Jack's 1993 Explorer build thread | Page 11 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Jack's 1993 Explorer build thread

Heres a quick rundown of my 1993 Ford Explorer Sport

4.0L OHV
A4LD auto trans
4.88s
narrowed hp 44 with spartan lunchbox
8.8 with powertrax no-slip
roughly 6" of overall lift
trans temp guage
rear tube bumper
custom front winch bumper
Rugged Ridge 10.5lb winch
38.5x14.50r15 TSL SXs on DIY TMI beadlocks
internal roll cage
corbeau reclining seats
no glass
dents
scrapes
good times

winter project: extended radius arms with ballistic joints

My 93 2dr was the first vehicle I bought and paid for myself which is one of the reasons I still have it today. The other reason.. do I need to explain? We all know why we have our trucks. I got the vehicle when I was 19 as a daily driver to school and work. This is the oldest picture I can find of the truck, and I already had started putting money into it.

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I wasnt a big fan of the deerprints so I had a set of 5 spoke steelies from an old BII of ours powdercoated black and put on a set of 30x9.50 TA K/Os. Winter was coming and I had had other explorers with auto hubs fail on me when I needed them so off they came and on went a set of Warns. The truck looked great with the wheel/tire combo and the factory black trim, cant find a pic though.

When I got the truck it had 85K miles on the odometer, a few years and 45K miles later the engine finally gave out. The truck sat for a year or so but I couldnt get rid of it. A friend from work helped me get ahold of a 90K mile 4.0L and $600 later (including install and other parts) the truck was back on the road.

Found another good deal through a friend on some 31x10.50 BFG Long Trails mounted on American Racing 15x8 Outlaw IIs...

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But I had a very slight rub at full lock.. so I had to lift it a little, right? RoughCountry leveling springs and Warrior shackles were on it the next week.

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Those springs were stiff.. I took it for an alignment and they said I needed drop brackets before they could align it. Dissappointed I drove home, with horrible camber. Thats when it hit me.. If I need to buy drop brackets I might as well buy a 4" lift, and some shocks, and a pitman arm, and some AALs and get some 4dr leaf packs from the salvage yard and.. well you get the idea.

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As you can see.. everything held together during the first 'test run' of the new suspension.

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I dont drive my 93 every day.. gas is too much for the 50 mile round trip drive to work. That doesnt mean it sits at home though. Ive taken it on a few trips this summer and take it out on the weekends to have some fun.

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I have been a member of this site for some time now and I felt it was time for me to jump up to Elite and make a contribution after all the help, advice, feedback and knowledge I have gained from the other members. It wasnt till I found this site that I thought I would be able to do this kind of work myself, and with everyones help I have. I'll keep this updated as changes are made.

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- Jack
 



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Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
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that side plastic will not be fun to put back in and pull back out with a cage in there. ok, so i lied, its getting caged.

on a side note.. i found an ant colony under the rear carpet.
 


















took the ol girl on her last ride for a couple months.. drove over 400 miles in 2 days, wheeled for 7 hours on blue and black trails in freezing temperatures, averaged 12.5mpg on the interstate, made it home without any issues.. now im reading 410Fortune's 5.0L swap thread. geesh.. i'm never happy with her.

cage in february.. dude is backed up on a rzr cage and a buggy build.
 






Time to buy a harbor freight bender and a big welder (Miller is my choice of welders), DIY all the way and still save money.
 






Time to buy a harbor freight bender and a big welder (Miller is my choice of welders), DIY all the way and still save money.

i dont have the patience and he does great work.. and im only paying half of what it would cost anyone else. February is only a few weeks away..

winter wheeling in West Virginia..

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I havnt forgotten about the cage.. fab guy was backed up. goes down this weekend. all i need to do to get it ready is get the pass side seat belt anchor bolt out. tried everything.. not the head is stripped.. stupid torx bits
 






Pipe wrench
 






I use a cut off wheel and a grinder to cut the head of the bolt from round to square sides to get a wrench onto it., try this and a small propane torch from underneath to heat up the factory loctite.
 






used a cut-off wheel, cut the head of the bolt off.. carpet was only on fire once, luckily theres 6 inches of snow outside so putting out the flame wasnt hard. shes empty.. shop vac tomorrow
 






Yeah you might wanna remove the carpet before welding in there. LOL
 






carpet was out of the truck all night.. on interior whatsoever.. opened the door today and the truck reaked of a burnt match smell. nothing was cut, burnt, other than the carpet which was removed. hmm
 
























Very nice.
 






i do not miss the swingout rear bumper at all.. its so nice to look back and actually be able to see out of the rear window. i am also a fan of not having to open the swingout to get raise the hatch or glass.

hopefully this fall the piece of junk will get 2 more cylinders in the engine.
 






small update.. just noticed yesterday that the only panel on my truck that is NOT dented, rubbed, or pushed in is the rear hatch. then i realized that was because of the rear swing out..which is gone now.

gearing up for a club ride later this month.. gotta get on the ball and service the hubs and wheel bearings and replace a radius arm bushing.
 



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