Roadrunner777 - 'Green Obsession'

My Goal
My goal is to have a durable daily driver capable of challenging conditions, particularly winter conditions of deep snow. My work often calls me to travel before the snow plows begin work, and I am often the first person down a road during or after a blizzard. The final result of my efforts will be a rather normal looking Explorer. The extent of my modifications will probably be larger tires (31's, I suppose) on spoke steel wheels.

Looking for advice on:1. Well, it's too cold to paint until next spring. I would like your thoughts on what to do about clearcoat delamination, as shown in the picture, over the driver door is a good example. I'm looking for quick and dirty. There is too much rust on this Ex to do a full on paint job.

2. Traction aid on front diff - I'll be going into the front diff next spring to fix a bad axle seal and apply the c-clip eliminator fix. This is a 100% street rig, looking for something under $500. I can do diff gear setups... at least I learned to in 1978.

3. Plan to go to 31x10.5x15 in spring time. I am letting vanity take over a little bit here... I know the kind of tire I 'should' be buying. I want something with more blocky beefy look to it. I don't care about rolling noise from the tires; I don't drive highway very much and I have the music on pretty loud most of the time. I want monster tires! So, this leads to 2 questions:

- First, I am looking for thoughts on this tire: Goodyear Wrangler Authority, which is a tire they make for Walmart. It looks good and at $150, it's well in my price range. But, I am reading some mixed reviews on other forums. Any thoughts here? I need a tire with good snow and ice traction, and the meaner looking the better. I do not indulge my vanity often, but I really like the look of an agressive tread.​

- Second, my stock alloy rims are in bad shape. Too much corrosion, peeling, etc... I want to change to spoke steel wheels, like the old-school american racing wagon wheels. My question: Black or white?​

I believe in doing a good turn and being a good samaritan. But, I also understand the letigious world we now live in. I'm not so anxious to shovel snow and look under a stranger's car (plastic, bah!) for a reliable pull point. I will offer my cell phone, a warm seat or a ride somewhere else in town.

I believe the first principle of mechanics is to have a sound foundation before venturing into new conditions.

I believe in quality components, and I believe the best parts made are made in the United States of America.

I believe in taking care of business. My last ticket was over 10 years ago. I have not been pulled over for an equipment violation, ever! I carry a spare of every bulb, relay and fuse in the vehicle, usually 2 spares. It is common to get pulled over in my town for a burned out license plate light. That is not happening to me. Benefit: I pay about $20/month for insurance.


How it all came about

Headlight Upgrades

 

[Roadrunner777]

Day Zero - Sometime in the middle of a Northern Minnesota winter. The old faithful Ford Contour was having increasing trouble starting in the cold. It took sometimes more than 2 minutes of cranking to start. I purchased a full size roll-around battery charger/booster and was careful to park within power cord reach of an electrical outlet. I finally took it into a shop with a mental limit of $1,000 to get it running right again. They came back at $1,800 plus whatever unexpected (diagnosis bad head gasket, a PITA to do on this car, apparently). Lacking a garage, and nothing but sub-zero for the forseeable future, I passed last rites on the Contour, and took 60 ounces of silver to the local coin dealer to convert to cash. (I keep my savings in precious metals, you should too, you would have twice as much cash as you did a year ago... just saying...) I started out my search with about $2,000 cash to work with.

Day One - I had heard enough from others to avoid the used car dealers in my area. And given the urgency of my need, I decided to search craigslist for my city, and try to pick the best 3 vehicles in my range. I had no pre-disposition of what I wanted or needed, other than something that would start when I wanted it to.

I saw this Explorer from an off-center front photograph. It looked like any green 1st generation Explorer Sport. It was about the right size, and a little tall for it's size. They advertised minor rust. I thought I recognized the address on a major street as a dealer, and it was. The plastic rocker panel covers barely had metal to hold on to. You could plainly see the snow on the ground through the gap. I was quite careful not to step on or anywhere near it. You could tell from the snow the explorer had not been moved in a week or two.

The dealer went to the driver's door, I walked around and other than the rocker panels, and the bumpers were rusty, it was in good shape. It had 4x4, which would be a nice, if it worked. He turned the key in the ignition and it just jumps to life, like it was a spring afternoon. He looks at me and swears it had not been started in 2 weeks. I did not believe him then, but in retrospect, it was possible.

He pulls it out of the slot and lets me take it for a solo test drive... take all the time you want. I do. I tested everything... found a nice long ice patch and found the 4x4 worked quite nicely. It felt good to drive. Let's see if you recognize this... it felt big on the inside, but not so big on the outside. I think the wide center armrest gives it a big feel. The lack of air bags opens up the dashboard, and I think I could take a nap on the floorboards if I wanted to, there was that much room. I did not know such vehicles still existed. It even had a working remote starter on the key chain.

I take it down the highway and hear mild octane knock. The tank is almost empty, I invest $10 in gas and keep driving. New gas does nothing for the knock, but the manual (I needed it to figure out the 4x4 controls) said minor knock on acceleration was to be expected. ok. I read all the rest of the paperwork left in the glovebox. Local truck from the beginning, spent 17 years within 100 miles of my town. It had an huge trailer hitch, which, around here means... boat!

So, one concludes this was mainly a boat puller. The paperwork leads to a mileage of 82,000 miles. If the groove in the 1/10 mile roller is true, then it was actually 182,000 miles. It was in pretty good shape for 182,000 miles, though.

I take it back in, sit down with the dealer, and put my wallet, fat with 100 dollar bills on the table. I tell him his asking price of $1,750 was reasonable, in my opinion. But, I tell him: out of principal, I cannot give you offering price. I will give you $1,650. We shake hands. He gives me $200 in trade on the Contour, which was nothing but scrap metal to me. Final cost was about $1,500 after fees and such. I own a 1994 Ford Explorer.

Day 2 - Valvoline day
February and DIY oil changes in Bemidji MN... no. But, I will not drive a vehicle on unknown oil. I get Valvoline to put straight synthetic in, they do a light check, and they show me a little card with oil drippings that supposedly has samples of my various fluids. They all look exactly the same. Knowing what I know now, it is absolutely impossible to get those samples in the few moments they took. And, knowing what I know now, they were all probably drips from the transmission dip stick. I did see them actually open sealed jugs of 100% synthetic, so at least they were truthful there. They installed an undersized generic oil filter, I later learned.

Day 3 - I discover explorerforum.com, drill down through the threads and recognize the wealth of information. I become Elite on my next payday.

 

[Rick]

Clean your Mass Air Flow sensor with electronic parts cleaner. That stops the knocking on my first gen Ex every time. Just a little dirt on their is all it takes for mine to start knocking.

I checked your link for the "first SUV" very cool! Even better is the website it was on. Lots of cool stuff to check out!

 

[Roadrunner777]

This is actually a bit of a journal, I left off in February. I did clean the MAF, and I'll get to that part sometime soon. I have since picked up a USB microscope and maybe I'll pull the MAF again and post some pictures.

That site is a blast, and it gets new stuff all the time. Glad you liked it!

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

u got pics of ur x

 

[Roadrunner777]

Pictures... well, it's just a stock green '94 sport with rusty rocker panels, so I don't have a lot to show besides that. But, I added a picture to the first post. I should also probably explain my purpose with this Explorer; I am mainly a stocker looking for brute-force reliability. Well, I'll explain that back in the first post too. Thanks for asking though!

 

[Roadrunner777]

Headache on the way...
I got on some icy road last week and spun the right rear pulling out. I reminder from the past that I never did anything about all the debris I found in the rear diff. So, I maybe foolishly commited myself to rebuilding the LS next week. Procedure seems straight forward. Clutches are coming in Monday, nice carbon ford racing package. I bought $30 of synthetic lube to fill it back up, Ford friction modifier too. Posted in another forum for advice.

I also have a Riddler iron cover coming, which I don't really need, but I don't like the existing plastic cover, and always liked the ductile iron look. But, it shipped from TX on Friday and I could very easily end up in a spot where I am done except to wait for the cover. So, I really cannot start this deal until I get a good read on an arrival date. I drive the Ex every day and if I have to put the old cover on, put in $30 of lube, then do it over again the next day, in the snow, that would suck a little bit. Just need to stop whining and wait for a good ETA.

Update: The weather window is closing on me. As much as I would like to get the LS working for winter, I have to look at the situation squarely. I can do without the LS, and rebuilding it was supposed to be something I would enjoy doing. I'm going to shelve the parts until spring.

Update 2: The cover came Wednesday morning, and I am taking as an omen to proceed. I have the clutches soaking in friction modifier. Tomorrow I will back the truck up to the shop and dig in. High of 26 degrees, sunny, calm winds. That's as good as it's gonna get. I reinjured my right arm this morning, hopefully get better overnight. Otherwise, we might see how the rebuild does on low doses of Vicodan. Continuing in new post, LSD Rebuild

 

[Roadrunner777]

My hindsite list of tools

Value of the tool
I saw a demonstration for the strength of a Cornwell 3/8" ratchet. He put it in a torque gauge, put a 6' pipe on the handle, and leaned into it. It broke at something like 350 ft/lb, and he said it usually breaks at the base of the drive, which is part of a repair kit they have available.

Story #2: I had a life changing event a long time ago that led me to sell my tools, one at a time, to a bartender. Those were dark days, friend. Do not go there. But, my point is that I still needed tools sometimes, so I bought the cheapest crap I could find, which was all I could afford. Usually that included a Chinese ratchet (I don't mean to say bad things about China, but it did say 'Made in China' right on it, so there ya' go.) Those ratchets were stiff, had about 10 clicks per revolution, and jammed permanently if challenged in any way.

So, what do you do? Well, I think the Cornwell demonstration is entertaining, but misleading. Sockets are designed around 1/4, 3/8, 1/2... drives for a reason. It may be tempting to buy premium 3/8 drive equipment and force it into 1/2" drive service as needed. But, you will only end up chasing the Snap-On truck in someone else's car because you cracked the one socket you needed.

I suggest buying mid-range or better ratchets of a brand such as Craftsman, or better, from a store you can go to and get a repair kit or outright replacement. I use 2 ratchets for over 90% of my work. Both are Craftsman teardrop head flex handle with the long handle. One 3/8, one 1/2.

So far as sockets go, I would rather have a full set of imported 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 sockets, instead of an expensive set of 3/8. I have a lot of Stanley sockets made in Taiwan. Most everything you can get from Harbor Freight falls in this category. You will ultimately find, as you work on your vehicle, that certain sizes are common. The explorer has a lot of 8mm (5/16"). There's a lot of 10mm and 15mm. A lot of times, I will take those particular import sockets, put them in a tool box in the truck and then buy higher quality to put on the shelf in my shop. This is an ongoing thing, it's casual, it takes years. I'll be at the hardware shop and walking past sockets and remember something.

6-point, 12-point
Given the choice, I take 6 point tools. They are stronger and more able to cross the standard/metric bridge (13mm = 1/2"). 12-points are obviously easier to get on a bolt, and may be your only choice if clearance is bad.

Gear Wrenches
Own them, hate them. The gearing mechanism takes up too much room, so they rarely work when I need them too. If somebody wanted to pay shipping, I would my set away. I'' stay with my combo and offset box wrenches.

Offset Box-end Wrench
My father had a box of wrenches that were purchased at flea markets and whatnot, so none of them matched at all. But, one was a Craftsman 5/16x1/2 offset box end wrench.

 

[Roadrunner777]

Who am I?
Get some coffee, this is going to be a long one.

I was born and raised in the SF bay area, in the town of Los Altos, a few blocks away from the garage where Apple began. I had (still have) a good dad, he included me in his efforts to maintain our cars, a VW bug, a Pontiac Bonneville station wagon, and later a Toyota Corolla.

I went to Homestead High School, and took all the shop, auto mechanics and computer programming classes I could take. I then became a teacher's assistant for auto shop. The height of my work was rebuilding a v8 from my 67 barracuda. Saddly, I or someone I was working with, forgot to torque a rod and the engine kicked the rod through the block after a few seconds of runtime. We had a shop project, 55 Chev Nomad that we took drag racing most weekends. I did part-time work at a shop changing tires and batteries, and flipping burgers at Jack-in-the-Box.

Well, so this was Silicon Valley at it's peak. If you knew which end of a soldering iron got hot, you were working. I ended up working about 10 years for Hewlett-Packard at HP Labs, their research division. I was a research technician, so mainly a scientist would give me an idea or a sketch and it would be up to me to make it happen. My main cars these years were a 73 Pinto station wagon, 83 camaro (got so deep in payments I couldn't afford to keep it running), and finally, my favorite car of all time, a 73 Datsun 510. I developed a taste for the Grateful Dead, but that's another story. Well, the earthquake of 89 happened, a lot of other crap happened in my life and I ended up moving to South Carolina.

I worked there for another 10 years, mainly doing computer installations in factories for quality control. The vast majority of that work was for Cat in Pontiac IL, Black and Decker in Easton MD, and Philips Lighting in Salina, KS. That company ultimately failed, and I ended up in Atlanta, learned heavy equipment operation on-the-job training, pulling condemned underground fuel storage tanks. Met my to-be wife on-line one summer and moved to be with her in Bemidji MN.

We got a 2 acre spread close to town, put up a new double-wide and a welcome mat, and that's where I am today. If you google 1315 Lynn Marie Ct. Bemidji MN (named after my wife) you should be able to see where I call home.

I built a small shop 12x20 a few years later, actually a multi year job... poured cement first year, walls and roof the next, then the inside stuff the 3rd year. I am nearly fully outfitted, working on welding equipment now. I'll build again in a few years and add a 2 car garage, and a shop expansion.

I now work for a company that supplies cash register computer systems for the midwest. I was a field tech for 7 years and as they retired my company cars, I bought them and gave them to kids, etc... I changed over to a desk job 5 years ago, and do phone and remote computer support. I got my last work car, a 99 Ford Contour, which had been decommissioned for a failed head gasket, due to chronic failures of the water pump. I got it towed home that spring and got it running, found the low speed fan circuit had an intermittent, causing overheating and water pump failure. I drove that car personally for another 5 years until it started this no-start problem in the middle of winter. It would take over 2 minutes of cranking then run great. The plugs always got wet with fuel, and for a while I was out in sub-zero every morning with a big rolling battery charger, and pulling out plugs to blow dry. I was late for work a few times and, for maybe the 3rd time in my life, took a car to the shop for someone else to figure out. They produced a compression test that was a death sentance. (I was told).

I bought my Explorer from savings (ask me about investing in silver!), got $200 in trade on the Contour, and here we are. The Contour appeared for sale on his lot 2 weeks later, and was sold and driving around that spring. I'm sorry I probably missed an easy repair. But, the Explorer is a much better vehicle for me anyway, and has given my shop new purpose!

 

[Roadrunner777]

LSD Rebuild

(deleted)

 

[Roadrunner777]

Rant: Wheel Bearing Tension

A long time ago, I read on this forum about setting wheel bearings with a torque wrench. Being my first exposure to 4x4 technology and having not taken a spindle apart, I noted the procedure and actually bought an in/lb torque wrench for the purpose. It would be a few weeks, but I was visiting a town with a Harbor Freight store, so who could resist?

In the time since, I have started losing confidence in the torque wrench technique for a couple of reasons. Let me start by defining the problem:

The purpose of loading a wheel bearing is to set the bearing with sufficient pressure to run true, but not so much that it becomes damaged. It is a given that a properly running bearing will have a thin film of lubricant on the bearing race as well as the bearing elements themselves.

Do we agree with this? I hope so. I just read a post that essentially said the correct method is to set 16 in/lb and since that is a procedural spec, it must be right.

I am going to try to explain to you that this is not the best method, that it is better to set by feel, sound, and accumulated experience.

But, for the purposes of my rant, let's simplify the process. I can show you by formula that 16 in/lb in this application results in about 32 pounds of linear pressure on outer bearing face, relative to the spindle.

Now, we have to assume that a used in/lb torque wrench has no better than 10% error. If you have a beam-type that you keep in a hard case, I would grant you 5% error, and if you showed me a NIST tracable electronic torque element, I would give you 1%. By default, I am going to use 10% error.

So, let's see... 16 - 1.6 is 14.4, 16 + 1.6 is 17.6. The geometry of the spindle threads leads to a roughly 2x factor to reach face pressure. so, call it 29-35 pounds.

Next, just for reference, the conversion of torque to pressure varies greatly with thread condition, surface, and lubrication. I'll discard everything but lubrication. The above numbers are for dry threads. Did you clean the threads with solvent? Then these pressures are true, 29-35 lbs. Was there a film of grease on the threads? I'm going to give you my reference here because you are going to say BS the minute you read it. I got this from Glover's Pocket Ref, which is something you should have in your shop. If you don't, go get one and you can thank me later. Glover's predicts a 45% increase in pressure based on a thread with white grease (as close as I can match). So, dry=29-35 lbs. Wet=42-51 lbs.

Now I never saw anybody state if the threads were wet or dry. So, to say how reliable the method is, we must consider worst case. That will be a range of 29-51 lbs.

The range is almost 1/2 the actual value. That makes this measurement... essentially invalid. Well, I will give some and say that this method is better than blindly tightening.

Ok Mr. Pessimistic, what's your way? Simple. For old or new bearings, make sure all the contacting locations are free of burrs or globs of grease (a film is fine). While spinning the rotor, tighten until the rotor binds, that is, that it takes a lot of force to turn and it stops right when you let go. Then, back off until the rotor just turns freely. Call it a half turn after you let it go with the caliper off. Wrap it up and drive it. If you hear bearing noise (a rumble that varies with speed) then jack up each side, spin the tire and if you can tell which one it is, then redo the procedure on that side. If you cannot tell, then redo it on both sides. If you have a reasonable jack, and an air impact wrench, this should take no more than 15 minutes for both sides.

The thing is, bearings settle. And the 50 pounds you apply to the face of the bearing is nothing compared to the 1,000 pounds it sees on the other dimension when it is in use. Add thrust force from going around turns, and... well, imagine there is a wad of grease on the inner bearing when you put the rotor on. Your 50 pounds will get most of the grease out, but that 1,000 pounds (the bearing has a profile of maybe 4:1, so really 250 pounds) plus thrust pressure. Maybe you have a new rotor and the races are not fully seated.

So, that's my little rant. Hey, if 16 in/lb works for you, that is, you are not having to change bearings every 2-3 years. (they should easily go over 5 years and a Timken could almost be considered a lifetime bearing if repacked from time to time.)

Oh, you do have to change bearings every 2 years?

 

[Roadrunner777]

Another oldie

I'm liking the pipe. If I were a rock crawler, I would probably smoke a pipe.

 

[Roadrunner777]

On 1st Generation ABS

Simplified
I begin with a one-wheel ABS system. A speed sensor monitors the speed of the wheel. For the sake of simplicity, we will simply say that the the system becomes active if the wheel stops. The system modulates pressure to the wheel brake until the speed sensor reports rotation.

The front wheel sections of the Explorer ABS are simply 2 independant copies of the above. Since they are independant single wheel, we can take the logic that the ABS will not let either wheel lock up.

That leaves the back wheels, and a complication. The rear section works off of a single sensor that indicates rotation of the differential carrier. That is a complication indeed because the carrier is only going to stop if BOTH rear wheels lock up. If only one wheel locks up, then the action of differential relates the carrier to the wheel that is still turning. I want to say that again, clearly - it is a key to the process:

The rear ABS will only activate if BOTH rear wheels are locked up, due to the mechanical function of the differential.

There are, then, two factors that influence the possibility of both rear wheels locking up:

First, are both rear wheels on similar terrain, or is one on a more slippery surface than the other? If one is on more slippery ground, then the tendancy will be for that one to lock up where the other wheel will continue to turn. Since one continues to turn, the carrier continues to turn, and the ABS will not activate.

Second, is the differential equiped with a functional Traction-Lok mechanism? If so, the Traction-Lok will tend to keep both wheels at the same speed, whatever that speed may be. In a sense, the Traction-Lok performs an ABS-like function on dis-similar ground. We could say that Traction-Lok enhances the ABS.

So, in cases where the rear wheels are on a dis-similar surface, even though one is spinning, the ABS will not activate. However, Traction-Lok will greatly reduce this effect. In fact, with a functioning Traction-Lok, it may well be that the ABS will only be needed and applied to the front wheels.

I am still thinking about how 4x4 plays into this whole thing. More to come...

 

[Roadrunner777]

suvlights.com and bulldog

Very late autumn projects, probably would not do except we have a warm 3 days coming.

#1 - suvlights.com harness, just got it in. I have been around wiring to know when I see the good stuff, and this is it. I'm going to paint the colorful connectors to black and see how well I can hide everything. It is all in black corregated looms, and shows hand made craftsmanship of someone who has made a lot of these things. One notable... two notable things. First, when you pay, they give you a tracking number the next day. It took them another week to actually get it out the door. I'm going to guess these are made to order, and that's fine with me. The other thing is that they added a module in the harness, and it looks like most of the control wires go through this thing. I wrote and asked what it was, they said it was a relay that allowed installation on reverse polarity situations (apparently some Toyotas run their lights on opposite polarity). I think I can mount everything on the grill side of the radiator support, so other than the battery wires, this thing should more or less fade into the background of the engine bay.

Why and I doing this: I like the idea of a more direct current path to the lights. I am also going to 80/100W bulbs (Hella H83155222, Hella High Performance Xenon Light Bulbs), which would have stressed existing systems. So, better path, brighter bulb. This is as good as it gets without going to HID, and I'm probably going to draw the line here.


Bulldog
My old remote start system just started getting flakey, not sure why, but I think I have issues with both the remote and the receiver. With a brief run of warm weather ahead, a just bought what Orielly's had on the shelf, an entry level bulldog 1100. I have done them before, the key is to get all **** about reading and following instructions, and I personally solder everything... have a nice fat weller gun for the occasion.

Update 11/23: Bulldog in, pretty easy since I was replacing another remote, just match up the wires, solder and shrinkwrap. Works great.

 

[Roadrunner777]

Headlight Upgrades

My daily commute is in the dark during the winter, and the primary obstacles are deer and skunks. So, it makes sense to put more effort into the headlights than I might if I lived in a city.

I purchased this Explorer last winter. Both lenses were frosted and one had water inside. I now have good lighting to the limits of my vision. Here is how I got there.

Step 1-New Housings
Frosted lenses are a fundamental problem. Nothing else you do will make a difference until you address this. I have been through the scratch removal process in other cars. Initially I used a range of sandpaper down to 1200, then rubbing and polishing compound.My experience is that the polishing has to be redone every 6 months or so, where I live. I believe that is because any polishing effort removes any scratch/UV protection. I have recently seen kits that have coatings to restore UV protection.

For my money, given the leaks and the frosting, I'm going to new housings. They are about $70/pair all over the internet.

Step 2-Wiring Harness
This is another case of taking care of fundamentals before getting fancy. The existing electrical path for the headlights is something like 15 feet. The length and size of that wire determines a wire's resistance, essentially using up voltage before it ever gets to the lights. Others have found that simply installing a new harness improves their existing light output. You also need a harness if you are upgrading to higher wattage lamps, i.e. 9007 or just a higher wattage 9004. If you are thinking about adding driving lights, then again, you need a harness.

The new harness connects directly to the battery and one of the existing lamp sockets. It uses relays to control the lighting circuit, and 14 gauge wire for all power connections. In cross section, this wire is twice the size of existing wiring, runs for less than half the distance, and draws directly from the battery. End result: Ample power for any headlight configuration you might want. suvlights.com is where I went, based on recommendations here on the forum. It cost about $65 shipped. Now, you can search suvlights on this forum and read everyone's rave reviews. I'll say this: I believe in soldering, shrinkwrapping, everything I can do to get the most reliable connections. I can tell you this harness is hand-crafted from the best wiring and parts. They are made to order, so expect 2 weeks or so for this to arrive. It will be worth it. The only thing I did was to swap in 80 amp relays for the 30/40 amp that came with the harness. The system is fused far below 80 amps, but my reasoning is that they have silver contacts (I took one apart and inspected it) and that means longer life, fewer issues. I ordered 3 of these relays to test, will order more next week to convert my entire distribution box.

You may be asking why you would spend $70 for something that may not give you a huge improvement. The answer is that you are removing a bottleneck in the wiring system which will not only improve your existing lighting but allow you to do further upgrades more successfully. And, your other electrical goodies will benefit from reducing that bottleneck too. I was getting ready to upgrade my alternator because I was getting dim lights and slow blinkers with everything on. The harness fixed all that too, so $140 saved and diverted to Christmas presents! (or a new toolbox... decisions, decisions)

Installation is very easy, you will want to take out the top radiator screws to pass the harness with the existing harness run there. You need to find a way to get to the wiring side of the passenger side. That means removing the battery or taking apart the grill. Your choice. Other than that, it's all plug and play.

Step 3 - Bulb upgrade
I understand the easy step is to go buy some fancy-name bulbs and just put them in. Have you done steps 1 and 2 first? No? Why spend your money on expensive bulbs when you don't have a system to take full advantage of them? Get your foundation done first, then shop for bulbs. If not, you are truely wasting your money.

Now, which bulb? Assuming you are willing to spend time learning and then aiming your lights, and only in that case, I suggest breaking the law! The 9004 bulb is available via the internet in 80/100W configuration. Hella makes 2, one halogen and one Xenon.

I tried the halogen first, it burned out in one day. I got amazon to send me a replacement, I installed it, and clicked the high beams, it immediately burned out. I didn't even get to close the hood. Sent that one back for a refund. BTW, I followed headlight procedures and was very careful not to touch the glass. In both cases, the low-beam filament burned out. I'm not even going to give you a link to those... man, they even say off-road use on them, and they just blow up when you use them the first time.

I moved on to Hella Xenon, pretty much the only one I could find without a backorder. They were roughly twice as expensive as the halogen bulbs. I probably have less than an hour on them so far, but a lot of driving up and down my main road going from low to high to low again. I even opened the hood and adjusted them, and without thinking, let the hood slam with them on. No problemo. They say they are blue, and there is a light blue tint. The light from them is pretty much stark daylight white. I'm in city, county, and state patrol zones everyday, and I see in the crime reports the number of vehicles pulled over for lighting violations. I'm ok with that, I just have places to go, so I'm going to make sure my lighting at least appears to be legal. These bulbs pretty much blend in with everyone else, just that they reach a lot further at night. Update: 2 weeks later, they are still going strong. That's crazy I'm updating after 2 weeks, but given the first ones didn't make it out the driveway... there ya go.

Good stuff:

I'll say this one more time, just in case you skipped to the bottom. Do not do the bulb upgrade without doing the harness upgrade. You will do nothing but make your wiring hot and burn out your headlight switch. Do not do the bulb upgrade unless you are willing to spend some quality time aiming them.

 

[Roadrunner777]

New really late in the year for me projects:

Got Rancho 9000's for the front, $35 each free shipping. I am not entirely sure why I am doing this except that I recently went from stock to entry level monroe's and the size of the monroe's were a little pathetic, at 1-3/16". The Rancho's are 2-3/4" with a rod almost 3/4" diameter. With the adjustable tuning, I am looking forward.

I have become a little concerned about the dash voltmeter dipping with all the winter crap running, and the engine idling. In standard fashion, I am replacing the 95A with a 130A, and adding an overdrive pulley. All from ebay, total cost about $55.

12/2/2011 Update
I am sore, my skin is chapped, and I am cold to the bone. It was below freezing and sunny but with a very cold wind, the kind that goes through your clothes with ease. The 130A alternator and overdrive pulley did exactly what I needed from it, my voltage now stays high regardless of engine speed or load. There will be times soon when I will be running pretty much everything that is electrical on my truck. I am ready. If someone happens to want to do this, I will save you some math. The overdrive pulley will make your stock belt too loose to work. I bought several smaller ones, and the best fit was one that was 1" shorter.

The shock installation was annoying. You probably know days like this. I was holding the old shock rod with a 5/8" open end wrench, had an air ratchet on the top nut. My socket is a little to long to get in there unless I fight it in, and the plastic is cold and stiff, so I am losing the fight. I let the wrench turn on it's own to lock against the shock tower, but instead the wrench goes flying and flat out disappears. Gone. I thought maybe tools could do this but I was amazed to actually catch one in the act. Hoodini would have been proud. I eventually spy the box of the wrench through my wheel spokes (did this on the ground to save time). It was up getting friendly with the brake caliper. I pretty much went through about 3 hours of that.

Payoff time, it drives great, don't really know what to do about the 9 levels of shock adjustment. I mainly got the 9000's because they were beefy like the original stock ones, and the price was right. When I first extended one, I just smiled. The rod is almost 3/4" diameter, it just looks like business. Voltage stays rock solid. With the headlight harness and 80/100 Xenons, I'm well lit.

Unless I find a sack of money for new tires and rims, I'm done for the winter. Everything this summer was preparing for winter, and here we are.

I am sore, cold, and smiling. I believe I will go take a shower and use every drop of hot water. I deserve it.

~~~~Phil