Project - "Rock Trac" Restoration

Well the original plan when I bought John's truck was to go ahead and disassemble it and use it for parts for mine. I decided instead to go ahead and keep it together and replace what needed to be replaced, and mine can still stay the road queen that it is hah.

So I thought I'd post up some pictures so far....

How the Trac stood when we arrived to pick her up.

Another...

Getting her loaded up on my Tahoe...


Randall trying to figure out where we can stuff more of the parts that go with her...


Kris double checking Randall's tie down work to make sure it doesn't fly off while we're driving back home


Late night entry into the garage after a very long haul to Houston and back home - Large thanks for Kris and Randall for all their help

Current status in my garage

As you can see, a little bit of rust, but we'll go ahead and go over that with some good old rustolem


Header panel on the drivers side cracked and full of holes - hard to keep the headlamp/turn signal and fender back on it

New header panel next


New header panel in my make shift paint booth haha


Needed a new fan clutch

Had to cut the fan shroud off to get the fan clutch off - as John taught me the correct way to rebuild our plastic parts on our Trac's haha - Zip Ties!



More to come as I get further into it. Plan is for this Sunday, Kris will be coming over to assist me in taking the superlift off the front and dropping it back down to original suspension up front as the superlift knuckles are ruined.

 

[MidnightRebel07]

I like that you are doing all these things to the Trac that John always wanted to do but never got the chance to. You and the Demon crew keep up the good work.

 

[TxPlates]

Thanks MidnightRebel07, means a lot to me and the group. I in no manner mean to diminish the Trac and her historic value, only to keep her going as long as I can to honor such a great friend to all of us.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

I kept as much of the parts I could that were original, just would have looked silly with certain parts replaced and painted and the rest dented and scratched. Believe me, I want to keep as much as possible of it as it was the way John had her (like the red grill, the emblems he took apart and painted...etc). But there also has been a lot that had to be replaced since I picked it up after it sat for awhile after he had the accident near Dallas with the tire falling off. I think he'd be proud of the way she is. With the help of the Demon4x4 crew, we've done a lot of work to preserve the Trac and do upgrades we knew he wanted to do. If you'll remember she now has the 5.0 V8 that was in his Explorer limited, so it's not like I've tried to destroy what was his. Just doing my best to take care of her and keep her alive.

dont get me wrong. i know you had to do what you had to do. i agree fully that it would have looked silly with one or two freshly painted panels and the remainder with battle scares. i also know he wanted to do the 5L swap in his. he was always bugging me that he had a 5L in his limited and i only had a 4L in my sport. then would bug me about swapping motors. i didnt know that the 5L that is in the trac was the one from his limited. i dont remember him saying about doing a SAS, but i also know he wouldnt frown on it either. one thing i can picture him doing is as soon as it left the bodyshop, he would head down the road, then make a hard right straight through the bush and into a rock pile to climb! i dont think a shinny paint job would stop him from doing that.
gezz, the more i think about this, and type this, the more i miss the guy. getting random texts and calls from him. i had a chance to meet him the last summer he was alive when he was in chicago, and i was on my way back from all ford nationals, but i passed on it because i wanted to get home, and didnt want to stop driving. i hate myself to this day because i didnt take a hour or what ever time to stop and meet him.

 

[TxPlates]

dont get me wrong. i know you had to do what you had to do. i agree fully that it would have looked silly with one or two freshly painted panels and the remainder with battle scares. i also know he wanted to do the 5L swap in his. he was always bugging me that he had a 5L in his limited and i only had a 4L in my sport. then would bug me about swapping motors. i didnt know that the 5L that is in the trac was the one from his limited. i dont remember him saying about doing a SAS, but i also know he wouldnt frown on it either. one thing i can picture him doing is as soon as it left the bodyshop, he would head down the road, then make a hard right straight through the bush and into a rock pile to climb! i dont think a shinny paint job would stop him from doing that.
gezz, the more i think about this, and type this, the more i miss the guy. getting random texts and calls from him. i had a chance to meet him the last summer he was alive when he was in chicago, and i was on my way back from all ford nationals, but i passed on it because i wanted to get home, and didnt want to stop driving. i hate myself to this day because i didnt take a hour or what ever time to stop and meet him.

Believe you me, I have moments like that when I could have spent more time and didn't. He and I would talk about the SAS that was a dream of his. So I was able to make that happen (stop from replacing parts on the IFS which he had to do a lot lol). Just because she has new parts and new paint job (which part of it was to get the rust off the body as well to stop it from corroding the rest) she'll be back out on the Trails. Just need some minor things to do to get her registered and inspected and this and that. And you're definitely right, he'd take it day 1 and throw her through trees regardless of the paint job lol. As fas the 5.0L, I thought I had posted it somewhere on here but can't remember. It's on the Demon4x4.com site with the motor swap. I purchased the salvage of the Limited that he had the wreck in after the insurance finally released it. The demon4x4 group then help take everything we could off it and swap it into the Trac including the motor. Which was pretty sweet, we were able to get it done in a weekend from start to finish with the actual motor swap.

 

[OffTrac]

The way I imagine it, it's sitting exactly how he would have it today if he were still with us.

Pictures and videos of this truck played a major part in my decision to buy a ST. Five years later and I'm still being inspired by the Rock Trac. Always a step ahead of the rest us.

Sent from my Galaxy S5 using Forum Runner

 

[TxPlates]

Spent a little time with the Trac today. Got the new spark plugs and wires installed. Fresh oil change and filter (she was about 1.5 quarts low too). New headlamp, passenger door mirror, and tail lamp installed. Windshield has been replaced.

 

[4pullingGM]

I'm still digging this thing. I'm finally getting a sport Trac and a 5.0 swap and a SAS are on my list of things to do. Thank you for posting all of these updates.

 

[MidnightRebel07]

4pullingGM You can always buy Battle Born. I started the SAS and the complete V6 drivetrain is out ready to slide the EFI 351w, C6 and manual t-case I have that goes with it. $5k for everything include plus tons of extras. That's just what I have into the SAS parts which are mostly still bran new in the box and haven't been installed yet.

 

[TxPlates]

Well it's been awhile, but back to working the Trac. Neighbors complained since it wasn't registered, so got some new tires and got her "inspected" and registered yesterday.

 

[Turdle]

Just when they thought it was going to go away, it get's it's " I stay here" badge! Awesome!

 

[TxPlates]