Jack's 1993 Explorer build thread | Page 12 | 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!
.











Went back down to Ivy Branch earlier this month, Hatfield McCoy Trails only trail system open to full size OHVs. If you live in the mid-atlantic region you need to visit Ivy Branch. More info can be found on TrailsHeaven.com.

It rained for a week leading up to the ride and it continued to monsoon the entire time we were there but it was a blast. Hit mostly blue and black trails and a couple sections of double black. On the way out I was bored and asked for something dumb to do, got pointed to a nice rocky hill climb. I was doing pretty good until I blew a rear brake line and had to use a bail out. Had a definite pucker moment while I was turning towards the bail out, came close to rolling, but I saved it.. kinda made me sad lol

Here are some pics.. working on getting a video sent to me to post up

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Nice build. It is amazing to see the transformation from stock.

I was looking at using the 2 inch lift coils, warrior shackles and AAL's. I really have no desire to go larger than 31's. Just a DD with a little bit of attitude to play with.

If you had it to do over again, would you use the 2 inch coils, warriors and AAL's?
 






If i had to do it all over again and I knew for certain I wouldn't run anything larger than a 31 then I would have went with shackles and f-150 coil spacers.

If I had to do it all over again and I knew for certain I was going wheel it I would have done the SAS the first time I lifted it.

Thanks for the compliments!
 






Reason I asked is because I can get the entire lift (4" - 6") with axles off of a junk explorer for less than $500.

I said 31's because it eliminates the need to re gear now, however, the have tracked down a 4.10 front differential about two hours away.

I would certainly stop at 33's for a daily driver.
 












this winter's project.. narrowed HP 60, now to find one

It's like I predicted the future... minus the narrow part. I had someone on here tell me to do a dana 44/9" fw swap instead of lifting and gearing my stock suspension. I told them I didn't want to and I have plenty of parts for dana 35 so on and so forth. You can guess the rest haha.
 












I know, photobucket ruined another build thread but rather than start all over I will just continue this one.

I reached a point where I knew if I attempted the next phase of what I want the rig to be it would be tore apart in my garage for an eternity. With that being said I hauled the truck, the ton axles and the 40" MTRs to a shop for some winter work. Work has not started yet but I will post updates as they come. For now you can view this sad picture a friend took as he passed my caravan on the interstate.

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And yes, my F150 needs bags in the rear.
 
























So after being over time and way over budget I brought the Explorer back home. I will say the shop did some great work with the front triangulated 4link, coilover and bump setups, and positioning the axle further forward but the truck is not done. I will have a laundry list of things to do, mainly finish the full hydro setup, relocate the battery, relocate the maf, rear suspension, clearance the body, and add some more tube work. That will start soon.. I need to build some funds back up. With that being said, someone buy my D44 sas!!!!!!!

Here are a few pics to get you buy
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That thing is looking good! I really want to pull the trigger on a complete new suspension for my truck but I am torn between that and just buying a more capable platform to build and keep the XLT for gettng around town.

This thread gives my old explorer some hope!
 


















I know, photobucket ruined another build thread but rather than start all over I will just continue this one.

I ran into this issue in my build threads, I just went in and edited my threads and reattached my pictures. I know most people don’t have that kind of time to do that, but it’s a solution to the problem.
 



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I ran into this issue in my build threads, I just went in and edited my threads and reattached my pictures. I know most people don’t have that kind of time to do that, but it’s a solution to the problem.

It is very time consuming. I edited many how to threads and even this thread because i didn't want the pictures lost. I uploaded them to forum. Many of the how to threads had more pictures in it than the forum currently allows, so i had to create a new thread to copy and paste the info over to. Plus upload all the pictures
 






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