My 93' Explorer Restoration Project

[adamsbro2]

just a thought but you should really hit up a pick and pull and get some manual hubs and get rid of those junk autos. hubs at the junkyard up here in ogden are only 11 bucks and you can get the nuts and keeper washer with them small price and a big payout!!! But DAMN DUDE that thing is looking awesome i wanna see it!!!! Keep up the strong work man you impress the **** out of me!!

 

[Suicide77]

A little got done this afternoon, but enough that tomorrow is wide open to go full steam! Since I ended up getting the tap, I figured I would go to town on the nuts as well. Based on the sheer amount of rust coming out I am going to guess that it was a good idea.

Finally a look at the coil and shocks fully mounted to the axle, definitely going to get plenty of travel!

And a pic of how she sits for now...

Can't wait to go to town on it tomorrow!

 

[Suicide77]

just a thought but you should really hit up a pick and pull and get some manual hubs and get rid of those junk autos. hubs at the junkyard up here in ogden are only 11 bucks and you can get the nuts and keeper washer with them small price and a big payout!!!

When I get my Ex up and running I'll invest in the manual hubs. Maybe if I showed up at your house with a 12 pack I could convince you to give me a run down on the auto and manual hubs? (Just thought I would give the beer wrench a shot )

 

[adamsbro2]

Absolutely ill do what I can!

 

[Anime]

Yeah, if you're going with bigger tires or doing any serious wheeling, get the manual hubs and sell off your autos rather than busting them.

If you get any at the salvage yard, especially if you can get them cheap, get more than one pair. Always a good idea to have a spare or two in the rig so if anything happens, you just pull the wheel, put on a new hub, and keep going.

 

[Naasau]

I agree! I have one extra mounted with my spare, and another junkyard pair in an ammo can.

One day I'll swap out my junk yard spares for a spare set of the BA jeep hubs... one day...

 

[Suicide77]

Sweet! Thanks for the heads up guys!

In the mean time I was able to get the brake lines and sway bar, steering, drive shaft, brake sensor.... etc... all hooked up. Here are the new brake lines:

I want to get extended lines but for now I couldn't beat $15 for new ones (especially since there was an incident involving a torch...). After all that put the street slicks on and put the metal plates and studs down to unbind the suspension.

The front is horribly toe out, but it is done (Maybe I can beer wrench someone into lending me alignment plates?). Just the back to go and then tires/alignment. I can already tell I want to go higher, but the bank account is limiting me for the time being. On the flip side, at this point it will be a matter of bigger coils/leafs/shocks and re-gearing.

 

[wood1]

Looks good dude. Have a look under my List of useful TTB threads link. I added a section for alignments yesterday. You can do the toe in with a tape measure fairly accurately.

 

[adamsbro2]

Looks great! You wouldn't even need leafs just do a soa and new coils! If your drop brackets will work for a 5.5-6 inch lift if not you may need to replace them as well! And as far as the alignment plates I'm sure we can work something out! I'm on days this weekend so I'm sure one day I could swing by after work to help finish up what I can! Bleed brakes etc. You got my number bud just let me know!

 

[Suicide77]

Looks great! You wouldn't even need leafs just do a soa and new coils! If your drop brackets will work for a 5.5-6 inch lift if not you may need to replace them as well! And as far as the alignment plates I'm sure we can work something out! I'm on days this weekend so I'm sure one day I could swing by after work to help finish up what I can! Bleed brakes etc. You got my number bud just let me know!

The drop brackets I have do have a lower beam pivot hole to allow for a 5.5" lift, so... you can probably already see where this is going! It doesn't help that I've seen the 'Hulk' and know what a bigger lift will yield (still cleaning up drool). I'll be hitting you up when I her all done, working on the rear end now and I have met my next challenge....

First was the lower shock mounts; rust cakes come to mind.

Simply put, I think any set of mounts in the junk yard are better than the ones on my truck. The next challenge is a little tougher, the center bolt through the leafs...

I have started taking off metal from the clamp point for the Vise Grips. I have also smashed the teeth on the Vise Grips.

The metal has simply bonded! It won't budge, which brings me to my burning question... Would it be a horrific no-no to grind/cut the bolt off or is it a reasonable thing to do? Does Auto Zone carry this bolt? Thanks in advance for any replies on the subject!

 

[wood1]

Clamp the spring together then cut the bolt off.

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/Add_A_Leafs.html

 

[adamsbro2]

As far as the bolt I'm not sure where to get one but I have had great luck using a small pipe wrench to hold it cause as you pull harder it will dig harder!

 

[Naasau]

NAPA sells spring bolts.

And I used some spring plates off of a 79 F-150 that were rust free. (And made thicker) worked like a charm!

 

[Sig-Sauer]

Did the 4" duff kit come with a droped pitman arm ? i didnt see one in your kit, or read about you installing one. If it didnt you will need one. I have the JD 6" kit on my EX but the arm they included was not enough drop.I went with a FA600. If you need it you can have it. Its perfect for a 4" lift. Initaly i went with the stock wheels with larger tires but at about 3/4 turn the tires rubbed on the shocks and control arms. I deffinatly recomend diffrent wheels. Let me know if you want that arm asap i just tossed it into a recycle bin today. rpk.chris@yahoo.com

 

[wood1]

Whatya doin? AAL?

 

[Suicide77]

Did the 4" duff kit come with a droped pitman arm ? i didnt see one in your kit, or read about you installing one.

Hey Sig-Sauer (great username btw!) this is the 2.5" James Duff Kit, and it did not come with a pitman arm. If you chucked yours I would gladly take it!!!

Also, thanks for the heads up Wood, Adamsbro, and Naasau! You guys just gave me everything I need to finish this project!!

 

[Naasau]

Grab it from the bin! If he doesn't need it, someone will.

 

[Noober1]

Did I just miss out on buying a lift kit?

 

[Suicide77]

Well I worked 6hrs of OT today, ugh. But I got to work on the mistress... Here's what I've got:

I grinded off the nut of the leaf center bolt, and it still wouldn't come off! So I chucked a big old C-clamp on the end and presto! The rusted chunk popped right off!

I had been trying to get another center bolt to replace the ones I was grinding off, however, it would seem the auto part stores in my area don't have them anymore... My options were then left up to: Hitting up the junk yard and seeing if I could find a 7/16" diameter that was long enough and rust free; The 3/8" diameter replacement bolt that came with the kit; Or using a standard bolt that had a similar head diameter but was still 3/8".

Well, after much debating, I decided to go with the bolt from the kit because it still fit despite having a bit of slop, I think the odds of finding the actual one in usable shape from the junk yard are very slim, and the hex bolt didn't have as much 'height' to the head for the axle to drop on to.

From there the rest was easy! Add-a-leaf...

...and shackle.

As you can see there is a good amount of lift between the now 'lifted' driver side and stock passenger side. The passenger side did prove to be a little more challenging, mostly due to the shackle that came in the kit. It seemed as though it was a bit more 'puckered' towards the ends and for the life of me I could not get it to clear the frame mount or leaf spring! So... I separated it with a vise and used washers and a shock bushing to keep it spread.

It was kind of like arming a bomb. Lots of tension and no sudden moves! Once it was all lined up and the bolt was placed a quick tap from a hammer and the washers went flying! For the leaf, I went ahead and just hoisted the vise up and separated the shackle. Enough tension that it just held the vise in place so I decided to take a picture of it as well

Eureka! A little more pep is present in the rear!

All that is left is the shock mounts, but of course... my super power kicks in... a sheared bolt:

Some quick hardware, mounting the shocks, and cleaning the lower mounts. Looks like it will be back on all 4's tomorrow! Adamsbro is coming over to give me a hand bleeding the brake lines and aligning it, two fairly important systems that need to be in check if I want to drive this thing! (Thanks again Man!) So close....!

 

[NHarris]

Quite the contraptions you seem to come up with! You're almost finished, good work!
As well, I can see a second gen disc brake conversion coming soon.
http://www.explorer4x4.com/discswap.html