Mounty71's 4x4 Long Travel Build

My pride and joy, the Mounty:

Video:

It's a 2000 Mercury Mountaineer. I acquired this fine vehicle in 2003 with just 32,410 miles on the ticker, and it was in pristine condition, having been driven by an elderly couple, and always serviced regularly at the same dealership it was delivered to from the factory.

This thing has gone through a series of different suspension setups, but currently it has:
Solo Motorsports 4" extended D35 TTB with D44 outers, and custom radius arms
2.5x12" King coilovers with 2.5x12" secondary King reservoir shocks
4WD conversion with BW4406 manual transfer case
2.5x18" rear King shocks outboard of the frame
custom ordered Deaver leaf springs with 12" 2AM Fab shackles
Full-width 8.8 rear with stock disc brakes, Blue Torch Fab diff cover/truss
4.56 gears front and rear, lunchbox front locker, limited slip rear
roll cage through dash and firewall to engine cage

(previous front suspension setup)
Long Travel front end 5" wider per side with 2.5x8" Sway Away coilovers, Dixon Bros. shock hoops
2.0x2" King bumpstops
Full heim steering
3" Procomp lift spindles
homemade lower rear A-arm crossbrace, lower A-arm mount weld-washers, upper A-arm gussets
8" limit straps
removed swaybar

(performance)
MAC performance muffler with turn down tip
MAC performance intake

(exterior)
front bumper with removable light bar, with 4 Hella 4000 55w HID conversions
custom rear receiver and swing out spare tire carrier w/ gas can
clear corners
McNeil fiberglass fenders
removed running boards
5.0 emblems
color-matched grill surround with mesh grill
clear LED light in rear bumper

(random)
ABS defeat switch
Icom race radio
recovered center console in black
fog lamp-hi beam mod
added tie-downs in cargo area
rear hatch interior handle
4x4 Ranger front towhooks
driveshaft "loop"


COMING NEXT
3-link rear suspenion
add 2.5 or 3.0x18" King bypass shocks to the rear
switch front smooth body shocks for 2.5 or 3.0x12" King bypasses
rear fiberglass
35s

Newly lifted on 31 BFG M/Ts:

After its first offroading:

Almost stock:

 

[mounty71]

Decided to go with tapered pins for the outer heim instead of drilling out the spindle. Ordered a set from BTF and they should be arriving any day. Also decided to go with weld-in bungs instead of tapping the tubing, and I got those in from Ruffstuff Specialties last week.

And I spent this week working on a project that I've been wanting to do for a looong time. Did the hitch portion of a Jefe-inspired spare tire carrier. It's 2x3x1/4" tubing with a 2" receiver, bolt-on using 10 bolts, and is completely hidden behind the stock bumper. Was able to keep the back up sensors and the amber light I have in the bumper too, and my spare still fits underneath the back. Turns out I really suck at measuring, so the bumper is a little crooked on one side and a little more crooked on the other, but it doesn't bother me too much.

I need to get a spindle to use for the tire carrier portion since there is no way the Dana 30 hub I have will fit, and then I'll build the tire carrier gate with a gas can and license plate mount.

And I hate these headers. Wish I never put them on.

 

[Tbars4]

..What's up with the headers?

 

[mounty71]

Exhaust leaks, header bolts keep loosening, horrible gas mileage, zero performance improvement.

Anyway, put the hitch to the test yesterday and towed out to Barstow. Trans got a little hot going up the Cajon Pass but other than that it did pretty well.

 

[mounty71]

Made the passenger's side heimed tierod today. Will make the driver's side sometime this week or next weekend.

And decided to paint it the color of the truck, which I think looks really cool from a distance.

 

[AccordRanger]

I like the hitch. I have been thinking about doing just that. I need one but haven't got one cause I don't want it to get hung up all the time.

 

[mounty71]

Welp, truck projects are indefinitely on hold. I got a job in San Francisco and will be moving there in a couple of weeks. I'm trying to find a parking space of some sort because i will still need a vehicle there, and I can't bring myself to sell this thing. With the increased salary though ill be able to save up for future projects!

 

[shadowless127]

If you ever want to ditch your park assist sensors I'll be glad to take them off your hands

 

[mounty71]

If you ever want to ditch your park assist sensors I'll be glad to take them off your hands

Never! I purposely kept the stock rear bumper instead of building a custom one so I can keep those sensors. Parallel parking in SF would be much worse without them.

 

[Keeper0311]

Man you're Mounty will look outta place in SF. Best of luck man.

 

[mounty71]

Haha ya it will. Thanks. I'm gonna do my best to find some offroad spots up north to feed my addiction.

 

[Keeper0311]

Haha ya it will. Thanks. I'm gonna do my best to find some offroad spots up north to feed my addiction.

Glad to hear it. I'm sure if you get in touch with LONO100 he'll be able to help you out. He's from up in that area I think.

 

[Tbars4]

..Good luck up there and maybe you can catch a spare seat for some of the big runs up there like the Rubicon..:biggthump

...You know I'll have a spare seat open for ya if you need to get away for a weekend and get in on one of our trips down here..

 

[mounty71]

Thanks Ted. I will definitely be back, just probably not for a while. And I have a buddy in norcal with a couple of Jeeps on 44s who goes to Hollister, Rubicon, etc. pretty often. Maybe a 4wd conversion is in my truck's future?

 

[MidnightRebel07]

Yeah, Lono knows where all the good places are, he goes out just about every weekend.

 

[mounty71]

Thought I'd post some pics a friend took of a trip to Prairie City I made last month. It was fun to get in the dirt a little bit, but it left me anxious for a REAL offroad trip. Hoping to make it out for New Year's on a trip I have planned to take dirt from Cal City all the way to Johnson Valley. But for now, just some cool pictures.

 

[Keeper0311]

Looks like a good time man.

 

[mounty71]

Ordered a custom pair of Deaver leaf springs today, which I will be picking up in about a month. For a while Deaver has had the G50E pack listed on their website for the Explorers, which is essentially a slightly modified Ranger G50 pack that has never really been a truly perfect leaf spring for the Explorers. They finally designed an Explorer-specific leaf spring called the G19 or J19, can't remember, so mine will be similar to that. But when installing my current leafs, which are supposedly for an 80s F150, I had to move the front spring hanger, so these new leafs will be built to my necessary dimensions, have a triple wrapped front eye with an anti-spring wrap leaf, and be arched for 3"-3.5" of lift instead of the usual 2"-2.5". Can't wait to get rid of my sketchy leaf springs!

 

[FROADER]

That's good they finally started making an Explorer specific leaf pack. I'm surprised it took this long with how many guys have them.

Looking forward to hearing how they perform for you.

 

[mounty71]

Ya so was I, I know a lot of people were never all that happy with the G50Es. Aside from my current F150 leafs, there have been plenty of other people adapting other leaf springs onto explorers, like Chevy 63", Toyota 62s, etc, in hopes of getting better performance. Jeff at Deaver said this new pack is much better than the G50E ever was, so I'm looking forward to getting them installed. Hopefully my measurements were correct. Of course, when I splurge on a brand new leaf pack (almost everything on my truck is used), 3 G50E packs go up for sale in the same week.

 

[Tbars4]

...Glad to see you are still modding the Mounty..:biggthump

I take it work is going well and you are now settled in up there...Are you getting any wheeling in?