Mountainnergreen's Mounty Buildup Worklog

[MountaineerGreen]

Specifications-
5.0 4x4 (not AWD), 4.10's Aussie Locker, 4" Superlift front and rear.

The Highlights-

4x4 BW4406

4" Superlift

Sliders

Skid Plates

Superlift 4" lift springs and stock shackles

Torque Monster Headers

1" Trick Flow Spacer

33" Cooper Discovery STT's on FX4 Ranger Wheels



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Page 1 (you are here)
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Introduction- Pictures and mods up until Feb 2006

FX4 Wheels

Torque Monster Headers
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Page 2- Mountainnergreen's Mounty Buildup Worklog
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Lift kit purchased

New hitch installed, round plug trailer wiring installed

BW4406 swap AWD to Selectable 4x4

Mod list

Superlift Fab work
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Page 3- Mountainnergreen's Mounty Buildup Worklog
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Superlift completed with pictures

Flex pictures

Front hitch build

Removed Safari Bar

Painted grill, front bumper, rear bumper

Tow Shackle

1" trick flow intake spacer

Sliders

120v power outlet
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Page 4- Mountainnergreen's Mounty Buildup Worklog
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Installed front splash shield and more protection for radiator

Moved trans temp sensor to pan

Transfer case and gas tank skid plates

XM Radio hideaway module and antenna

4.10 Gears, Aussie Locker, sway bar quick disconnects

Magnaflow custom catback exhaust

Intake

CB Antenna

285 / 75 R16 Cooper STT
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Page 5- Mountainnergreen's Mounty Buildup Worklog
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Got Stuck

Moab 2007

Front End Rebuild

Selectable Differential Swap

Poser Shots

MX4 Decals

 

[MountaineerGreen]

I'm going to try to keep this in chronological order, but I am having a hard time remembering what I did and when I did it. Some of the mods I may have even forgotten.

I bought my Mountaineer in June 2005. It started out life as a rental car. At 10K miles it was sold and ultimately ended up with a family about 60 miles from where I live. I bought it with 103K on it. The previous owners lived on a gravel road and the truck showed and shows it. They seemed to have maintained it pretty well. With the exception of the ball joints and bearing assembly, everything was in fair shape. I put new rotors on the front and replaced all of the brake pads. I replaced the windshield and tinted the driver and passenger side windows to match the factory tint. I cleaned and cleaned and got it clean.

I moved my Pioneer CD player from my old car into my new ride because my factory CD player was junk.

A friend of mine had a bull bar that he had had on his Explorer and I bought it from him. It really complimented the chrome grill and made a nice contrast to the grey bumper. He had some old rusty lights that I cleaned up and installed new bulbs in. I mounted these on the bar. The factory fog lights were missing when I bought it. I ordered a set of aftermarket replacements from ebay. They are decent quality, nice fit, but seem to attract moisture.

I bought a new Curt brand round tube hitch because I bought the truck with the intention of towing. I liked the way the Curt was bent to match the contour of the rear bumper and didn’t hang down too much.

I did a torsion twist and added some shackles to lift the Mountaineer up. It just looked to low and squatty.

The truck had three matching tires and one odd ball. It was nowhere near the same tread pattern or sidewall style. I bought a matching tire at Wal Mart to complete the set. In retrospect, I should have just waited, but I didn’t imagine that I would get into the off road look quite so much.

I got to looking at the exhaust setup on the Mountaineer one day. There was two smallish pipes that went into two secondary cats, then into a muffler. The other side of the factory muffler had only one outlet the same size as the two inlet pipes! I couldn't believe it. I went to a place in the small town where I grew up because the muffler shops around where I live wanted $150+ to do my exhaust work. Bullcrap. I took it there and for $60 he cut off my secondary cats, built a y pipe to bring the two exhaust pipes into one 2.5" pipe. He put on a Dynomax muffler I had bought, then took the stock tailpipe and bent a bigger 2.5" pipe to match it. Looked just like stock except for bigger. Sounded pretty darn good.

I built an adapter to let me use a round K&N air filter and completely remove the stock air box. A curtain was made to prevent so much hot engine bay air from being entered into the filter.

I got a steal of a deal on a programmer that I couldn’t pass up. A friend had an Air Aid intake and Superchips Programmer he took off of an 2001 F150. He wanted $150 for the pair and wouldn’t sell just the programmer. It was compatible with my 5.0 motor, but the intake obviously wasn’t. I bought the whole thing and sold the intake for $125. I now have only $25 in the $300 programmer. Superchips wouldn’t be my first choice, but for the money, I can’t complain.

I went to the SEMA show in October 2005. We drove from Arkansas to Las Vegas on I40. There were thousands of semi trucks on the road and I thought it would be neat to have a CB to talk to the drivers and keep things interesting. When we got back, I put the CB in my center console by removing the tissue/change holder and modifying a bracket. It is a tight fit, but I don’t have to give up any space in the floorboard for the CB.

With 111,000 on the clock, some parts needed to be replaced. I have known for a while that these parts were shot, but lack of funds prevented me from doing so. Now that I have a little more cash and I bought a popup camper and towing it brought some short comings to light.

This whole thing started in late February with me installing my Torque Monster Headers

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=153944

I was satisfied with my trucks current condition but the power unleashed by the headers revealed weaknesses. I would do it again in a heartbeat the power and sound is amazing.

My truck has fog lights, but I have been having problems with the lights staying on. I bought new plugs that connect to the light bulbs because my original ones were burned out. I found them for $9.99 for a pair at Autozone. I got Silverstar bulbs for the fog lights while I was working on them so they would match my headlight bulbs. There was a $5 mail in rebate on the bulbs.

Next I checked the rear diff fluid and it seemed to be low. I removed the cover and cleaned everything up. The differential was refilled with 4.25 quarts of synthetic 75w140 gear oil. I also found a universal joint in the front drive shaft that was a little rough and replaced it.

I did the TPS mod, adjusting the output voltage to .97.

I bit the bullet and bought some new BF Goodrich All Terrain KO’s. 265/75 R16 is the size. I put them on my factory wheels as I don’t personally care for the black steel wheel look. I had to do some minor trimming of the front bumper and running boards to keep the oversized tires from rubbing. I have a friend that works at a Ford dealership, and he was able to correct my speedometer electronically for no charge.

With all these improvements and after reading Aldive’s posts on the transmission temperature gauge and filter, I thought I needed a gauge. I cut a 2” hole in the upper pocket of my center console for another gauge that had since been removed, so it seemed like the logical place to put the new gauge. I bought an electric gauge at Oriley and some fittings from the local hardware store. I put the temperature sensor in a brass T and put it just before my transmission cooler. I am pleased with the result and I can now monitor my transmission temperatures when towing.

I have had a 10” sub and amp lingering around for some time and I decided to build a stealth sub box to accommodate it in my truck without sacrificing cargo space. I removed the interior panels in the rear area. Using photos from other forum members builds, I built my box. I used ¾” MDF, lots of drywall screws and two tubes of silicone. I am by no means a professional wood worker. My box fit perfectly and looks good too, it’s just that it took me forever to build it. I would guess that I spent 8 hours on the entire project; six of them were on the box. All of the wires were already in place as I had the sub in a hatchback box previously. I mounted the amp behind the driver’s side panel. It is accessible through the panel for the jack. The sub and amp did not cost me anything and are kind of crappy. But the box and connections are capable of handling better quality components. I think audio installations should always be done with future upgrades in mind.

Since my header install, my exhaust has been exceedingly loud with the dynomax I had on there. I decided to make a change. Initially I was going to cut out the Dynomax and clamp in a turbo muffler, but when I saw what a pour job the muffler shop did bending my new tailpipe piece, I decided to scrap the whole thing. Using a hacksaw, I cut the old exhaust off after the Y pipe. I assembled some exhaust pipe and the muffler with a turn down with the idea of camping the whole thing on. I use J bolts to hang the muffler from the factory rubber hangers. It turns out that the exhaust had been hanging almost entirely from the front hangers. The guy who did my exhaust the first time didn't properly support the weight. A majority of the vibration I had went away with the new exhaust, because the old set up put so much weight on the first exhaust hanger. The new turbo muffler was cheap and sounds great, has a nice deep rumble but no highway drone.

 

[mynameisaric]

you need pictures!!

 

[MountaineerGreen]

you need pictures!!

working on it as we speak

 

[mynameisaric]

nice. clean truck. i'll trade you body panels lol.

 

[Boomer12]

Very cool.
Gotta love that color... lol.

 

[SoBeLover]

Very nice, Evan. Your Mounty looks almost the same color as my 98 Sport

 

[MountaineerGreen]

I have a problem with green vehicles. I had a 95 T bird that was Emerald Green, a 96 olds aurora that was almost the same color, and now this one. It seems that they find me.

Up next: Ford Ranger 4x4 wheels - I bought them today, will be mounted tomrrow I hope. Pics to follow.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

The new wheels:

 

[mynameisaric]

i think those are what my mom has on her 02 sport. nice rims. they clean up well and shine pretty good.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

I got my new wheels mounted... almost. Three of them are fine, but one is badly out of round. The salvage yard I bought them from guaranteed the structure, so they are finding me another. Running on the spare until then
Here's the pics:

 

[mynameisaric]

wow! those look ALOT better than i thought they would.. i didnt think they would look bad at all, but i didnt think they would look as good as they do. impressive

 

[MountaineerGreen]

When I get my other wheel and I get everything cleaned up, I will post some better pictures. Those are not to clear due to bad lighting and limited space.

 

[conig]

what year wheel are those any backspacing issues? they look good if you plan to get rid of your other wheels let me know I may be interested.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

They are from an 02 ranger 4x4, has the same backspacing and hub centric as my stock wheels. No fitment issues since rangers and explorer/mountaineers share much of the same parts.

I have someone on this forum that is going to buy my wheels. If the deal falls through, I will PM you.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

Update:

Well, I got another wheel in today. It was warped too! They are looking for another replacement now. Argh!!! Very frustrating.

 

[Gatorblazer]

Looking good so far. Keep it up!

 

[MountaineerGreen]

Ok, I finally got a good wheel today! Third time is the charm. I will get it cleaned up and take some new pictures for posting.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

Finally got all four tires and wheels on here are some pics after a wash:

You can see the the offset is the same by this profile pic.

 

[SkanlaxJMO]

wow those look reallly good.....hmm maby i should start looking for some ranger wheels.....