New to the scene, but not to the game.

[PoweredByMB]

Well gents, time to finally blow the dust off of the ol' explorer, and after quite a long hiatus, I'm finally back. I finally made some time to get my rough country 5" lift on. It only took my lift a tad over a year to get back after it haha. Life's been crazy lately.

Got the ol' gal towed upto work with the F150, and tore into her tonight. I got almost everything out of the truck, minus the diff, and ready to install everything tomorrow morning.

The SOA swap will be done with the help of my buddy that I build G-wagons with since I'm not a welder. He owns a shop that builds ultra fours and custom fab work. We build custom off road G-wagons on the side. Unfortunately I have to tow it over to his ship to do it, but its a minor inconvenience.

 

[DemonMudder]

Well gents, time to finally blow the dust off of the ol' explorer, and after quite a long hiatus, I'm finally back. I finally made some time to get my rough country 5" lift on. It only took my lift a tad over a year to get back after it haha. Life's been crazy lately.

Got the ol' gal towed upto work with the F150, and tore into her tonight. I got almost everything out of the truck, minus the diff, and ready to install everything tomorrow morning.

The SOA swap will be done with the help of my buddy that I build G-wagons with since I'm not a welder. He owns a shop that builds ultra fours and custom fab work. We build custom off road G-wagons on the side. Unfortunately I have to tow it over to his ship to do it, but its a minor inconvenience.

View attachment 455306

View attachment 455307

View attachment 455308

View attachment 455309

Nice!! Fun to see I'm not the only one that took over a year to get back the X! Working on getting mine running again too! Wish ya luck, hopefully be done sooner than later!

 

[Fix4Dirt]

Glad to see you back! Looks like its gonna be fun!

 

[410Fortune]

Not fair! I used to have a 96 in that color with a merc front grill and 33’s seeing your pics man I miss that truck

 

[Blown]

Go man, what a killer shop to get it done! I am on a bit of a hiatus from mucho distractions and work around the house.

 

[PoweredByMB]

@Blown Haha yeah it's easy to get spoiled in a shop like ours. The a/c in the shop alone is enough to spoil you.

@410Fortune I remember seeing a picture of yours, and yeah I've found it to be quite a rare color.

I was able to get everything done on the front end. Took about 10 hours total. Most of it went right in. I did have to modify the torsion bar drop brackets from tge RC kit, and form the stock torsion covers to fit (See pics below). I assume they are slightly different in the rangers. The more I do to the X the more I find these little differences. The sway bar is also different on the X and mounts 90° difference from the rangers.

I wasn't able to get the rear done. I ran out of time, so the X currently has a Carolina squat going on haha! I also discovered that the torsion bar pads were worn through, so I need to get a new set. That's causing some loss of height in the front.

The rear won't take long, so my next project is trying to find a 4406m and drive shafts to swap in.

 

[DannyW]

2000 ranger tb covers bolt right on.
What are your plans for the rear?

 

[PoweredByMB]

2000 ranger tb covers bolt right on.
What are your plans for the rear?

I'll try to snag some from a ranger if that's the case. I'll need to take that back off later anyways to replace the torsion bar pad.

The rear is getting a SOA swap. I've already got spring perches for it. I'm just not a welder unfortunately. I can make metal stick together with a mig but it's not pretty, and I don't trust myself enough to not over heat the axle and either burn a hole through it or warp it. I learned early in my career to know your limitations haha. Although I do plan on learn more about welding through this experience. I've just got to find the time to get it up to my buddies shop to have it welded. He does ultra four racers and I've worked with him on off road g wagon builds, so I know his work and trust him.

Unfortunately I won't have time for probably at least 4 weeks. Maybe it's for the best though honestly. I'd like to get my transfer case and drive shafts before having the spring perches welded so that we can set a proper working angle for the u joints.

I'm currently looking for a 4406m transfer case to swap.