Maniak - Tucson, Az - 1992 Explorer | Page 2 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Maniak - Tucson, Az - 1992 Explorer

EDIT: I lost the pics in the older posts, but the later posts have pictures again.

Specs as of 10/13 (as far as I can remember)

1992 Ford Explorer XLT 4x4
700r4 transmission using Advanced Adapters kit
fl1a filter & mount re-tasked for external transmission filter
2 transmission coolers mounted in front of the a/c condenser
10" fan from a geo prism mounted on 1 cooler with Relays & a capacitor to control transmission cooler fan.
Rancho RS9000 shocks (rear)
Front/Rear sway bars removed
BFG AT 32x11.50 on 15X8 rims
Modified stock axle pivot bracket (pass side) to increase strength
Extended steel braided brake lines - (had to modify stock fitting on front driver side)
4.10 Gears
Detroit Locker in Rear
Trac lock from Jeep Dana 35 in front TTB D-35
Warn Manual hubs
Custom front bumper (designed for maximum approach angle)
New roof rack cross bars using stock sliders to hold Coleman basket
Custom Tube rear bumper (designed for maximum departure angle)
Extended Front/Rear Diff breather lines
Rear shock mounts moved to Swaybar mounts.
Extended Stock Radius arms with Ballistic Joints and custom mounts.
F-250 shock mounts with 32" long Rs9000 shocks.
SOA using a modified OME-36 spring pack and stock shackles (ruffstuff spring perch)
C-Clip eliminated using Echo spring and split colar
LED rock lights
Pair of 6" LED light bars from TWF on front bumper
Pair of 5" halogen lights on front bumper
3/16 steel welded to bottom of front TTB after fixing the Dent/crack in the bottom of the Beam.
Many Cracks in Beam welded up..
Opened front axle beam window
Moved Cat Converter back almost 12" to free up room next to trans.

Audio upgrades
Kenwood CD player (don't remember model number)
Sony XPLOD - 754 (350watt.. 75x4) for mains
American Pro 400 watt rms x 1 for sub
Clarion Pro 5x7 plates (front doors)
Rockford Fosgate 5x7 - 2 way (rear door)
MTX Thunderform Sub enclosure
Custom storage compartment in rear for spare parts and even more tools (REBUILT 10/13)


Soon to be done..
Ranger rear spring mode.. (off the list)
Rock Sliders
Tire carrier on rear bumper

SOA thread: Another SOA in progress
Rear Bumper thread: rear tube bumper..
Extended RA w/ ballistic joint thread: Extended RA with ballistic joints on a 92
Skidplate strengthening: Skidplate enhancement pics.
LED rock light upgrade: My Rock Light Upgrade



4312860376_f7d7f618f8_z.jpg

Dead Link Removed


~Mark


More updates later in the thread

[This message has been edited by Maniak (edited 03-14-2000).]

[Edited by Maniak on 06-27-2000 at 04:43 PM]
 



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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.
5601974274_18d8a605d0_z.jpg

DIY co2 stowed for travel by maniak_az, on Flickr

~Mark
 



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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
 


















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.
 






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?
 






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
 






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






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
 






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.
 












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






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
 






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






..: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
 






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.
 






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
 



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

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..?
 






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