For arguements sake...

[sirhk100]

Let's have a "would you rather" conversation...

Stats on it... 1991, TTB cut and turned and widened with uniball pivots, heimed radius arms, coilovers up front. Front 4WD not working. Rear is national leafs, custom shackles, newer disc brake 8.8 with 4.56. Auto trans, 35" tires on beadlocks




And now here's it's competitor...

What you see is an Expo on 31" tires, james duff radius arms with heims, 4wd working with front locker, lift shackles in rear, 5 sp manual.






Which is better right now??? Loaded question, I know... Let's say for the southwestern US deserts... Some average back roads trails, mild 4 wheeling, mild rock crawling. Would you rather have big tires with lots of travel but 2wd, or... Low clearance, smaller street like tires WITH 4x4 and a front locker?



LOL, Discuss!!! (btw, no feelings will be hurt since I own both and they actually will be combined into hopefully one VERY capable Expo VERY shortly. This is just purely a bleed over conversation I was having in person with some friends standing around the garage last night)

 

[Anime]

Different rides with different capabilities. The '91 with long travel suspension and widened TTB is great for desert blasting and is "better" overall if you liked modded rigs.
Probably the overall choice, just needs to have the 4WD fixed.

The other one is good for what the Explorer was made for, hybrid use as a daily driver but still capable off-road rig. It may also be better for daily use since it won't attract attention, either the right or the wrong kind.

Unless keeping both isn't an option, I'd say they are great as a pair, one for hitting the dunes or certain trails, the other for lighter wheeling and just getting around so you're not driving a very visibly modded rig and/or just to save a few bucks on gas.

If nothing else, it sure is great to have one to drive while you're working on the other.

 

[sirhk100]

Truth behind it is it's just purely conversation and nothing more.


Reality is, the white one is going in the trash and all the fun parts on it are going on the red one. The white one is running in limp mode with half the engine compartment missing = 8mpg around town, won't pass smog, no A/C (I live in Vegas), no working heat, no turn signals, windows kinda go up and down, door locks sometimes work, and on and on and on... The red one on the other hand has less then 30K on a crate motor, less then 15K on the 5 speed trans rebuilt by ford, EVERYTHING works on it, etc... So I'm swapping the white parts over to the red one, stripping the white one of anything I think I might want for spares and scrapping what's left.

I have other much much much more capable toys for the dunes and going fast in the dirt (specifically built race truck and a specifically built prerunner). The red one will have the suspension of the white but also be locked up front and rear with functioning 4wd. Only thing the red one won't be getting is the conversion front clip, I'm staying with the classic look as it's my preference. It will be repainted the factory red when finished. And this is all happening before May. LOL


It was just a couple of us looking at them side by side last night doing the "which" would you rather wheel in current condition "if" the white one ran good discussion and I was curious what actual explorer owners might think? Last night it was a mix of go fast and jeep crawlers in the discussion and it was pretty interesting talking about how the red one with a locker might actually go more places then the white one only being 2wd would go but then weighing in suspension capabilities, tires, comfort from suspension, etc...

 

[Jason94sport]

Option 2 please.
Way overboard on option 1 & before you said all what was wrong with it, I figured it would be a cool toy but not a livable vehicle.

 

[sirhk100]

Option 2 please.
Way overboard on option 1 & before you said all what was wrong with it, I figured it would be a cool toy but not a livable vehicle.

I also purposely left all that info out in the original post cause it was purely for conversation only and not anything in reality. In reality, my 2nd post is what's happening. It's based on "all other things equal" assumption which is why I didn't post that option 1 is actually a POS and being used for parts. I've also left out purchase price on both vehicles purposely too... LOL

 

[inkjunkie]

Fix the 4wd on option 1......

 

[sirhk100]

LOL, that's what I'm gonna do... Kinda...

 

[inkjunkie]

LOL, that's what I'm gonna do... Kinda...

Kinda?

 

[sirhk100]

The white one is going to get stripped down and the frame, body motor and trans will go to the junkyard/scrap metal place along with whatever else I don't want from it. Everything worth while on it is getting put on the red one. So in a way, I'm going to fix the 4wd, only rather then fixing it on the white one, I'm going to transfer everything to the red one cause it's about 1000000000000000 times nicer mechanically.

 

[Anime]

Don't trash the front clip with the body, sell it. It's fiberglass anyway, not metal. You'll get more for the clip and conversion parts together than the few cents it would add to the scrap, unless of course they notice they aren't metal and rip them off beforehand.

 

[2TimingTom]

The white one is a '91?

 

[sirhk100]

Oh trust me I already plan on selling the front clip for sure... I'm well aware of it's value.

They both are '91.

LOL, seriously, come april/may time frame, anyone in Vegas that wants parts come steal them before I throw it away... Sorry, don't care enough to sell and ship. Come take the parts off yourself. I'm keeping the dash, center console and headliner, the rest of the interior is likely staying. Chassis wise, body, motor, transmission, rear axle (from red) and front suspension (from red) are also staying and getting tossed. I'll be pulling the starter, alt., power steering pump, random sensors on the motor, maybe the glass from the cab, some stuff in the dash and behind it and whatever else looks like it might fail over time or that I'll maybe break over time and cost a bit of cash to replace! LOL Basically I'm going to load up my shed with spares in tote boxes and then by by...

The front clip will get sold, rear fenders will get put on the red one and I'll pickup new fiberglass fenders for the Gen 1 front clip.

 

[sirhk100]

BTW, I'm hoping to start this later this month/early March. My current hold up is I'm finishing up this small project that has been the last 9 months of my life. We ran it for the first time ever 3 weeks ago and I've got about another 3-4 weeks of work to finish fixing a couple small bugs, finishing a couple more things I ran out of time to finish and then getting it prepped to run again. I built this 100% solo... The expo parts swap should be pretty easy in comparison! I'm thinking 4-6 weeks max for everything I want to do. As soon as I'm done with the build it'll go to paint and window tint and then I can enjoy it!

Yes, that's the same truck, I've got 500+ build pictures of it in my garage since memorial day weekend of 2012! LOL

 

[FROADER]

If option #1 has a locker in the rear, I would take that one over a working 4wd on 31s.

 

[sirhk100]

As discussion happened last night, no locker at all in option 1. By the time I'm done with my build though it will have one, then again by the time I'm done it'll also be 4wd and locked front and rear. LOL

The truck above has a spool in the rear and my prerunner also has a spool in the rear. When all said and done, all 3 vehicles in my drive way will be locked or spooled in the rear all with long travel and coilovers up front. In my opinion it's how all driveways should be. In fact maybe I'll write obama and see if he can work it into some lame other law he's working on...

 

[CodePoet]

Oh lord get ready for a ton of "SPOOL IN THE REAR!!! IT'S GONNA BE HORRIBLE ON THE ROAD WAAAAAAAAAAA" posts. LOL

I have a spool in my rear 9" btw

 

[sirhk100]

Well, this is my other truck that sees quite a bit of use on the street and it's got a 9" with a spool and I have no issues with it! Rain, yeah, it's sketch but I live in Vegas, what's rain? I've found that most of the neysayers aren't actually 1st hand owners of something with a spool typically... I'm honestly more concerned with the locker in the front to be honest, I've heard pros and cons on that but have never owned/used anything with one myself.

 

[CodePoet]

I have a dana 44 up front with manual hubs so with them opened up i don't notice anything. I don't drive my expo on the road much. Yes it does push when cornering and it can get a bit squirrely but it's not bad. Last time I drove on the road I had a loose trac bar so that got abit weird but that has nothing to do with the rear axle. Agree that most who discount the spool haven't driven them. They do wear the rear tires alot...but meh. I love my rear spool I always know it's there and i'll grenade everything else in the rear end before that goes lol

 

[sirhk100]

I'm with you, I absolutely love the spool in the rear of my toyota on and off the pavement. I'm fine in the rain but wouldn't want to be on a mtn road in the rain with it. Around town, I realize what I'm in and if the roads are wet I drive accordingly. Other then that, I don't notice it. Tire wear is more but kinda like you, eh, whatever...

The expo, I'm putting a detroit in the rear and the red one came with a powertrax no slip locker up front so I'm going to pop that out and put it in my 3rd member that's already got matching 4.56's for it. It's a freshly built 3rd with brand new gears with 0 miles and the locker came with the expo purchase so I figure why not... I've gotta swap front suspensions anyways so while it's out I'm going to do it.

Like you said, unlocked hubs, I won't notice it on the street at all anyways. Just not sure about in the dirt. I've heard some really complain about the push, I've heard others say it's totally over exaggerated like I feel the spool complaints are. Time will tell and I'll be my own judge cause as of right now it's 100% in the plans!

I actually have every part for my build with exception of the rear shocks and the tie rod materials for the front end. I'm going to do a single swing steering setup during the build. I kinda figure if I'm doing it all at once why not just suck it up and do it right the first time! Should be a fun ride when done and probably will turn some heads. In the 4 years I've been in vegas I've only seen one other built expo n the streets and it was beat to say the least! My biggest concern is a new paint job and it's first scratches!!! LOL Once I get the first ones it's easy! It's trying to avoid those first ones that's scary! LOL

 

[CodePoet]

Sounds killer man! I dig your rigs!

I have the spool in the rear and a locker up front. My offroading in Indiana is different than yours. I do need to back up and get lined up from time to time as the trails and tree's can get tight. It's mostly dirt over here though so there's enough slip to not really notice it too much. And even on the rocks there's no issue. And the extra traction after got the locker put in had me grinning from ear to ear. Obstacles that I couldn't make before the the front was done I walked up with barely a slip.