12-16 hours) I can definitely shave about 4 hours off that time because I know exactly what to do and what tools to grab.

That is crazy about your dad having a ranger with the same color. That color is pretty rare on the ranger trucks. Although maybe rare wasn't the best word but it is a color that I don't see very much in person or on the forums.

I tried looking through a little but maybe I missed it. I also have always had trouble with the radiator mounts on the kits as well as factory body bushings. Using an impact and heat often helps but sometimes you just need another pair of hands to put just enough force on the bushings so that they don't spin.

I also am a fan of those style of wheels :salute:

. I ran MT Classic Locks 15x8 with 3.625 backspacing with 32s and 33's. Of course I think MT doesn't make that wheel anymore for whatever stupid reason

.

clevalley · January 29, 2015

The radiator mounts, front body mounts and other body mounts which spin you need to people.

The front body mounts I placed a series of extensions and with a socket on the end from the top (son held that) and I used an impact gun on the bottom.

Only had one bushing spin - passenger side # 3. I held the lower bushing with a BIG pair of Channel Lock style plyers and son attacked the top with a 1/2 breaker bar/socket, and this was after heating and plenty of PB Blaster soaking. All the others zipped out with no help - go figure, there always has to be a stubborn one in the bunch!

The radiator drop brackets - I had to elongate the hole and I peeled back the inner fender liner and could get my hands up in there to hold the bracket while my son came in from the top. It was a bit of a pain in the ass, but we got it done. A lot of cussing and laughing happened! LOL!

You are right about the color, you do not see it a lot on Rangers. Dad loved the color of that truck... my mom has it now and cannot let it go (dad passed away in 2001) and that truck is her baby. I think it has 165K miles on it and it just runs. When I saw it I started laughing and thought 'go figure, my dad would be proud of me' LOL!

I looked for a while for those style rims and stumbled across DesertRat.com - they were phenomenal to deal with and were in constant contact through the whole process, great group of people to deal with.

The suspension seems to be settling in a bit, or not as stiff, or I am getting use to it. The entire job; shocks, tt, aal, shackles, body lift, tires/wheel combo really stiffened the truck up and cut out body roll. I could not be happier with the way it turned out.

ZWilson07 · January 29, 2015

clevalley said:
The radiator mounts, front body mounts and other body mounts which spin you need to people.

The front body mounts I placed a series of extensions and with a socket on the end from the top (son held that) and I used an impact gun on the bottom.

Only had one bushing spin - passenger side # 3. I held the lower bushing with a BIG pair of Channel Lock style plyers and son attacked the top with a 1/2 breaker bar/socket, and this was after heating and plenty of PB Blaster soaking. All the others zipped out with no help - go figure, there always has to be a stubborn one in the bunch!

The radiator drop brackets - I had to elongate the hole and I peeled back the inner fender liner and could get my hands up in there to hold the bracket while my son came in from the top. It was a bit of a pain in the ass, but we got it done. A lot of cussing and laughing happened! LOL!

You are right about the color, you do not see it a lot on Rangers. Dad loved the color of that truck... my mom has it now and cannot let it go (dad passed away in 2001) and that truck is her baby. I think it has 165K miles on it and it just runs. When I saw it I started laughing and thought 'go figure, my dad would be proud of me' LOL!

I looked for a while for those style rims and stumbled across DesertRat.com - they were phenomenal to deal with and were in constant contact through the whole process, great group of people to deal with.

The suspension seems to be settling in a bit, or not as stiff, or I am getting use to it. The entire job; shocks, tt, aal, shackles, body lift, tires/wheel combo really stiffened the truck up and cut out body roll. I could not be happier with the way it turned out.

I did the same thing as you did to combat that.

I hear you on the loss, dad passed away May of 2014 for me and I turn 25 this year. Certainly wasn't expecting that suddenly while he was at work and with being so young so I know the feeling all to well.

I actually left my sway bar off as it seems to help the torsion bar ride a little bit, but of course you do get a little more body roll from it.

Glad it was a good time and you're happy how it turned out!

clevalley · January 30, 2015

ZWilson07 said:
I did the same thing as you did to combat that.

I hear you on the loss, dad passed away May of 2014 for me and I turn 25 this year. Certainly wasn't expecting that suddenly while he was at work and with being so young so I know the feeling all to well.

I actually left my sway bar off as it seems to help the torsion bar ride a little bit, but of course you do get a little more body roll from it.

Glad it was a good time and you're happy how it turned out!

Hardest thing I ever had to do was bury my Dad, it is tough but time eases the pain. :thumbsup:

I thought about leaving the sway bar off, but I kind of like the stiff front end - well, at least now. It does seem to be settling and I need to check my ride height to ensure it has not moved.

I think my next step is going to be replacing the temperature sending unit as my coolant gauge only reads to the very bottom of cold. I did ground the wire out going to the gauge and the needle deflected all the way up to hot so I know it's the sensor.

Once the weather warms I am going to do some rust treatment to the lower body to nip that in the bud and spray bed liner on the lower portion.

Clevalley's '00 XLS Build Thread

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