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Ford Explorer Community - Maintenance - Modifications - Performance Upgrades - Problem Solving - Off-Road - Street
Explorer Forum Covers the Explorer ST, Explorer Sport, Explorer Sport Trac, Lincoln Aviator, Mercury Mountaineer, Mazda Navajo, Ford Ranger, Mazda Pickups, and the Ford Aerostar
Does anyone know how to take this apart without breaking it or causing water leaks?
I want to get the sliding things out, they are annoying me just being there. I would remove the whole thing but am afraid of causing water leaks. I don't want to do any body work/bondo either, I suck at stuff like that.
Thanks RKH58,
I thought that screw might do it.
I tried with a screwdriver yesterday but the screw didn't break loose. I did not try that hard though, not knowing for sure what would happen.
I will hit that screw a little harder today and see what happens.
here is the problem with those screws. they are held by what are called rivnuts. they can be a real ***** to loosen most times. if the screws have rust in them, then the rivnuts spin, making a whole new type of hell on earth and you end up either drilling or grinding the screw heads off.
there is no sealer in them or under them.
however, if you wanted, and you can get all of them out, you can take the outer rails off, and put push pin clips in them with a little dab of sealer. i am not sure what they weigh. i took mine, and the inner strips off years back when i did the body on my truck.
Honestly the rails are such a pain to remove and make them look good and sealed up. I wouldn't bother unless you are going for aesthetics. I think having a roof rack still running in the 12s gives cool factor though haha.
I got those damn sliding things out of the roof rack rails! Finally after hating them for years. lol.
I inserted a large screwdriver into the Phillips head screw and whacked it with a hammer to try and break the rust/corrosion loose. Then I put channel locks on the handle of the big screwdriver and got one out. The other side was worse, of course. That one I found a bit about the same size as the large Phillips screw driver and put a socket on it. I used a long handled ratchet while pushing down. The head started to show signs of stripping but it finally broke loose. It fought me most of the way out too. The screw was all rusty looking so I put some anti-seize on it. Only thing is as soon as you open anti-seize it gets everywhere, so I closed it back up as soon as possible. lol.
I replaced the screws. I am trying to remember now, but I think I re-tapped the holes and used stainless bolts for replacements. I didn't think to seal them with silicone but I haven't noticed any leaks yet. I wasn't too happy with the results but mine were seized tight and I didn't want to leave those clips loose in the rails either.
Going from torsion bars to coil overs is beyond my capabilities.
I don't weld.
Had transmission problems with my daily driver 4 door explorer so the only weight loss lately has been to my wallet! lol.
I was reading through some of my old posts looking for unrelated information when I came across this.
Back in 2009 I changed the steel wheels to the aluminum ones, and changed the 1998 front bumper to a 1999-2000 bumper.
The wheels were 13lbs lighter and the bumper was 14lbs lighter.
If you are not driving it a long distance, so when you are trying to get better time, remove the belt from the alternator. Just get a short belt to compensate. I did have the exact belt you needed, but my computer crashed and I haven't found the bookmark again. I am in this same process, but for fuel economy, not racing. Put a marine deep cycle battery and just charge it up. (get a crappy marine battery from craigslist or something for the core charge) Your alternator takes up a lot of hp. Plus, the alternator in these things weighs at least 20lbs if I had to guess. So if you just remove it all together, thats a fair bit of weight.
Don't know what your states laws are, but if you remove the cat converter and do a strait pipe, thats another 3-5 lbs depending on how clogged it is.
Side mirrors catch a lot of drag too. Especially with the size of the ones on these SUVs. You can get a fiberglass cover to hide the holes. And thats another 2lbs a piece.
Since you already removed the spare, you can remove the wench system it hangs from. I would say that's a lb or two.
If you are only using it for racing and such, just remove the entire radio and put a plastic cover in its place. Then all the speakers can go. All together, thats probably 7lbs.
Also, you catch a lot of drag from the front wipers. Some of the water repellent spay on the windshield and just remove those.
Also, I know its adding weight, but it cuts drag so it makes up for it double, fiberglass wheel covers. It looks futuristic/geek, but I know that they added about 5 mpg in a jeep that only originally got 11mpg, so I would imagine if your racing, that would be a lot less drag.
I know you said less noticeable, but its worth thinking on for when you get to the "I dont care what it looks like, I wanna win" stage. Haha
if you get a loop made, please post up the pics. i was looking under mine and it almost looks impossible to do because the drive shaft yoke it nervously close to the tank
i will imagine you had to drop your tank to put that on, and bolted it to the top of the frame rails. also, how far back must it sit from the u joint and is that a universal loop?
