looking for a few answers

[blueovalforever]

ok i am new to the site but have had a few explorers before and and now looking for a new one. i do have some questions about them though. I am looking for a play toy to take 4 wheeling like i did my old one with 4 inch lift and 32s, something i can bash on and still drive it home and not have to worry about it with out spending alot of money. does the shorter wheel base of the two door make any differences when 4 wheeling? is the ttb front end the same from bronco II, and ranger and explorer? can the stock transmissions be made to last? the one in my old one never gave me any trouble with over 150k on it. or would a 5 spd conversion be better for reliability? thanks in advance and i may have more.

 

[arco777]

First gens are cheap and tough, for a basher I think they'd work well. 2DR would be my preference for wheeling too as you can corner in a smaller area. As far as I know, same basic TTB for Ranger/BII/X. Stock auto trans can definitely be beefed up, depending how far you want to go (search) on this topic). For the stock manual trans I dunno about mods, but stock it's not really any tougher than the auto from what I've heard. Advance Adapters makes kits to adapt other transmissions to the Explorer though.

 

[bgh1441]

I've heard couple people say that bronco 2's and pre 93 rangers ttb are dana 28. Explorers and rangers after 93 are dana 35, and comparing all the components alot look the same size and strength as on my buddies dana 44 in his f150, plus in explorer you get the 8.8 rear axle as compared to I think a 7.25

 

[Welshdragon79]

All BII's came with the D28 TTB and the 7.25 rear, the Expo's were upgraded to the D35 TTB and 8.8 rear because of the extra weight (?). Apparently some very early model Expo's had a fiberglass diff cover ( saw it on a post here). Not that the steel rock magnet is much better, I peeled mine but was able to get it home and replace it with a Riddler piece. If you find a Ranger with an 8.8 it will more than likely have the weaker 28 spline axle shafts.
Personally I have a two door, about the same wheelbase as a Wrangler but wider. I found that I had more flex stock than my buddies XJ's and YJ's.
If you want to keep the body safe (safe from dents+scratchs=rust) I would body lift it a little ( 2", I did 3") and put some rock sliders and bumpers. A simple 2" lift and locker you'll clear 32's and go anywhere within reason.
The tranny I would run it until it pukes and then do a swap. Be saving money for a tranny/ transfer case implant. One thing I have found is these have NO low gearing and nobody cares enough to make gears for the stock case. Atlas has really nice cases for $3000

 

[HahnsB2]

All BII's came with the D28 TTB and the 7.25 rear, the Expo's were upgraded to the D35 TTB and 8.8 rear because of the extra weight (?). Apparently some very early model Expo's had a fiberglass diff cover ( saw it on a post here). Not that the steel rock magnet is much better, I peeled mine but was able to get it home and replace it with a Riddler piece. If you find a Ranger with an 8.8 it will more than likely have the weaker 28 spline axle shafts.
Personally I have a two door, about the same wheelbase as a Wrangler but wider. I found that I had more flex stock than my buddies XJ's and YJ's.
If you want to keep the body safe (safe from dents+scratchs=rust) I would body lift it a little ( 2", I did 3") and put some rock sliders and bumpers. A simple 2" lift and locker you'll clear 32's and go anywhere within reason.
The tranny I would run it until it pukes and then do a swap. Be saving money for a tranny/ transfer case implant. One thing I have found is these have NO low gearing and nobody cares enough to make gears for the stock case. Atlas has really nice cases for $3000

It's a 7.5 rear end and 1990 B2s built after 11/89 did get D35 fronts.

 

[blueovalforever]

how good is the weight balance on the 2 drs? are they much lighter. again this will be a budget truck to tear up so if i could have a stronger stock trans work i would do that rather that dump a few thousand in it for a swap. many guys running the c4 swap?

 

[Welshdragon79]

Yeah, I've been running with the Jeeps and their 8.25's too long and it's starting to get to me. If he did do the BII he would still be checking build dates and verifing axle codes and end up with a 7.5 and correct me if I'm wrong but somewhere around 90' didn't they have a wiring issue? I had an 88' and was told that was about the best year because they had worked out all the bugs with the 2.9 EFI and in 90' they had created some new electronic issues.

I don't know how much lighter the 2door is over the 4door, but if you try to do a doubler or anything like that you will be limited by room on the two door. I did run across a cool post on how to relocate your gas tank with one from an E-150 van to eliminate the saddle tank which may remedy that

 

[ewsoares]

Also Seeking Answers

I too am trying to figure out what direction to take.
I bought a '91 Explorer 4 Door 4x4 for $200 running but had to speed shift it home, lol. Bad slave cyl, or Throw out. First time driving an explorer and was impressed at how easily it shifted with no clutch.
It was my Mom and Stepdads vehicle. So I was looking up info and ran across this kickin site. Im new to all this as I have always been into imports, no not a tuner, just thought a truck was too expensive and small cars are so easy to work on and good on gas. I really want to fix this thing up and am unsure where to start. I am very savy when it comes to vehicles, thought I wanted to be a mechanic and was for a bit but fell more in love with computers and now I do all my own work except machining. I dont think I want to make it a crawler but I would like it to be a daily driver while being able to maybe handle the dunes over by Pismo here in Cali. Never been to the dunes themselves but would love to get into messing around and being able to go where a Honda cannot. So I figure this might be an opportunity to build it from the ground up right, but I want to do it in such a way so I can start driving it within 6 months or sooner and do the rest slowly over time. I can only afford about a max of $200 a month right now so I want to start with what you guys think is best. Sorry this is so long. I even dropped my celly plan to put more money into this thing! Cable is next, lol.
Oh by the way the 4.0L sounds loud to me, is that normal? and right now somehow my stepdad after drilling a couple extra holes, was able to bolt up I believe an '87 Bronco 5 speed since the automatic went out. I would prefer to keep it a stick but unsure how comfortable I am with the current setup. He added spaces? or washers? on the rear driveline to make it fit as it was short and left off the front drive line as it was too long. I dont want to spend the money to resize the drive lines and feel the money would be better suited on a tranny thats more of a perfect fit without rigging it up in there? so please I welcome all advice, and I just picked this thing up this weekend. Please if I overstepped or wrong posting place let me know, new to forums and took me about a half hour to find the right place to post in here. And after reading countless things one here, glad to see someone from Fresno so close to me, cool.

 

[ma96782]

ewsoares,

Since you're having trouble with the cluth and since the tranny was a Franenstein Fit..........Me, I'd go back to making it "stock like."

Start by hunting the bone yards for an Explorer with a manual transmission.

Aloha, Mark

PS........I just did my muffler......new lifetime muffler with installation was under $100.

 

[glfredrick]

I like wheelbase when doing off-road -- so for me, the 4 door is the better shake. One advanatage of the 2 door is that you can trim the rear fenders more for tire clearance.

The BII, in my estimation, is too short to be decent off-road. I know a lot of BII guys will probably chime in and say otherwise, but they are Jeep CJ short. I don't like spending time upside down myself, so I like the stretch.

Five Speed (M5OD) is definitely the stronger platform, but the auto will work fine with a cooler. Unless you're doing mud bogs or desert work, the transmission really isn't the weak link anyway. It barely gets a workout in off-road driving, mostly in 1-2 going slow. It is when you're trying to run 80 mph up big/long hills in OD that you smoke the transmission. Ask me how I know (and yes, I wheeled a 1st gen 'Sploder that I also drove on the street -- only went through 3 transmissions -- all street failures, not trail). Making the swap to the stick can be sort of a pain -- lots more parts than most guys think -- but otherwise the way I'd go.

My current build will run a C4/5 w/manual reverse shift full-hold in all gears transmission. If I get in trouble with that, I'll switch to a stick, but I think I'll be fine. Autos are the easier-to-drive setup off-road, in any case, unless you really do some gear work or get a 4:1 transfer case. I've watched a LOT of guys smoke clutches, hop up and down on hills, etc., all while "thinking" that they knew how to drive their manual shift trucks. Turned out, they had a toe on the clutch pedal all the time. Get them to leave that foot on the floor and all is good.

4 liters make noise. Get used to it. The way I figure, while they're making noise, they're running. When they get quiet, they're done. I ran Amsoil in mine -- helped a lot with the valve noise, but never got rid of it. Lucas can help also. Run Lucas in the steering pump also. Helps with that stupid whine (or replace the pump with a saginaw).

You definitely don't want to run the 7.5 and Dana 28 axle setup, no matter what. If you do, carry spares -- in the truck -- and make sure you do the C-clip eliminator spring mod so you can swap the axles out on the trail. You'll have to. For any Dana 28 guys reading this, PM me. I have 3 sets of lockout hubs for sale.

I laid out a set of steps to getting a good suspension using mostly salvage yard parts in this thread:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums//showthread.php?t=237302

 

[ewsoares]

thanx for the replies,

I went to the junkyard and found a 5 speed out of a 91 explorer! had to babysit it saturday so it would be mine sunday since I forgot my metric set at home, lol. I burned pretty bad sunday getting it. was out there from 9 to 4, im only used to working on small imports so this is new to me, and plus i had a bad head cold type thing going on, sucked but i wanted it and it was the only one out of like 12 there. i took the flywheel and its at the machine shop resurfacing. buying a new slave cylinder, the machine shop says i can reuse the friction and pressure plate, that they are fine if not new thrown onto an untouched up flywheel, cheap poeple, lol. the flywheel was burned up and spidered on the surface.

 

[Welshdragon79]

Sounds like a little bit of work, but it will be well worth it just to get it back to stock trim. Makes me wonder what they jerry rigged in there though the Mitsubishi, Toyo or Mazda tranny.
This weekend should be perfect to do the swap. It's only supposed to be 98 as opposed to 108 in Tulare

 

[ewsoares]

I Hope So

Yeah its been so hot here, I just came back in from getting a lil more removed out of the way for the swap and I was sweating profusely, lol. Garage door and window open. and its almost 12 am here! Hard to get much done being underneath with asthma makes it harder to breath and I dont have it on stands yet, that will be this weekend when my dad comes by with his tranny jack to help. So I hope it will be cooler, 98 will be a huge difference.

***EDIT: Yeah I have no idea how to tell what kind of tranny it is. but the shifter is at the rear of the hole in the floorboard while the M5OD I pulled, the shifter sat at the front of the opening. and the top boltsline up but the bottom ones dont and the clutch assembly is smaller.

 

[Welshdragon79]

Is the bell housing attached to the tranny ( one entire piece) or is it a total seperate part?

 

[ewsoares]

Update:

Is the bell housing attached to the tranny ( one entire piece) or is it a total seperate part?

Unsure yet about the tranny, I will let you know later when I get underneath it if it ever cools down here.

SECOND: I took the tranny to a tranny shop in Visalia today and pretty much he told me he will let me waste my money and sell me a shim and he would even measure for me but that I dont need it, so Im like ok I guess, lol. He says my pilot shaft is a little rough so try to polish it up and hope for the best. Says he will rebuild the tranny (out of vehicle) for about $850ish, sounds like a good price to me, what do you guys think? I need to call and found out what the warranty is cuz in 6-12 months I will want to do that.

Got my junkyard flywheel back from machine shop today, its a beauty!
$16.99 used flywheel from junkyard.
$40.00 resurface flywheel
$56.00 for a beautiful flywheel!!! I know the guy so he even cleaned up the whole thing freakin nice,

 

[Welshdragon79]

There is a guy in our club in Fresno that owns a shop. I'll see what he says about the price on the tranny rebuild if you'd like to compare.

 

[ewsoares]

Yeah

Yeah that would be great of you so I can get a good price, it will 6-8 months before I'm ready but good to know now. Thanks.

 

[nitro71]

I would not invest much money in a M50D if I were you. I've seen new ones on ebay for 8-900. If one is still available there would be a much better deal. Also I don't know that I'd rebuild it without giving it a inspection. If the syncros are alright, no chunks of metal in it and bearings seem ok. I'd run it. Probably put one of those shifter(whatever it's called) rebuild kits in to to tighten it up.

 

[glfredrick]

Cost on rebuilding the manual transmission usually comes from the cost of the gears inside. The cluster can sell for over $200 by itself. Depending on how badly the rubber plug seals (behind the shifter) leaked, the bearings can be gone. Also, a lot of people ran the wrong kind of oil in these -- and fried them inside because of it. Ford uses automatic transmission oil in their manual transmissions. If it isn't red, leave it alone! It will be welded together inside.

 

[ewsoares]

Re: Tranny

The junkyard tranny is in now, well with two bolts. I pulled the bronco one out and it has a seperate bell housing and access is on the bottom. The whole bell housing was cracked so bad on both sides I could pull the sides off!

Ran it back to the junkyard for my core and got the floorboard plate and plastic with boot and shifter.

It was so easy to put in the M5OD, I didnt even pull the exhaust (couldnt, too hard). I did split the exhaust past the cat and it allowed the engine to tilt down.

My last problem is that I cant figure out where to fill the T-Case? I drained it, not much came out. Maybe a quart or less? I did find another drain plug like an inch higher from the bottom of the T-Case, is that the filler? So these dont use a lot of fluid?

My rear main oil seal was good, my rear diff seal is leaking, and I need to put in a new spider into the front of the rear drive line, its lose like some needles are broken or gone?

And the tranny does need a shifter kit because the bushing is worn very badly, still quite shiftable but yeah more sloppy than a $2 h**ker.

The plugs that can leak, look like they have already been replaced, not sure, The black rubber plugs look new and have blue silicon around them as well, maybe a recall or ford service done on it? LOL, the blue silicon looks ford blue.

With barely almost over 250000 miles or more, the motor is barely broken in lol.
Oh one more thing, my speedo does not work since the worm gear in the T-Case is worn down, do I have to split the t-case to change it?