frankcal's 03 Sport Elite Registry

Hi everybody my names frank and from Orange County California but currently live in Riverside County. I have a 2003 Explorer Sport XLT 2WD. I bought it in 2010 after graduating hs for around 8k from the dealer, it was a one owner with only 44,000 thousand miles at the time. For the first year of owning it, it was completely stock with only bfg all-terrains in stock size changed on it. But then..... I found this forum after searching for some issue I was having at the time, don't really remember what it was. After that I slowly started changing things on my ex and making it more too my liking. My ex is 2wd and most of the stuff I've done to it now is more for personal preference but I plan on making it desert worthy in the next couple years, for now I just have fun with it and push it to were I can.

I've been a member of the forum for a couple years now, and have gotten a lot of help from many of you, which I really appreciate. It has saved me a lot of money, but also lead to spending more money on mods. I have finally decided to make an elite registry after finally getting it to a point where I'm happy with the combo of mods on it. Just put new wheels and a new to me lightbar with hella's on it after having a different setup for a couple years.

Things changed/upgraded.
Fully Rebuilt IFS with moog parts
Ranch RS5000 on all four corners
Painted Cladding, running boards and bumpers black
Tinted front windows
AAL and extra leaf and 1.5 inch lift shackles in the rear
About 2inch TT in the front
BFG All-Terrains 265/75/16 on black 10-hole wheels
Light bar and front Hitch Mount with 4 HELLA lights
Billit grill painted black
All interior lights converted to LED's
Kenwood headunit with all 4 kenwood speakers

General Maintanence done with how-to's on this forum
Changed Differential Fluid
Dropped Trans Pan and changed filter
Changed Fuel Filter
Lower thermostat housing and thermostat
Flushed and drained coolant
New front wheel bearings and brakes
New master cylinder
Changed U-Joints

Fixes/Mods in the future
Replace all body mounts
Lift spindles
F-150 leaf pack swap
Powertrax locker/ maybe regear
Convert Hella's to hid
Add led back up light to bumper
I'm sure more will come later

 

[frankcal]

That would be awesome, but not realistic for another couple of years. After the spindles its time to save for a locker and re gear.

 

[frankcal]

Got the spindles done this weekend. Was pretty easy to do, took maybe about 5 hours of install, hardest part was cutting the lca and test fitting a couple of times. The ride is a lot better and actually absorbs bumps now instead of just going over them. Had to get new wheels to with less backspacing and am really happy that I no longer have to use spacers up front, only in the back now to match.

Comparison pic of the before and after of lca angles with and without the tt and spindles.

Ended up with the front fender arch being at 41 with the torsion bolts being backed out almost completely, before I was at 38inches.

 

[frankcal]

Finally got some updates, haven't been active on here really at all anymore. But I still visit often for issues I have. Recently had to change out the harmonic balancer. Was really skeptical about doing it at first but after a lot of reading I finally bougot the parts and needed tools for the job. It was a succes, got rid of the stealing I was hearing. And upon removal noticed a big crack on it. Also had to recently re-do the thermostat for the same cracked housing issue.
Planned ahead are changing the Trans fluid and filter and Trans mount. As well doing the body mount bushing's in the next week or two.
Got some new wheels and tires. Went with 32/11.5/15 Koss. I've had them for about 2 months and 3k miles and am really liking them. Also installed a new rear led light to the bumper and moved my front led bar behind the grill. Im also not running a front sway Bay anymore after the mounts got ripped out of the frame after a few back roads, no negative difference so far

 

[frankcal]