Mounty71's 4x4 Long Travel Build

[cybergasm]

hmmmm if it was mine i would have left it alone. BTW what happen to the lights?

 

[carlover]

it looks decent. i might have 5 75% or so tread 33" bfg at's for sale soon. that might fill everything in and complete the look.

 

[mounty71]

hmmmm if it was mine i would have left it alone. BTW what happen to the lights?

I still have the lights, i just take them off for daily driving so i don't risk getting them stolen.

 

[mounty71]

Update:

Gave the truck a facelift this weekend.

Went from this:

And this:

To this:

And ended up with this:

It took way longer than expected...about 2.5 days, and the results are only decent looking up close. It looks better from far away. But i'm still happy that i finally got it done, i've been talking about painting the grill to match the body color since i got the truck 7 years ago, and decided to cut out the vertical bars after seeing NYmount21's grill. Maybe one day i'll have it painted and the mesh part done professionally.

And hopefully in the next week or two i'll have another update that i'm very excited about.

 

[section525]

I like it!

 

[FROADER]

Looks good, Matt!

Next update a bumper?
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[mounty71]

Looks good, Matt!

Next update a bumper?
Posted via Mobile Device

I don't want to say for fear of jinxing it.

 

[cybergasm]

still looking for chrome wheels or stick with the black for now ?

 

[mounty71]

Just gonna stick with what i have for now. Now that the grill is no longer chrome, there's no chrome at all on the truck except for the emblems on the hatch.

 

[Tbars4]

...As much as I like chrome, that looks Hot...Nice job Matt...:biggthump

 

[mounty71]

Thanks for the positive feedback everyone, i love the overall look of it even though it wasn't the best quality of work. I was sitting behind a truck in the drivethru the other day and couldn't stop looking at my truck's reflection on the tailgate.

Anyway, i may as well just disclose my plans...i was going to go pick up carlover's national leaf springs this weekend since his explorer is getting linked, but it looks like he might be hanging onto them for a bit longer depending on when his engine swap happens. I'm still planning to get them from him in the future, but it might just not be right away. I don't have money to buy longer shocks to match the springs anyway, nor the time to install them anyway since i might need to move the front spring hanger back an inch. Either way, i'm excited to finally get some real suspension under this thing!

 

[mounty71]

Just kidding, talked to sean and i'm picking them up saturday.

 

[carlover]

When you get the right shocks in there let me know. I spent alot of time dialing in the valving and can tell you exactly what you need to make it work pretty good.

And moving the spring hanger forward will gain you more bump travel, with less negative spring arch which is key for explorers. Just make sure when you do this you cycle it, and cycle it, and cycle it some more to get a good front hanger location.

 

[mounty71]

O whoops, thought you said move the front spring hanger back. Also, more than likely i will keep the shocks under the floor.

 

[carlover]

O whoops, thought you said move the front spring hanger back. Also, more than likely i will keep the shocks under the floor.

hahahahahahahahaha, yeah move it back..oppps my bad. some 10 or 12" revalvable shocks will do fine for what you will be doing with it. The front will be your limiting factor anyways.

 

[mounty71]

hahahahahahahahaha, yeah move it back..oppps my bad. some 10 or 12" revalvable shocks will do fine for what you will be doing with it. The front will be your limiting factor anyways.

Haha, ok, moving it back made more sense to me anyway considering what we discussed about the driveshaft. And hopefully sometime in the not-so-distant future i will be scoping the classifieds for some 10-12" shocks. And then building a tire carrier to keep the spare out of the trunk. And then 8" shocks for the front. And then....oh god...

 

[carlover]

Haha, ok, moving it back made more sense to me anyway considering what we discussed about the driveshaft. And hopefully sometime in the not-so-distant future i will be scoping the classifieds for some 10-12" shocks. And then building a tire carrier to keep the spare out of the trunk. And then 8" shocks for the front. And then....oh god...

a 2.5 8" in the front, and 2.5 10 or 12 in the rear valved right would surprise you. it wont be long travel smooth but you can carry some speed and be pretty capable.

 

[mounty71]

Yup, i'll be looking for 2.5s. At that point the suspension will be done for a very long time.

 

[carlover]

let me know when you get them. Since i ran a similar setup for awhile ive already got all the valving figured out for you hahaha.

 

[mounty71]

let me know when you get them. Since i ran a similar setup for awhile ive already got all the valving figured out for you hahaha.

I already planned on it. I'll give you a call in about 10 years.