New member with a "new" Trac

[Pjibs]

Hey Guys,

My name is J.B. and I just recently joined the forums because I was able to get my hands on a 2003 4x4 Sport Trac! It was my dad's old work truck and he gave it to me as a gift for pumpin' out good grades at college. :scratch: I'm so stoked right now because I've been eying the thing before I could even drive and we are going to get it titled and insured under me shorty! It's got over 100k miles on it and has been totaled once... almost twice I'll put some pics up of it tomorrow, nothing fancy, but it's been a great truck so far to me as it was for my dad.

There are some things that I would defiantly like to change and modify on it and I have some questions related to a few things, but other than that it's really just a list until I can get around to doing them!

Okay...
1. New wheels and tires because the tires are just about completely bald. I have not put any thought yet into the tires let alone wheels, so any personal preferences from you guys will be appreciated!
2. Grille guard of some kind
3. New tonneau cover
4. New stereo system. Probably kicker or boston acoustics. Gotta see what fits.
5. New dashboard. Pretty much all of the lights behinds the speedometer and gauges have burnt out. I have to decided if I want to replace the lights or see if I can get a new custom dash. I don't know yet.
6. Finally, I would like to lift the Trac, but that's where I have some questions because I don't want to do a big lift, like 4"+, but more like 2" or 3". From what I have been researching a 2" lift can be achieved by a shackle lift in the rear and a torso twist in the front. This would allow for 31" tires?? And then there are some 3" lift kits out there, but what I have gathered is that you need to modify your front bumper or remove the tow hocks or something? Can someone clear that up for me?

I guess the reason for the lift is because I would like to start offroading because I have a couple buddies that do and we have a blast, but I don't want to go extreme because of the price and also the truck is my primary source of transportation. I hope ya guys can help me in learning more and more about this great truck and to be honest and can't wait to find out what I can do with it!

Best,
J.B.

 

[StryctNy9e]

Nice to hear you are in the Explorer family! Welcome to site!

 

[Major Rhino]

Welcome! Maybe I can help you out a little. My truck has some of the things you want to do to yours (2 inch lift, grille guard, new wheels/tires, tonneau cover). Here is a link to it.

Ok, the grille guard is easy. I think I got mine on ebay for $250 with shipping but it looks like the guy sells them for $280 now. Bolts right on, looks great. You will have to make custom extension brackets if you wish to bolt up a grille/push guard on a Sport Trac with the PA Body lift (3" lift kit).

Which leads into lifting... By far the easiest and cheapest lift is TT (Torsion Twist) / Shackles (Extended Shackles) (the 2" lift you researched) but since your truck is 4x4 you just have to make sure you do not do anything over 2" on the TT because it can bind your CV joints. The shackles (Warrior Shackles- Part #153) simply replace your stock shackles. These two together will give you a fairly cheap and easy 2 inches of lift. You will have to get an alignment because of the TT, which makes the whole lift cost about $100-$150. Here is a good link for this lift. You will NOT have to make an adjustment to fit your grille guard with this lift.

For the 3" body lift (Sport Trac Performance Accessories Body Lift), you will have to make custom extended brackets to fit a grille guard. I think this lift kit is about $250. To install it takes a lot of work and a good deal of experience. To have it installed professionally shops could charge upwards of a cool $1000.

So for you (like anyone), the easy choice would be TT/Shackes. You can see from the first link that is what I did to my truck and is still a solid lift. I have 32"x11.5"x15" tires that look great and only require you to easily cut some plastic on the inner fender well to fit so you can make fully locked turns (You can't really tell anything was ever cut if you were looking at it). You could use 31" tires if you wanted to and you probably wouldn't have to cut any plastic but I don't think they would fill up the wheel well ans nicely as the 32 inchers do.

If you get tires like mine that need 15" wheels, make sure you test fit them before you install. There is a fairly good chance they won't clear the Sport Trac's notoriously large calipers and the wheels won't turn. If you buy 15's online without test-fitting, you are taking a big risk. But if you do find that you get 15" wheels that don't fit around the calipers, you should be able to slap some small spacers on and be good to go. If you get tires for 16" rims or larger you should be ok as these wheels will easily clear the calipers.

And finally, for the tonneau cover depending on what you want you will just have to shop around online. I have a hard, locking one as as you can see and I love it. It is made out of fiberglass underneath but it can still support me without cracking when I sit on it (180 lbs). The soft fold-able ones are nice to.

Hope I could help and if you have any more questions feel free to ask or shoot me a PM. There are a lot of great resources of information here on the site too and also at mysporttrac.com. Welcome to the explorer family!

 

[Major Rhino]

BTW, I have 32x11.5x15 BF Goodrich All-Terrains and 15x8 Mickey Thompson Sidebiters.

 

[ncranchero]

Welcome to the forum and to Sport Trac-in' !

The only thing I will add to the excellent post by the Rhino is that you should just replace your instrument bulbs and add any gauges you want. The windshield pillar pod type gauge mounts for similar year Rangers fit the Sport Trac and look great. You start messing with the factory instruments/wiring and you're asking for grief!

 

[brianwsnc]

can you replace the cluster bulbs? My LED mileage display is weak.. maybe it's my age.?? haha

 

[ncranchero]

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=312923&highlight=instrument+cluster+bulbs

 

[StryctNy9e]

Major Rhino, we need pics of you trac, sounds like she looks good!!!

 

[MidnightRebel07]

Here's a breakdown of what I've done to my '03 ST 4wd XLT:

Started stock:
(lost photos)


Then the new 265/7016 Bridgestones Dueler APT II's:


Then I did the Warrior Products lift shackles and 1.75" Torsion Twist up front:


Next came the 3" performance Accessories body lift and 285/75/16 BFG T/A K/O'sand 1.5" wheel spacers:



I have these new wheels and tires but waiting 'til I get in the garage and install new upper/ lower ball joints, etc. and get an alignment done before I install them. Their 15x8 Cragar Soft 8's with 33x12.50x15 Goodyear DuraTrac's:

 

[Pjibs]

Holy replies Batman!

I just gotta say thanks guys for all of the advice. I couldn't ask for more (well maybe, but we will get to that later ). Alright, well these projects will happen over time, but just to continue on...

1. Wheels/Tires: Thanks for the great reply Rhino. Much appreciated. I will defiantly keep that combo in mind. I know one of the head mechanics down at the local Tire Discounters so I was going to meet up with him and talk about how I should approach this because I know it won't be cheap. Luckily the 'rents said they be willing to chip in a little because they are the original tires and they have most defiantly run their course.

2. Rhino thanks again for the link! I've been cruisin' around some of the other threads looking at the various guards that people have and I kinda have my heart set on (the site I found it on called it a "Bull Guard") . That may be the brand, not quite sure, but its was a lot smaller and only covered part of the front bumper. May put some aux. lights on it. Who knows!

3. As for the Tonneau cover the more I look at it, I've concluded that one of the locking mechanisms is busted so I may be able to save a couple bucks and fix that myself because I do like the fact that it locks.

5. The dashboard. Oh man! I am no stranger to electrocuting myself as I have spent the last 4 years working with saltwater aquariums and making lighting rigs sooo being zapped by metal halides and vho's become the norm. This is defiantly an issue that I'm gunna need help to tackle so we will figure it out when the time arrives!

6. I just wanted to make sure I was understanding what I was researching. Alright well it looks like I'll need to make an order from Warrior, get a hold of a jack, and find the right way to do the TT. Now is that with just a wrench/attachment pretty much? Crank it and measure then repeat?

Just wanted to say thanks again! You guys have got some slick lookin' Tracs! Can't wait to get this party started!


J.B.

 

[Major Rhino]

Major Rhino, we need pics of you trac, sounds like she looks good!!!

Link was in my first post

Here it is again: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=312686

Teaser:

...and since the first set of pics on there I have reverted the black corner headlights with clears, used "Mother's Back to Black" on the trim and added some 4.0L V6 decals as later seen in that thread.

 

[LONO100]

here's a link to a post i threw up a while back on how to change out the lights in your instrument cluster.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=312923

it has a link to a youtube video that can walk you through taking apart your dash to get to the lights and also what type of bulbs you will need to get. pretty easy but time consuming. also, if you are looking for parts like wheels, if you troll craigslist hard enough, you can find some really sweet deals. i just bought a set of 15's with almost brand new pro comp mud tires on them, the guy was selling them for 400 but i talked him down to 200 and they are a steal! check out my posts to see pics of it. this forum is the ****, there is so much knowledge at your disposal here thanks to all the members, they have helped me out with so much.

 

[Pjibs]

I never posted pics of "Red Trac" you may think the name is lame, but it's what she got!