Professional Opinions

[carboncanyon]

Short story long, Bought it from a local wheeler who needs to move south. He got it as a pretty nice clean rig (tan color) and took it to evans and bounced it off every tree and rock there. Painted it blue and wheeled it some more and now I have it.

Ok, let her rip, what would you change right away. Oh, and make it cheap.

1991 exploder sport.
stock motor as best I can tell.
5 speed trans is SLOPPY SLOPPY SLOPPY, but seams to shift fine and hold each gear, you can just move the shifter around *ALOT*.
Electric T-case
auto hubs
unknown brand 6" lift. Im guessing skyjacker since they are red?
35" BFG's, but they are strictly rollers at this point. WAY too much tire rot, and busted cords. I was afraid they wouldnt make it home from buying it!
Not a single straight body panel to be found. Cut fenders, random holes, broken glass, sagging doors, missing interior pieces.
Cherry bomb exhaust (uhg).

Im tempted to chop top it, but I still want to be able to enclose the passenger area for winter runs. Wife wont go if she is cold. In the mean time, I plan to replace all the passenger side glass. Not for cosmetics, but just to keep some heat in, and rain out. Will decide on my chop options down the road. Ive done a B-II in the past and I really liked it.

Have a line on some replacement doors because I do like having all the little trim pieces on the inside, and the windows to work, and the door handles to work (of which, these dont)

Little concerned with the front alignment and steering and lift setup in general.

Little concerned about driveline lengths and slip yoke tolerances (lots exposed on rear).

I know about the manual hub conversion and the jeep upgrade. Not so interested in the knuckle swap. If I fell into a pair of manuals dirt cheap, then Id do it.

I have a welder, and a plasma cutter, and I know how to use both of them just enough to be dangerous to myself and others.

Heres some more pics. I posted some others in the new member section.

 

[Albino 94LTD]

How much money do you want to spend.

Will you drive it to runs or trailer it?

What gearing is in it (if still stock, check the door tag code)?

35's on the TTB require a lot more preventative maintenance. Especially wheel bearings.



So here goes;

Tires

Steering - drop pitman arm at least. Get the linkage parallel with the ground to reduce bump steer.

Alignment - 6" lift will require the biggest camber shims you can find

Gears - 33" 4.10 or 4.56 35" definitely 4.56 or 4.88

Remove (or DX at trail head )the front sway bar.

Lockers

Winch

and on and on and on. It'll never stop.

 

[Albino 94LTD]

OR, you could go straight.

Straight to D-44 SAS.

I wonder if Forest sold the D-44 set up he pulled out from under his Ranger. He is just down the road in Enumclaw

We'll see if we can get Ben (Whitetrashfab), Forest (Abe Lincoln), Joe G (jrgaylor) or Kevin (Diffwhackdaddy) to chime in

 

[Pollarican]

Looks to me like you've got a Superlift kit that's painted red - the skyjacker drop bracket looks a bit different in the front.

Most bang for your buck -
1) Get a bigger drop pitman arm, as Albino recommended. This will really help your wandering steering.
2) Get a shifter bushing kit, and pull the stick and rebuild the shifter bushings - only about $25 bucks - I think I bought mine from a company out of Texas called the Gear Box a while back. That will take the slop out of the shifter
3) While you are doing some maintenance - replace all the front wheel bearings - lifted Dana 35 axles eat these - just good preventative measure to replace them.
4) After you decide on tires - Get an alignment - best $70 or so bucks you can spend.
5) Just as you stated - ditch those auto hubs - I'd be surprised if they still worked at all with 35's on that bad boy. Even a stock set (vs. Warn Jeep) will take you a long way if you don't abuse them to death.

 

[carboncanyon]

To answer some questions:

For local stuff, I'll drive it. Local being Evans Creek, or Coplay since they are 10 mins away. I *might* drive it to anything along the 410 corridor, but depends on how well it drives after repairs.

How much do I wanna spend? Well, nothing of course, but Im pretty serious about being cheap. Im not gonna turn it into some extreme exo caged truggy or anything. I'll prolly sell it or scrap it in a couple years once Ive had my fun with it.

According to previous owner, it has 3.55 gears. It doesnt like 5th gear, but seems to pull the other gears ok, but yes, I can tell it would like to be lower.

I had a suspicion that the pitman arm wasnt dropped enough, and it does steer TERRIBLY! The busted cords in the tires didnt help any either.

Im used to trashing front wheel bearings. I run 35's on my superduty and those unit bearings dont like big tires. I finally nutted up and did the dynatrac conversion on it since I planned to keep it forever. Money better spent in the long run.

I think I want to stay with a 35" tire, but I'd like to go skinnier. Not a tire guy, but do they make a 35 10.50?

No comment on that rear driveshaft picture? Looks like way to much exposed spline to me.

The rig is from a former TukWheelers guy, and he did none of the work. Said he handed over the keys and got it back with the lift and bumper from one of his buddies. Says he drove it from tacoma to bellingham, but if thats true, it was either before the lift, or he has brass balls and an iron constitution! Its a scary ride at 55!

 

[Maniak]

From looking at the pics...

You need a longer rear drive shaft.. If you get into any wheel hop or other situation where both rear tires drop at the same time its gonna seperate the shaft. Since your SOA AND it appears you have a pair of explorer sport or some other mono leaf back there I would expect you to get axle wrap.

3.55's and 35" tires will make it a challenge to wheel slowly. You really need much steeper gears and even possibly a doubler so you can crawl and not just bash through the rocks. An inexpensive mod that will help will but a thumb throttle on the shifter. That will allow you to use the brake, clutch and throttle at the same time without becoming a mutant with 3 feet

The other stuff I'd mention for repairs has already been stated...

There are other upgrades you can do to get better performance but your not looking at free/cheap when you get into ways to get more TTB flex.

~Mark

 

[Xeek]

i would put on u-bolts asap on the springs.....

 

[Maniak]

i would put on u-bolts asap on the springs.....

I saw that home made style u-bolts. I wasn't going to say anything about it since I don't know if that is actually a good solution or a problem waiting to happen. If those are grade 8 or 10 bolts it might be an ok solution, but U-bolt is normally what is used there..

~Mark

 

[Xeek]

i wouldnt trust it just incase. i mean look what they used for perches, i wouldnt trust only the weld to keep it together.

just get u-bolts to wrap around the axle tube, and those perches should be fine. just extra satety is all

 

[safn1949]

i wouldnt trust it just incase. i mean look what they used for perches, i wouldnt trust only the weld to keep it together.

just get u-bolts to wrap around the axle tube, and those perches should be fine. just extra satety is all

I must agree,if one weld fails going down the road you are going for a hell of a ride.

 

[carboncanyon]

huh, didnt even notice the lack of U-bolts. I was in a hurry and just snapping pictures. I agree tho. Needs U-bolts. I can get those easy enough, as long as they made the holes in that plate far enough apart to span the axle tube of course.

As for the three footed mutant, how did you know! Actually, Im a big fan of the line lock. Use them in racing all the time, and have one on my dads old flatfender jeep. Works nice, simple button on the shifter, release and go!

If I fell into some steeper gears for cheap or free, I'd prolly go that route. the doublers are cool, but maybe on another rig down the road.

Im currently waiting on the weather to warm up so I can pour concrete in one half of my barn so I dont have to work on a dirt floor anymore. Its a 36x36 pour that Id rather not do in freezing temps.

 

[Maniak]

I was thinking more of a hand throttle than a line lock...
Here are a couple hand throttle mod threads here on EF.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=292967

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50331

~Mark

 

[carboncanyon]

I was thinking more of a hand throttle than a line lock...
Here are a couple hand throttle mod threads here on EF.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=292967

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50331

~Mark

Yeah, I understood you, was just saying Im a big fan of the line lock. Makes for easier burnouts with a low HP rig that cant push thru the rear brakes. The hand throttle is interesting, but Ive been 3-footing it for as long as I can remember. Old dog, new tricks, etc etc.

 

[carboncanyon]

So the more I stare at the front end, the more I dont like the looks of the camber. Im guessing maybe a cut and turn might be in order?

Guess what I really need to do is take it out in the back yard and drive it over my firepit retaining wall. Think of it like a reverse RTI ramp. The ramp is horizontal, and the ground drops away! Then start getting some baseline measurements and maybe disconnect the sway bar and see if I get any more travel.

Plan to run to a wrecking yard tomorrow and scope out a couple of Sports that a friend has tucked away in the back of his shop and pick up some little pieces and see if maybe there are some manual hubs laying around too.

 

[Maniak]

If you want more travel there are a few things you should probably do at once...

Put on extended Radius arms. Can use Post style (factory) moutning or use Ballistic "style" joint.
Cut/Turn beams. BTF makes a set that works for 6" or so of lift
F-250 shock mounts so you can put on longer shocks.

Just with those changes you should be able to get more flex, better camber and caster numbers too.

That isn't including steering changes, manual hubs or c-clip eliminator that you should probably do too.

~Mark

 

[carboncanyon]

2) Get a shifter bushing kit, and pull the stick and rebuild the shifter bushings - only about $25 bucks - I think I bought mine from a company out of Texas called the Gear Box a while back. That will take the slop out of the shifter

Got it ordered today. 25 bucks shipped from allstategear.com. Easy to find, it was on their front page! Must be a popular part hahaha.

Wandered the wrecking yard yesterday and they've got a set of fenders, doors, hood, seats, another rear hatch (for the chop Im probably going to do, I need a second hatch to make a tailgate out of), and some misc interior pieces. I forgot to look for manual hubs, but they have enough fords there, that one of them has to have them.

Any recomendations on the drop pitman arm? I have found several online that state "recommended for "3-6", "4-6", and "6-8" inch lifts" So which do I want? They didnt really give an exact length of drop, so hard to compare to my existing setup.

 

[4x4junkie]

Any recomendations on the drop pitman arm? I have found several online that state "recommended for "3-6", "4-6", and "6-8" inch lifts" So which do I want? They didnt really give an exact length of drop, so hard to compare to my existing setup.

This should help.
http://www.therangerstation.com/Magazine/winter2008/steering_tech.htm

That lift looks like a very old Tuff Country or maybe possibly Trailmaster (did TM ever use those pivot-bolt camber adjusters?)

I would avoid the cut & turned beams myself if it's to be a trail rig. Having the beam pivots way up in the chassis like that can cause some unsettling jacking sensations if you get it on a steep off-camber hill or rock climb (the better clearance afforded by C&T beams is great for jumping and desert running though).


If you get wheel bearings, be sure to get Timken ones. The D35 does like to devour cheap-grade bearings for sure. Set them up with the correct preload and they should last a good while. Just don't go too wide with the rims, leverage can kill bearings too (I'm guessing those are stock rims on that thing... standard 15x8s should be fine to replace them with).
If you put manual hubs on it, be sure to also torque the outer locknuts to around 250 ft-lbs or so so they don't loosen.

 

[Albino 94LTD]

Speaking of rims

If they aren't 15x8, I have 4 15x8 with 3.75" back spacing sitting next to the garage.

$10ea

 

[carboncanyon]

This should help.
http://www.therangerstation.com/Magazine/winter2008/steering_tech.htm

Thats exactly what I needed! Ive been on TRS before when I had an old 84 bronco II, surprised I never saw that article. Im usually pretty good about those kinda things.