My Explorer (little dif than most on here)

[Diff Whack Daddy]

 

[danwaters]

Anything new, Dan??

Well I just ordered the fuel cell and my 18 in FOx tripple bypasses for the rear were finally finished after 9 weeks of waiting so Im going to start on the fuel cell install and finishing the cage and incorporating the rear shock mounts for the 18s. Ill have pics up soon. But heres a pic of the Exploder in a dune about 300 feet tall. Went to Glamis for Easter

 

[danwaters]

Picked up the 18 inch tripple bypasses for the rear today. Fuel cell should be in next week!

 

[jrowe6]

where are the rear shocks going to be mounted at the top?

just read through this whole thread.....omg! this is exactly what i wanted to see. ever since the f150 raptor came to be ive been thinkin a similar setup on an explorer would be the bomb.....and here it is! that roll cage looks amazing. very nice work im quite impressed.

i am curious, if you care to disclose this information, how much $ and how many hours of labor have gotten you to this point.

 

[danwaters]

The rear shocks are gonna go up into the cargo area in the cab of the explorer. I am going to temporarily seal the holes with neoprene hose clamped or zip tied to the shock body and fastened to the wheel well too. Eventually I will redo the wheel wells and fully enclose the area where the shocks mount to the roll cage as to get at them from the outside of the truck in the rear wheel well tubs.

As far as time into I can't possibly tell you. So many little things here and there that only took an hour or two. The price has been kept way down by doing alot of the work myself and having two friends help me out alot as well. My buddy designed and built the front end and another buddy helped me out with the roll cage.I originally bought the truck 4 years ago for 6000 and probably have another 6000-8000 into it.

 

[jrowe6]

thats not too bad IMO. one day when i have all the tools and money i would like to build something like a CORR truck. probably not as big tho, more Ranger sized. but by then there will be some used Raptors runnin around and i might prefer just rebuilding one of those. hard to say, wont be a reality for a while.

i was also wondering if your X is highway worthy? i suspect yes but am curios about its high speed handling on pavement. ?

 

[danwaters]

Its definitely highway worthy. The fastest it's been at the current stance is 115mph which is plenty for me to be honest. And being as it is just as wide as in the rear as it is in the front it handles very well on the road. When I drive it on the street I can smoke little nip cars getting on the freeway! lol

 

[jrowe6]

thats the answer i was hoping for. if you can you should get some video while youre runnin some dunes or something. or if you could have a friend follow you around as you hit some bumps at high speed so we can see the suspension working!

 

[danwaters]

I almost bought a gopro cam yesterday when I picked my shocks up but decided to buy a set of coilovers for the front instead. I have a buddy who has vid from his rear mounted gopro cam off his Tacoma of my following him through some dunes and its pretty good but the suspension aint working all that hard through the dunes.

 

[jrowe6]

better than nothin man! post it on youtube!

 

[rikiewrx]

Hey! Love the truck man! So Sick! I've been wanting to widen my frontend so I was hopin youd tell me your secret on how you LCA were modified. More pics would be sweet to.

 

[Limited420]

update!!!!

 

[danwaters]

Hey! Love the truck man! So Sick! I've been wanting to widen my frontend so I was hopin youd tell me your secret on how you LCA were modified. More pics would be sweet to.

What we did was attach a 1" uniball to the end of the LCA at the appropriate angle for wheel travel and then plated the sides, top and bottom of the arm with 1/8 Chromoly plate. The width of the uniball cup lengthened the arm approx 3 inches so we built an upper to accommodate the added width and it was done. With 2 10" stroke shocks we were able to get just over 14 inches of travel out of it.

And there is no update but a new radiator and a pile of parts at my house. Ive been working over 60 hours/week out of town so I haven't had much time to do anything. PLus with the latest MDR race the California 200. I lost two close friends in an accident so the last two weeks I was actually free I was unable to do anything as well. Soon though!

 

[danwaters]

Got the explorer back in the garage...took two weeks of working on it after work to get the new shackle hangers in, new shackles built, and bypasses cycled and installed. Also mounted three seats in it with the driver seat on a 3 position slider and the rear seat in the middle. Still have some cleaning up to do and get rid of the temp duct tape covering the holes in the wheel wells with new wheel tubs. Going to completely box the rear wheel wells in to cover up the shocks so there wont be any holes into the cab that aren't sealed. I also want to change the front seat mounts and ditch the miter cut tube up front and replace it with a bent tube to look cleaner. It bugs the hell out of me, haha

 

[Mounty 09]

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[GRNMACHINE]

Nice Work!! You can change the title to ALOT Different than most--in a Good Way

 

[danwaters]

Thank you. I took the thing out to Glamis this weekend and was way amped on how the rear suspension I redid performed. I was breaking off a couple linked trucks down the sand highway where it was pretty rough. Its an incredible difference. Next is get the fuel cell in and I will do a new front end.

 

[BlueBYU]

THOROUGHLY, impressed and INSPIRED! Love the rig, and can't wait to get started on MINE!! I got 4 drive wheels though, so a bit more work on the front for me!! Going to Glamis on Thanksgiving?? Look for a Green Monster themed 69' Bug!!

 

[danwaters]

THOROUGHLY, impressed and INSPIRED! Love the rig, and can't wait to get started on MINE!! I got 4 drive wheels though, so a bit more work on the front for me!! Going to Glamis on Thanksgiving?? Look for a Green Monster themed 69' Bug!!

Yes, will be in glamis for thanksgiving for sure. If you see me come stop by and say hi.

 

[Dannyboy]

just caught up on this thread Dan, the truck looks awesome. I'm jealous on how clean the work ended up. I can tell you boxing in those triple bypasses is a great idea with how loud mine are in the cabin.

And to climb out of that big dune with 2wd is great, mine was a big heavy turd in Glamis, the motor just putted along.