Project "You want to take what to Moab!?" Winch, Bumpers, Sliders and more

[Mikerider]

Hi Everyone,

Thought I would spend a few minutes and document the recent changes to my explorer.

A few weeks ago we had the ExplorerForum run to Moab, and a good friends widow decided to fly down to spread some of his ashes from a favorite spot and this was good motivation to go.

I could have taken my Ranger, its built with locker/LS long travel/35s/supercharge and armor. but my family wanted to come and towing my trailer 1000miles with the ranger would not have been fun.

I could have taken my raptor, that fits the family nicely and tows the trailer well. also but hey it is an explorer run after all, where's the fun in that.

so I set out to get my 2003 NBX explorer ready for the trip. My goals were:

-Add enough capability to be able to run a hard ish trail in Moab
-Maintain the drivability and tow capacity
-Not leave Moab with the body panels looking like a tin can.
-Have enough reliability to tow my 4000lbs trailer 2000 miles with my wife and 2 boys.
- self recover if needed.

Here is my starting point, 175K miles, 4.6 V8, Aviator brake swap

I started out with a 2" BTF lift and 265/70R17 Goodyear Duratrac tires on the stock wheels. I also installed a set of 1.5" Spidertrax wheel spacers to get the wheels out a bit to better protect the body offroad. I went with the smaller lift to maintain the factory rake so the nose would not be pointed strait up while towing.

https://btffabrication.com/collections/ford-1/products/02-05-explorer-2-lift-spacer

More to follow as I have time to build out this thread.

 

[Mikerider]

next up was tackling onboard air, I had a spare ARB twin sitting around on my shelf after pulling it from another truck so I made a bracket to mount it in the engine bay.

then it was time to start thinking about recovery and vehicle protection.

for recovery points the rear hitch is suitable and my NBX came with factory tow hooks so I was good on that front, I have an older smittybuilt XRC 10 winch what I use on a hitch plate for trailers but decide to pull it off that mount and see if I could get it into the front of the explorer.

Picked up a HF winch mounting plate to start from.

trimmed off the inner frame brace mounts for winch clearance

Started making my mounts, used some 2x2x0.250 with some 1/2x13 threaded inserts that I welded to the inside of the tube for mounting.

Once that was done I set about making it look a bit better. Bent up some 1.75 0.120 wall tube for some front protection and to tie everything together.

Next was adding reinforcements to tie everything together.

I also had to slot the tow hook mounts a bit wider to accommodate the larger bolts I was using.

​

 

[Mikerider]

From here I finished up boxing everything in and painted the bumper

I also added a bash bar under the winch plate to protect the radiator

then added some flood lights and fog lights to the bumper

washed the rig too

 

[Mikerider]

Next up was traction and making up some power from the loss of gear ratio for the larger tires.

picked up a pair of D4 axle housings from the junkyard (3.73 gears with limited slip to replace my open diff with 3.55 gears)

got all new seals and a rebuild kit for the LS

old clutch back was worn by 0.045"

front diff ready to go in

Installing the front, Replaced a suspect CV while I was at it too.

and time for the rear

Hitched up the trailer to go out for a weekend trip to see how the new gears work.

 

[Mikerider]

Gears worked great and very much improved towing performance

gotten love having lots of battery power, this was after 2 nights in the camper

 

[Mikerider]

Picked up some more tubing and a set of weld together rock sliders to replace my wimpy side steps.

Next up was making a rear bumper to protect the body work back there, started bending some tube...

what it ended up looking like

also added some rigid ignites for backup lights

 

[Mikerider]

I did not like how wide the rock sliders were so I decided to trim the rub bar down a bit from the kit. went from ~11.5" to 7"

welded up

painted

another nice NBX feature is factory Tcase and gas tank skid plates

cut off the old steps I made a while ago

and on with the new

Added some mounts for my Maxxtrax and hilift and the rig was starting to look the part.

 

[Mikerider]

With the rig suitably armored for the trails and with a bit more traction, I gave everything a once over for fluids and any issues and it was time to Head to Moab.

Full thread here Moab 2021 - EF's 25th anniversary

We hit the road around 5pm to get over out first 2 mount passes and put my 2 boys to bed. Drove till about 1am and hit the Idaho/Oregon border on the snake river

Next stop on Thursday was Salt lake to say high to some old friends and spend the night at their place.

Had a bit of a slow start friday morning to get on the road but we made it to Moab early afternoon Friday and set up at the RV park

Dinner was awesome

We met up at the city market Saturday morning and head out Hwy 128 to go run the top of the world trail.

Photos from the drive out to the TH

We aired down at the start of the road to acces the trail, some friends from Search and Rescue were also in town with their new grand Cherokee trail hawk so I invited them along.

the trail was mostly mellow with a few challenging spots for the us in the more stock rigs.

at this point in the trail we reached the first obstacle, we did find an easier by pass that the trail hawk took but after watching everyone make quick work of it I decided to give it a go.

I was surprised I did not belly out on this!

that was the easy part! now to turn and line up for the larger rock line, Brian parked his rig at the top incase I needed a winch anchor. (I very much expected to need to winch the next part)

lining up: Paul spotting

front wheels came up easy

Rear was a different story, first attempt I could not get the rear to grab and climb.

 

[Mikerider]

backed up a touch, put the brakes on hard then accelerated up the rock to try and mimic traction control and get the limited slip to grab.

almost there

this is the point I really hoped to not slide back down...

picking up tires

still holding the brakes to keep traction

made it!

Next up was a set of ledges that had 2 tires climbing at the same time

more fun rocks, had to stack a few here to keep the belly off the rocks

climbing another ledge

the big jeep and I did a lot of wheel lifting

 

[traveler]

Wow, you did a great job with that Explorer. I never even noticed most of the mods you made til they were pointed out here. (I read the Moab thread first). Wish I'd have had a chance to meet and say hi. Maybe next time.

 

[Mikerider]

Wow, you did a great job with that Explorer. I never even noticed most of the mods you made til they were pointed out here. (I read the Moab thread first). Wish I'd have had a chance to meet and say hi. Maybe next time.

Like wise! was too bad your expo could not make the trip. I have been strongly considering building a gen 2 5.0 and swap in an atlas and long travel and was hoping to check yours out.

thanks for the compliments, my goal was subtle but capable and it did the job well!

 

[karlos2]

The winch bumper looks solid yet not heavy. Where did you wire your flood lights and how?

 

[Mikerider]

The winch bumper looks solid yet not heavy. Where did you wire your flood lights and how?

Thanks that was my goal with the bumper, plenty strong to do the job but light enough I would not need 2 more inches of lift and 30 more HP to move it around.

The flood lights are run through a relay box I grabbed from an E250 at a junkyard, and have a 3 position rocker switch so I can turn them on when the ignition is on, have them off or have them come on when I toggle my high beams.

The fog lights are wired in place of the factory fogs. and are turned on and off via the headlight switch.

 

[Mikerider]

Here’s a picture of my current switch configuration

 

[Mikerider]

We made it to the top!

driving back to camp after airing up

took a nice side drive with the family on sunday

then we packed up and headed for home

stoped in SLC

and home for the night later in the day for our drive home

last stop was back home after 2400 miles!

cleaning the trailer was a fun challenge

 

[BAMxi]

This is awesome. Great job!

 

[Mikerider]

This is awesome. Great job!

thanks, figured it was worth documenting some of the build as I have not seen many 3rd Gens built up with bumpers/sliders/etc.

 

[Mikerider]

Pics of the air compressor mount

 

[SnoC]

I love this build. I have a 03 Limited with a dead engine (ok seriously injured as in no oil pressure) that I got for free. Thinking a 5.4 swap but have been thinking how to get the stock benefits of the explorer while tapping into the off road capability of the vehicle. Your lift choice, body armor, and accessory selection seems pretty perfect to me. I have my 76 Bronco for serious off road, but for everyday driving it lacks the comforts of newer SUV (such as a 03 Explorer). I might have to invest in some benders to fab those amazing steps and bumpers. Great job!

 

[Mikerider]

I love this build. I have a 03 Limited with a dead engine (ok seriously injured as in no oil pressure) that I got for free. Thinking a 5.4 swap but have been thinking how to get the stock benefits of the explorer while tapping into the off road capability of the vehicle. Your lift choice, body armor, and accessory selection seems pretty perfect to me. I have my 76 Bronco for serious off road, but for everyday driving it lacks the comforts of newer SUV (such as a 03 Explorer). I might have to invest in some benders to fab those amazing steps and bumpers. Great job!

thanks!, its a good combo of drivability and capability. (plus it was a fun project to build everything!) If I end up keeping the rig long term, selectable lockers and some coilover shocks will be the next steps for me.