Paul's '91 Sport

[Paul]

For today, went from this janky, low quality “came with the antenna” universal mount:

To this well-built, American-made high quality antenna mount from Brian1:

. . . painted to match my accent color of gray . . .

Another one of those upgrades I’ve been wanting to do for some time now, especially since I’ve had that bracket for four+ years. . .

Paul

 

[Paul]

Back at it today. . .

Tahuya again. . .

“Abby Red” back out on the trails…

Still out here in the dark, the Jeep sheared the power steering box off the fra…., wait - - the mounts…

Still fun, more to follow.

 

[Rick]

Still out here in the dark, the Jeep sheared the power steering box off the fra…., wait - - the mounts…

Still fun, more to follow.

Ahh the good 'ole disposable Cherokees.

Best of luck getting it out of there!

 

[Paul]

We’re out - - another fun day…. Good trail side repair, mechanically capable driver, just running faulty gear…. J e e p

This was about the time I figured it might not be a bad idea to unhook the front sway-bar. . .

Paul

 

[Paul]

So, the running gear that made up this rig was a combination of parts from my long-owned '91 Sport and some of the parts off of Phil's (Albino94LTD) rig. Phil had made the upgrade to F-250 shock towers up front to increase TTB travel, so that improvement transferred over. Phil added the secondary front shock for the front end, and although I wasn't sure of the necessity of it, it didn't bother me enough to delete it.

When we built the 'Ho in 2020, we just swapped in his shocks, a combination of Ranchos - - age and level of use unknown. . .

One of the bigger projects I had hinted at in the past was this one - - shock replacement. As mentioned, if two shocks per side up front wasn't broken, why fix it ? ? ?

And in the rear . . .

And reservoir shocks. . . not why . . . ?, but why not ? ? ?

These Skyjacker shocks have been sitting on a shelf in my garage for almost a year - - yep, "I'm pacing myself . . ."

Paul

 

[donalds]

I dig it

 

[Brian1]

I've heard good things about those Skyjacker shocks. Looking forward to your opinion of them when you get some miles on them

 

[410Fortune]

Skyjacker products always top notch
I went looking for superduty shocks for a 6”
Lifted truck. I don’t want spherical bearings at the upper and lower mounts but we did want a nice 2” or 2.5” external resi shock
Skyjacker to the rescue…
Still using bushings at the upper and lower
Mounts. Most fox, bilstein, touch country, rancho etc tiny little uniballs

Very happy with fit and performance, as always, of the skyjacker brand

 

[Paul]

I've heard good things about those Skyjacker shocks. Looking forward to your opinion of them when you get some miles on them

Will do, out again today, snow / Christmas Tree Run - - quite pleased with the initial results.

Skyjacker products always top notch
I went looking for superduty shocks for a 6”
Lifted truck. I don’t want spherical bearings at the upper and lower mounts but we did want a nice 2” or 2.5” external resi shock
Skyjacker to the rescue…
Still using bushings at the upper and lower
Mounts. Most fox, bilstein, touch country, rancho etc tiny little uniballs

Very happy with fit and performance, as always, of the skyjacker brand

Your earlier positive comments on Skyjacker products (can't remember which of your threads....) was part of the reason I went with them when I made the purchase. Supplemental front shocks and the steering stabilizer are the "Black Max" variety, reservoir are the ADX 2.0.

 

[Paul]

Over to the east side of the Cascades today on a snow run and Christmas Tree harvest for a few of the Bronco guys (Kevin and Mike).
A bit more sun on this side of the pass.

Fun in the snow. . .

Tree for Mike

Airing back up on the way down the hill.

As always, a fun day in the snow wheeling with buddies. . . Really pleased with the new Skyjacker shocks - - not a grueling test by any means, but overall very satisfied and the new steering stabilizer definitely an upgrade. . .

Paul

 

[Paul]

Few more pics from yesterday. . .

Mike's Bronco - - on a 3" lift. . . as these guys still had to harvest trees, this was the end of our progress.

Kevin

Old timer. . .

Looking back at Kevin's Bronco

Quite the grade if you're not paying attention while on this section . . . .

Paul

 

[Paul]

Another upgrade . . . Although I like certain aspects of the 30 year old vehicle technology, I'm spoiled by some of the technological upgrades of later models. Case in point, the back-up camera. First of all, with the rear bumper spare tire mounted, the view back through the cab was pretty limited - - when I added the headache rack, less so. . .

In an effort to enter the 21st century. . .

Played around with getting an "ideal" location for the rear-facing camera - - at the top of the hatch, on/in the spare tire, in the frenched license plate area, etc. . . Didn't want all the extra cable to the spare (or disconnect issues when the spare was needed), and the top of the hatch less than ideal. Here's my best solution, at least for now.

Wire pass through:

Plastic air line for chafe protection, heat shrink shrunk for the four-prong plug . The red wire to tap into the reverse lights; I don't really deem those a requirement, so they'll remain disconnected for now.

View from the cab:

Road test:

This the "split-screen" mode - - half forward camera and half rear camera. Plenty of options - - reverse only (my default), forward only, or split image. The unit also has a GPS that provides speed and direction, but since I have the Garmin Overlander GPS I am also leaving the supplied GPS and puck unconnected. Lots more functions with this device than I'll likely use or need, but a nice upgrade.

All in all, pretty nice piece of gear, reasonably priced, and simple to install . . . only drawback is that I've lost my excuse if I back into anything. . .

Paul

 

[gmanpaint]

I need that camera setup! Mine has to be up higher because of trailer towing duties. I would rather use the rear view mirror than the 7" radio screen on the dash.

Are the camera leads a universal type, or specific to that unit? (I already have both front and rear camera's mounted.)

 

[Rick]

Few more pics from yesterday. . .
View attachment 459381
Mike's Bronco - - on a 3" lift. . . as these guys still had to harvest trees, this was the end of our progress.

Kevin
View attachment 459382

Old timer. . .
View attachment 459383

Looking back at Kevin's Bronco
View attachment 459384

Quite the grade if you're not paying attention while on this section . . . .

Paul

That looks beautiful, but way to cold for this Arizonan.

 

[Paul]

Are the camera leads a universal type, or specific to that unit? (I already have both front and rear camera's mounted.)

Standard round 4-prong plug. . . would take a picture if I hadn't shrink-wrapped, zip-tied, and hid it behind the tailgate valance. . .

At ~$150.00, a decent option to just purchase, but you'd probably fab a mount for the tire carrier or roof rack.

Paul

 

[gmanpaint]

I just looked it up. I didn't realize it had a front dash camera included in the mirror. Adding another mountable camera would open up a bunch of options tho, like hitch assist.

Currently the front facing camera is on the bumper, and the rear camera is up high on the roof rack so I can see the trailer, and over it as well. Got some thinking to do on this.

Thanks for the idea. Let us know how you like it after some more use.

 

[Paul]

Slush Run
A few weeks ago was the fifth anniversary of the passing of Phil (Albino94ltd) and we try to get out around that time of year to memorialize his memory and contributions to this site and the friends he met along the way. . .

Phil in Moab - 2013 (Photo by Rick)

Just Kevin and I for this one, other commitments kept the others off the trail. . . We ran up to one of our (and Phil's) snow-wheeling spots, Coplay Lake near the Carbonado River on the outskirts of Mount Rainier.

Not much snow, but we've had plenty of rain, waterfalls quite active.

Phil was known for his homemade "Mountain Burgers", so we grill up a set of gourmet burgers from the local butcher in his honor. . .

A bit moist, but still a fun a day.

Coplay Lake from above. . .

Wheel on, Phil . . .

Phil leading a snow run - 2014

 

[Paul]

Lots of Explorer upgrades lately, shocks, exhaust, back-up camera, etc. Now the head unit was starting to fail, so ran out to find a replacement, but the upgrade had to have a USB or port as I'm the last guy with an iPod. . .

Kenwood eXcelon KDC-X705-1

Also added four new Kenwood eXcelon KFC-X683 speakers.

Hardly an audiophile, plus partial hearing loss, but a very noticeable difference. . .

 

[Paul]

Okay, so another long put off project . . . and not something that is going to be finished anytime soon. Not really a necessity, but I've got another "too good not to use" piece (or pieces) from the original rig that needs to get incorporated.

3/4 Doors:

Had these fabbed and ran for seven years on the old rig and they have sat since 2017 - - and while its an upgrade I wanted to make to the current ride, also have enjoyed the comfort and noise reduction of the full OEM doors. Had the exterior of the these painted back to their original sea foam green but one thing that delayed the entire process was the door skins. . .

The old Explorer Sport had blue interior with black/gray seats, so the interior of these door skins were painted black. . .

I had contacted a few upholstery / boat shops and no one was interested in the smaller project of attaching fabric or carpet on these - - too small an effort, I guess. . . then I remembered that the original color of these was beige before they got painted/monsta-lined/painted to match the old Explorer's black and blue interior. . .

Taking a peek. . .

. . . this might just work. Guess the adhesion wasn't too good so a lot of it peeled off in big chunks.

Current door skins are beige and brown...

After an hour or so, pretty happy with the progress.

Checking the options with the left-over fabric from the seat re-fresh and some of the excess carpet from the rear cargo area deck. Guess I'll be improving my upholstery skills in the coming months. . .

Paul

 

[Rick]

Looking good. I've always liked that you kept the inner panels with your cut doors.