Maniak - Tucson, Az - 1992 Explorer

[Maniak]

I haven't updated anything in a while. Here is the latest addition (used it last wheeling season).. Its the DIY co2 system I threw together..

I found a smoking deal on an out of date 20 lbs co2 bottle ($15). I took it to airgas, paid for a bottle test, co2 and did a bottle swap. As long as their label is on the bottle I don't have to pay for a bottle test anymore when I swap bottles, even if it out of date.

I threw in my extra Earthquake impact gun and a 20 ft Poly hose with a 150 psi fixed regulator I got from polyperformance and viola, I have a co2 system.

It airs up the tires very fast now, lets me pull tires or stubborn bolts quickly/easily and I've even used it with a blow gun to blow crap out of the air filter.

Here it is mounted in the X. I'm going to work on welding up a mount and bolting it to the body but for now this works.

DIY co2 stowed for travel by maniak_az, on Flickr

~Mark

 

[cybergasm]

an update

 

[corkey]

yeah, really,,

 

[Maniak]

Since the recent monsoon storms made a mess of the road behind the house I decided this was the right time to take some video of the X with the new front suspension parts moving/working.

I have recently stiffened up the front shocks to 8 & 9 trying to help control the out of round BFG KM2s when on the freeway. I was afraid that with the higher settings that the extra dampening was going to keep the suspension from moving fast enough to keep the tires on the ground. Other than on the really hard hits, the tires stayed right on the ground..

I was using this video to watch the tires and see how well they were staying in contact with the ground at different speeds. I had the shocks set at 8 in this video. I have another one (not on youtube) with them set on 9 and they worked just as well.


Then I decided to see what happens if I hit something big and hard, and with different shock settings (8 & 9) I don't have bump stops up front so the drivers side bump stop is really the inner part of the fender and the airbox. The tire hits the air box, which pushes the air box into the hood which stops things . The shock also tops out right about the same spot. I do have longer springs to lift it more which should help me move some of my usable travel down some, but that is a future mod, along with air bump stops.



~Mark

 

[Maniak]

Just a quick update. Some parts arrived at the house today..

Cut and turned Dana 35 beams by maniak_az, on Flickr

More once I get started on installing these.

~Mark

 

[JTHale13]

What are different about these?

 

[Maniak]

What are different about these?

Those are cut and turned. The lower balljoint was moved out. That way I can run more lift without using bigger drop brackets.


~Mark

EDIT: If you click on the pic, you can then click on it again to zoom in. If you look at the large or original size version you can see where the welds are from the balljoint move.

 

[JTHale13]

700r4 transmission (thanks to Advanced Adapters for making the adapters)

What was the reason for this swap and what transmission did you have to begin with?

 

[Maniak]

We started with the auto trans (a4ld) that came in the 1st gen X's. After 3 of those we switched to the 700r4. The Conversion cost, including the transmission was about the same as our most expensive rebuild of the a4ld. ($2200-ish).. I think it would cost more now as I got a great deal on the 2 adapter pieces but I really learned a bunch doing the conversion.

If I were to do it again, I'd either have a local company build me the trans instead of bowtie or use an atlas and a manual trans. I do love wheeling an automatic though, especially when I can control the converter lockup myself.

~Mark

 

[JTHale13]

So its stronger than the stock auto? Is it a non computer controlled transmission?

 

[Maniak]

Yes, much stronger than the a4ld.

Also, the a4ld is only computer controlled for the 3/4 shift and the converter lockup. On the 700r4 it locks up when it hits 4th gear but I added a switch so I can lock the converter in any gear other than 1st. They do make stand alone computer type things to control the 700r4 which can take into consideration your speed etc. I didn't bother with that.

If your interested in the 700r4. This is an option. I thought about picking this up, getting it shipped down.. Taking what I wanted and reselling the rest (like adpater kits etc).
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=324420

~Mark

 

[JTHale13]

Well I currently have a stock 93 xl with 4.0l and manual transmission and manual transfer case and manual hubs and everything else. I've read that my current configureation has a really low tow rating. I'm trying to figure out my best options for increasing the tow capicity and making it better off road.

 

[cybergasm]

Just a quick update. Some parts arrived at the house today..

Cut and turned Dana 35 beams by maniak_az, on Flickr

More once I get started on installing these.

~Mark

Nice Fast Turnaround time on these i see

 

[Slowlyvverot]

can't wait to see the next stage of this truck. What size tires and springs are you planning to run?

 

[Maniak]

Another update..

We got the Cut and Turned beams "in" the truck. Its still 2wd and I didn't align it yet. I did take measurements though so I'm going to order my Cams this week.

At first, we tried the cut & turned beams with the Duff drop brackets. Well, for that to work, we would bee about 7"-8" of lift. Thats more than I want..

So, off to the junk yard to grab a driver side drop bracket and I pulled a passenger side one from a 2wd X my neighbor is scrapping. The passenger side bracket has one of the mounting ears cracked. I welded that back up. I also decided since it was cracked running on a 2wd that I had to do something to make it stronger. I added some material and modeled it on the Duff passenger side bracket which we have had for > 200k miles and never "broken" it. I did bend a piece but that was from the tie rod adjuster bolt grabbing the bracing Duff puts in.

Here is the modified stock bracket next to the Duff bracket. You can see the material I added.


Duff versus Stock Passenger side drop bracket -2 by maniak_az, on Flickr

Here is a shot of it mounted. I re-used the hole in the frame that the Duff bracket used and used one of those bolts with the wing built into it since I can't get into the frame to hold a wrench on it with this additional metal.

Modified stock axle pivot by maniak_az, on Flickr

Here is what it looks like installed. Those are Duff 3.5" springs with f-150 spring seats for a total of "about" 5" of lift.

cut & turned - Front suspension shot by maniak_az, on Flickr

The brakes aren't on and the front pig isn't in either. I'll put those in next week. I want to wait for the camber cams, and the clutch pack for the Dana 35 trac-lok.

The beams that BTF cut/turned for me had a little damange on them when I sent them off. The passenger side one had the normal crack where the boxing stopped. I added some more material there to box it farther and opened up the window in the beam some for the axle shaft. I didn't take any pictures of that.

The Drivers side Beam was hit before. It looks like it caught a good rock on the bottom. It was actually slightly cracked. I welded that back together and added a some plate steel to the bottom as a skid plate/protection.

You can see that with the 5" worth of springs, the cut and turn is somewhat close.

IMG_8718 by maniak_az, on Flickr
I have them on homemade camber plates (2 pieces of sheet metal with bearing grease between them) and got -1.75 degrees camber on the driver side and -.75 degrees on the passenger side. I did also notice that the drivers rear is about 1" lower than the passenger side. I want to work on the rear springs, but I need to get the front back together first. Of course, this isn't helping the Camber on the drivers side, but I can re-adjust the Camber after I work on the rear springs.

Finally, here are a couple shots of it with it back on the ground, at ride height and suspension relaxed.


Ride height 2 by maniak_az, on Flickr


Ride height by maniak_az, on Flickr

Before I forget.. We are having issues getting the snap ring onto the passenger side ball joint with the current SPC camber cam in there. With the ball joint seated all the way in and the thick top on the SPC adjustment cam there is no room for the snap ring. I'll Call SPC on Monday to see what they say and then I'll order the Camber Cams I want.

~Mark

 

[Tbars4]

..:scratch:..Do I see new KM2's and are they 33's or 35's?

 

[Maniak]

..:scratch:..Do I see new KM2's and are they 33's or 35's?

They are 33's and we got them this summer. We also changed the rims since the old ones were really bent. In addition, the old ones were 15x7's and not the 15x8's we "thought" they were all these years.

~Mark

 

[Corik]

We started with the auto trans (a4ld) that came in the 1st gen X's. After 3 of those we switched to the 700r4. The Conversion cost, including the transmission was about the same as our most expensive rebuild of the a4ld. ($2200-ish).. I think it would cost more now as I got a great deal on the 2 adapter pieces but I really learned a bunch doing the conversion.

If I were to do it again, I'd either have a local company build me the trans instead of bowtie or use an atlas and a manual trans. I do love wheeling an automatic though, especially when I can control the converter lockup myself.

~Mark

How can you control the converter to lock? mine doesn't lock in OD it did like twice recently and never other than that since I bought it last year in February.

 

[Maniak]

How can you control the converter to lock? mine doesn't lock in OD it did like twice recently and never other than that since I bought it last year in February.

You have a different transmission.. I have a chevy trans in our explorer. Yours is controlled by a couple solenoids in the trans and those solenoids are controlled by the ECM..

You should make a new thread with the symptoms so people can help you troublehsoot it.

~Mark

 

[Tbars4]

...But since we are on the topic..

If I were to do it again, I'd either have a local company build me the trans instead of bowtie ...

..Can you elaborate on this for us who were thinking of going that route?

..:scratch:..and is your lockup controlled by a switch or..?