Handy guy lookig for advice

[Severus2010]

Greetings All, I am the proud owner of a 98 Eddie Bauer Explorer. I originally bought it as a work vehicle, but have fallen in love with it and have started to develop a vision for it. It is in fairly good condition, no rust on the body, minor dents and dings, a nice interior(love the leather), and overall a comfortable SUV.
There are some issues that I don't care for and would like to change:
1. The road noise is unreasonable
2. The undercarriage is very rusty
3. It is a 4 x 4, which I don't need or really want
4. As I have poked around and looked at the air ride system(which constantly gives me a "check" warning) I have wondered how necessary it is
5. I really dislike the rear end slouch you see in so many Explorers

I also do not know much about the 4.0 motor in this vehicle. It has about 78k on it, the tranny seems strong and has plenty of spunk for me(not opposed to more). Both front hubs need new bearings, the front transfer case leaks and it has an idle issue when started on a cool morning. As the title says I am a pretty handy individual, and have done many complicated repairs. I am looking to fix the above listed issues, but being this is a work truck, I really can't afford to have it out of commission for more then a day.

Soooo, I am looking for advice. Where should I start? The ride really needs improvement. Goes without saying that the front bearing issue is my first task, but I am hesitant given the fact that I want to eliminate the front 4 x 4 components. Should I or do I need to replace the whole front axle? The rust on the undercarriage I'd like to address when I replace the exhaust, spare tire apparatus and deal with the air ride issues. Hopefully the road noise issue can be dealt with at the same time.

I know I sound needy, and I am not asking for more then links to possible solutions for this project. I appreciate your help and look forward to posting my progress. Thank you

Jon

 

[Severus2010]

Back, and ready to get started

Ok fellas, I am back.
Life has an unreasonable tendency to distract a person sometimes, and I already have the attention span of a fly half the time.
I have spent a considerable amount of time analyzing my 98 EB, then referring to this forum for understanding and guidance. In the last 6 mos this X has gone from a work truck to my daily driver with a multitude of problems. For starters:
Upper ball joints shot
Lower ball joints look ok, but....
Shocks are shot
Leaf springs getting flat
Excessive negative camber on both sides

These issues will be addressed next week. Unfortunately, my current financial situation is forcing me to go cheap on much of it, but I believe that the front misalignment issues are bordering on dangerous, and need to be sorted out now. I have a new driver side upper control arm, new passenger side upper control arm bolt on, new passenger side upper control arm bushings for the part of the arm I am not replacing, inner and outer tie rods, lower ball joints, sway bar links, alignment cam/cas kit and an AAL kit.
I really hated to do all of this maintenance without also replacing the shocks on all four corners, but it just was not in the fiscal cards. Should only have to put that off a month or so. I just went with the AAL kit cause I am tired of the back end bottoming out and it was a cheap quick fix for another issue that I will re-address in the near future.
I have a huge list of bookmarked links on this forum, and have exhaustively scoured every thread for answers. I know I have my work cut out for me. Twice to be exact. I do not intend to leave these lower quality parts under me for any longer then necessary, so I will be doing much of it over again. I have the good fortune of having a upickit junkyard nearby with about 15 explorers, 2 of them 98 EB's. I am like a kid in a candy store!

Any advice you may have will be soaked up and greatly appreciated.

Thanx


Future projects:
Shocks
Sway bars
Body Mounts
Figure out why the space between the front bumper and grill is so crooked
P.I.M.P. the interior
Rear bucket seats