Project what was I thinking???

Ok, so I feel obliged to give a little backstory as to how I arrived here...Here goes.

My most recent vehicle before the X was a 2000 Mercury Mountaineer. To be frank, I wasn't an X or Mounty freak then but I'm a Ford guy and it was a nice SUV.

Fast forward to November 2010 and my dad buys an old 92 Explorer, 4 door 5 speed to pick up semi parts....Rusted to hell, 170k miles, but loads of new parts on it. He jokingly one day said that he'd trade his for mine and I went for it.

Before you think I'm a complete fool, he had gifted me $2000 to pay off my Mounty (as a gift when my wife got pregnant) and offered the Explorer and $1000 for my Mounty. I had got a good deal on the Mounty so I'm not really losing out....

I finally decided to pull the trigger because after 3 years of marriage & with a 9 month old baby my wife decided to leave me (I'm still a great guy & there's no better husband or dad, apparently, she just didn't want to be "tied down"). So that's my sob story. Single daddy every other week and in need of a distraction. So anyway this is my mid-life crisis early. I've always wanted to build a mud/rock crawler and I figured what do I have to lose at this point? Unfortunately funds are a little tight but hey, they are for most people.

That's my story. I'm going to throw some more posts on what I've done thusfar and I've got some pics to put up once I get a little time. If you take the time to read this, enjoy.

 

[Baddecision93]

yes indeed that door panel fix was creative it looked kinda ghetto too. seem liked it worked tho

It actually did work, quite well. I'll hand it to him it was functional. Dad said when he bought the car the guy used stainless cause he wanted to "keep it a little classier". Lol.

I would leave the sway bar on and get some quick disconnect links for it if you plan to go off road. I don't have one on my X and it can get scary at freeway speeds, lots of body roll.

I'm thinking of that. Right now I'm just trying to decide if I could manage to limit my flex by leaving it on, thus avoiding the need to do an extended brake line. I got the right one from Autozone and I'm having a bear of a time getting the old one off. I hate saying this but laziness is getting the better of me (and I know it shouldn't in safety applications). So I'm still not totally sure what I'm going to do.

 

[Baddecision93]

Progress!!!

Figured I'd throw a little update out here

Worked til 12:30 last night and got quite a bit done. (I should really stop doing this when I have to be up for work at 5:45 but, hey...)

Anyway, got the front put back together. Tires are on. I can't believe how much higher it sits. 4" doesn't seem like that much until you try to crawl up into it, lol. It needs an alignment something fierce but I'm just happy it's finally arrived at this point.

Started working on the SOA in the rear. My dad welded the spring perches on for me last Saturday w/just the tires removed. I can't weld very well and didn't want to leave the safety dependent stuff half-assed.

So, anyway we accomplished quite a bit on the rear. Remember when I sold that bolt and block kit on Craigslist that came with my lift kit? Ya, so dad had to torch the U-bolts off last weekend so I went out and spent $30 on new U-bolts (cheapest I could find ). Ironic, right? I guess I'm still $5 in the good on that lol.

We were able to completely unbolt the passenger side leaf pack which made our lives a LOT easier. My tip? Gratuitous amounts of PB Blaster. And once you remove the nut for the shackle bolt pound on the bolt a little and then use an impact to back the bolt out. Just make sure to support the spring a little to take the pressure off.

We actually had to unbolt the driveshaft too because we couldn't get the front shackle bolt out on the driver side. I really didn't want to unhook the brakelines though because I hate messing with bleeding brakes so between two of us we were able to fiddle with angles enough to get the spring pack up over the axle .
Hint for disconnecting driveshaft: it's a 12mm 12 point socket. (If anyone out there can tell me I'm wrong that's fine but that's the only thing I could get to work.) Another driveshaft tip from a non-mechanic: mark one "ear" with a soap stone and match it to the flange on the housing. This is per my Haynes manual. Evidently everything is balanced from factory and to maintain that you need to put it back together the way it came off.

I had to cut my ebrake cable off for clearance but it was seriously jacked up anyway from the previous owner. Like 6 inches of random cable hang down from the side of the frame. So that's getting replaced in the future. For now I'm just going to carry a wood block with me lol.

We should have the back all buttoned back up Saturday. I'm so pumped, it actually feels like I'm getting stuff done.

Pics to come.

 

[Baddecision93]

Finished (ish) with lift

Ok, wanted to throw a little update on here.

Worked til 3:30AM Sunday morning and finished up lift. By now you know I'm not very quick at all this. But, got it done, looks sweet. So, started her up and she fired like a champ after sitting for a week. Cool, moving on.

Saw a brake leak at the rear drum, no biggie, we'll look past that. Put her in gear and CLUNK! Driveshaft came out . Double . I got to looking and my pinion angle is off. It's pointing down some. I'm going to try to loosen my U-bolts and raise the pinion and see if that gives me any extra length. I would at least be able to drive it to the alignment shop but at this point I don't know if I'll need to get my driveshaft lengthened first.

I'm not sure what the brake problem is but I think when the axle fell off the jackstands at one point it screwed something up inside the drum. I'm not very familiar with drum brakes. I might pull it apart but at this point I might just pay someone to do it.

I cut off my e-brake cable because the last guy put it on VERY wrong. Like 6" were dropping down below the frame wrong. I couldn't tighten it at the tensioner at all, so I just cut it off. So now I'm not sure if the red brake light is an e-brake thing or a lack of fluid at the rear. The rear ABS light is on too.

I'm getting an education here in a hurry. I think if I could do another one of these it would go smoother. Oh well, there's only one way to learn if you don't have someone to help walk you through. Just start doing.

I will end with this: it's always something.

 

[Keeper0311]

I cut off my e-brake cable because the last guy put it on VERY wrong. Like 6" were dropping down below the frame wrong. I couldn't tighten it at the tensioner at all, so I just cut it off. So now I'm not sure if the red brake light is an e-brake thing or a lack of fluid at the rear. The rear ABS light is on too.

I'm getting an education here in a hurry. I think if I could do another one of these it would go smoother. Oh well, there's only one way to learn if you don't have someone to help walk you through. Just start doing.

The parking brake light has to do with there being a whole lot of slack at the parking brake pedal. Not sure about 1st Gens, but in my '00 when put the parking brake on, there is a part of the assembly that pushed a button down and engages the light. When my e-brake when to hell, the light would be on, despite the e-brake not engaging.

If this doesn't make sense, let me know and I'll try again, getting sick sucks!

 

[Baddecision93]

The parking brake light has to do with there being a whole lot of slack at the parking brake pedal. Not sure about 1st Gens, but in my '00 when put the parking brake on, there is a part of the assembly that pushed a button down and engages the light. When my e-brake when to hell, the light would be on, despite the e-brake not engaging.

If this doesn't make sense, let me know and I'll try again, getting sick sucks!

I kind of figured. That or a complete and utter lack of fluid might kick it on but I have plenty in the reservoir. To be completely honest, the brake thing doesn't worry me as much as the driveline but I thought I'd throw it out there to see if anyone had any info.

I'll play with the pedal and see if I can wiggle that switch enough to make it go on and off. If so I'll at least have one mystery solved.

P.S. That sucks about being sick. Hope you can kick it soon.

 

[Przybysz]

Love the redneck glow. I am running blue up front

Keep it up!

 

[Baddecision93]

Random

Went away for the weekend so haven't had much time to work on the Ex. Still waiting to fix the SOA.

In the meantime, here's my baby girl deciding that she likes 33s:

That's my little Evelyn Rose sitting in a 33x12.5. My pride and joy (the baby, not the tire, lol). Now if they were BFG A/Ts....

 

[Baddecision93]

Lifted!

Ok, might as well throw a pic of her how she sits right now....

May not be quote-unquote driveable at this point, but lifted is lifted, right?

 

[lounge lizard]

nice to see another guy turning addict! :lol

this is my goal in the end

 

[Baddecision93]

nice to see another guy turning addict! :lol

this is my goal in the end

Would your goal tire size just happened to be fitted on your truck for "testing"?

 

[lounge lizard]

that's not on the truck. it is just sitting in front of the stock tire on the truck.

just have to make it fit!

building this to help with the front end

 

[Baddecision93]

that's not on the truck. it is just sitting in front of the stock tire on the truck.

just have to make it fit!

building this to help with the front end

That thing's a monster! What size tire is that? At least 35, I assume?

 

[lounge lizard]

no!

just dinky little 33" tires on 10x15 deep dish alum slots from the 70's

 

[Baddecision93]

no!

just dinky little 33" tires on 10x15 deep dish alum slots from the 70's

Dinky and 33s don't add up in my book .
Well, off to the garage. Hopefully later tonight (or early tomorrow morning lol) I can post that this beast has been out playing in the snow (but not too much, it needs an alignment bad )

 

[lounge lizard]

well give it an alignment!

it isn't that hard to do! measure from the front of one rim to the back of the other. compare the driver side measurement to the passenger side. than adjust accordingly. until both sides match and the wheels are straight at the front end.

you'll be real close when you finally get a real alignment

 

[94whiteX]

Hello....

Hello Baddecision93 I see your from Orrville. Im from Canton, I got bit by the X bug a few years ago too....lol This is a pic of how I got it

And a pic of how it looks today before paint

I just took this pic tonight, not a very good one but its after it was painted

Your X is looking good keep it going....

 

[94whiteX]

Sorry posted the same pic 2 times....first time I got pics to post...I'll try this again.

 

[lounge lizard]

94whitex

is that flat black paint or bed liner material?? looks good!

 

[Baddecision93]

Sorry posted the same pic 2 times....first time I got pics to post...I'll try this again.

Looks good! Now you'll have to change your screenname since you don't have a white ex anymore!

You ever trail ride around here? I have found a few places and I'm itching to get out and break some stuff here as soon as I get it back on the road

 

[ghosttrain2]

Nice write-up Baddecision,lookin good-keep up the good work!