Stryctny9e's 1993 XLT | Page 3 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Stryctny9e's 1993 XLT

Hey guys, thoght I would make a registry for my explorer. I bought my EX for $1800 about a year ago with 132,000 miles on it. Strong motor, she ran smooth, and a bunch of little issues. That is when I was searching to resolve them and found this site. It all started with the drivers side door sag, which was quickly taken care of thanks to DeRocha's how to thread. Then there was some missing interior parts like a few light covers, rear vanity cover and a broken arm rest. I dragged my girlfriend with me to the junkyard in the rain (her first time to a junk yard) and ended up finding everything I needed. I also changed most fluids, oil, transmission/filter, radiator, lubed suspension. Didn't plan on doing much with the explorer until I found all the cool things I could do on this site. I also got tired of my truck looking like the other million explorer roaming around my town.

I like to hunt and go out shooting on a regular basis so I got a chance to fool around with the 4wd quickly. I found that the 4x4 high worked but the 4x4 low range was inoperable. SO it was back to the forum to do some searching and that led me to pull off the electric shift motor and clean it. As I suspected the plastic stopper was broken, replaced it and the low range worked right off the bat.

I quickly found that my Exploder lacked ground clearence(whoops thread-learning the hard way) and want to do a lift and some bigger tires. The day after that incident I recived my warrior shackles in the mail and installed them. I also installed new wheel bearings, painted I beam and brake calibers, and rear drums, also painted the spindles. I also just got done painting Bpillars and the rear pillars. They were all faded and I wanted them to match my truck since it is a two tone.Also painted wiper arms and plan on doing door/hatch handle soon.

The body and paint were in good condition there was only a dent in the passenger side fender and minimal rust. Mainly the rust is on the roof in the rain channles. There is a new dent in the hatch, a friend of mine bought a boat and asked me to tow it for him, I said yes. The guy he bought it from loaded it on my hitch, I did not check it myself thinking he is a boat owner and fully capable of doing it right, wrong. Three blocks down the road I was rear ended by a boat. I was pissed at the time and he offered to by me a new hatch but I don't want a missmatched truch and have yet to find the same color scheme at the junkyard. I got over it and about a month later some Jacko decides he don't want taco bell any more and backs out of the drive thru. Meanwhile I am backing out of my parking spot. I am honking my horn and apperently he was def because his toyota tacoma backed into the drivers side of my rear wheel well resulting in a softball size dent. I held back my temper and said a few kind words to him and went on my way before the scene escalated.

My plans for the future are a new/used motor after my wheelin incident(think I have rod knock)but she is still running. A coil spacer/add-a-leaf lift. New rims and tires. Probably some cragar's and 32's x 11.50. Possible body lift for even bigger tires but onle after I do some re-gearing. New lights, my light quality sucks and would like to upgrade for a newer look.Oh yea I am going to rhino line the roof of the EX to get rid of that rust and add a uniquie look. Manual hubs, and a flow master exhaust that will happen sooner than later, because I have a fist size hole in the muffler, caused from when I had to pull the truck out of the mud hole. I will also be doing ball joints/ u-joints, tie-rod ends and bushings when I do the lift.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to do all the how to write ups and posted all the good advise and knowlege to the site. I will be doing my part soon.

What you have all been waiting for THE PICS
 

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I fell in love with my springfield the day I seen it! Dont they call them Glock killers? Ha Ha just kidding, Funny little story, when I was buying my pistol the guy selling me mine ( I already knew what I wanted- he was just doing the paperwork) was a springfield man, his co worker was a Glock guy and was trying to sell a customer a glock and dude kept bustin his co workers balls about springfield being a Glock killer. With the customer seeing me buying the XD and the sales dude busting balls and talking smack, the customer ended up picking up a XD also and dude stole guys sale. It was kinda funny. I also like glocks as equal as springfield both exellent choices in weapons, but my Springfield is my baby and she has a nice body on her. More boby lines than the glock but they perform equally excellent.

Kinda sounded like I was talking about somthing other than guns there at the end.


haha, thats funny
 



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Called Carquest and they can get me the Moog 2.75 degree Camber adjustment bushings at 4:00pm fo 19.99$ each. So I should be putting on the front coil spring spacers in a couple days.
 






Camber Bushings

I got these today so it looks like I will be throwing in the coil spacers wednsday. 19.99 ea Carquest Moog P/N K8983 2.75 degrees
 

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Coil Spring Spacer Install

:frustrateWell once again I was f**ked over by almighty E bay. Well I was tearing down the front suspention of the EX and everyhting was going very smooth, a little too smooth for my luck. I have very bad luck. All the bolts have been soaked in PB blaster for the last week and all of them were coming off with ease, I have all the tools ready and camber bushing waiting to be installed for a new allighment, but wait when it was time to put the coil spring spacers on they would not fit. I thought they looked a little funny but gave the seller the benifit of the doubt considering that the box they came in was marked with the right part number, but the part inside was apparently the wrong one. I tried to get a hold of the guy to ask a few questions but no replies. I know what I had to do, bust out the angle grinder and do a few modifications, no big deal. They took me a little longer than expected to install, but the fact that I e mailed the dude with my phone number and got no response over 6 hours is Bulls*!t if you ask me, what made me more mad is on the dudes site they "triple check packing for quality assurance". They might start quadrouple checking after I get a hold of dude and b!tch him out. Oh yea at the end of dudes site it says all descrepencies or wrong orders must be notified to seller within 48 hours of reciving, so I was screwed even if I wanted to send them back.

Anyways a little, which means a lot, of grinding later and they fit. I did not have time to do the camber bushings and the tires sit all \ / like you can see in the pics, but all said and done I am satisfied and it gave me a little more lift than expected. Here are some pics.:fire:
 

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Coil Spring Spacer Install

More pics install
 

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Coil Spring Spacer Install

More pics
 

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Coil Spring Spacer Install

I couldnt get a pic of her stance because it was obviously dark outside, but I will post one up tommarow. I am a little concerned because the ass sits lower than the front even though I put shackles and add a leafs on. I dont like that look and am already thinking of maybe adding another add a leaf or possibly F150 leaf springs. Any suggestions? I want that sag gone!!!
 






Alignment tips

:censored:If anyone has any tips on a home allignment please shoot them to me. I will be doing my camber bushings today and dont have the money for a proffesional allignment. I woke up to check my account and someone took $60 from me out of a atm in seattle. F***ing assholes on top of that there was these tires I was gonna check out, but I guess not any more.

See what I mean by my bad luck. Anyways tips please.
 






Another bad day

Lets add to the bad luck today Well the alignment was going smooth, poped the camber bushing out with medium effort, put a little lube on the new one and it slid into place. Yea that wasent too hard. I started the process of adjusting those wheels and making them straight, on, off, on, off, you get the point well about the tenth or twelveth try I thought it was pretty damn straight. I was putting the tire(Drivers side) on for the final test and from the background my buddie says " dude what you leakin?" . Immediatly my head rose to the air and ears propped up, like a dog that saw a cat, knowing exactly what he said I said "what" and sure enough the front diff has a leak. Drip, Drip, drip. It seems to be a busted the CV joint seal because it is leaking right out of where the CV shaft goes into the front diff. I just added on the to do list last night chage front/rear diff oils but this is not how i wanted to change them. Oh yea and I was adjusting the tie rod ends and I some how managed to crossthread the castle nut on the drivers side, either that or someone before me did and I just couldnt get it back on. I will just take the blame considering my luck it was me who did it not paying attention or somthing. I now have 10$ to my name need to fix a srtipped tie rod end and try to get this bank situation figured out. I talked to dude at my bank and he said we have to wait till tommarow, till the charges go through before I can get the money back. But my card number and all that **** was changed.

Here are a few pics I took today, I was not in the mood to fu*k with the camera.
 

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Well I fixed the tie rod end temporarily, I got the castle nut on part way and the cotter pin in, but i will buy new tie rod ends tommaro and install them. I should get the money back that the person jacked it from me the other day. homeboy at the bank said it will be in my account tommaro so I will just end up getting both new tie rod ends then. I wont be driving anywhere today even though I wish I could, it is a nice day outside. Updates tommarow.
 






At least that's abit of good luck mate! Awesome work and Gmanpaint just put f-150 spring's in his if you want to see how that would be. Check out the black hole.
 






Thanks lynchy will do. Does any one know if the explorer warrior 153 shackles will fit the F 150 leaf springs, I dont mind getting rid of the add a leafs but I love the look of the shackles.

I permanetly fixed my tie rod end problem. I had to do a bit of fileing and sanding, but got them to work. I jacked up the cotter pins, but found a good use for my girlfriends hairpins for a temporary fix, until I went to get the right cotter pins. They worked great. I will get a couple good pics of the ex, and may have found a few good places for tires. I an keeping my fingers crossed, I just got paid and money always burns a hole in my pocket, right into the EX.
 






Stared to pull out my drivers side front axle, until I ran into that stupid 6mm 12 point socket. I was sure I had one and started taking everything until I looked in one of my three socket kits and what I thought was a 6mm 12 point was a 5.5mm socket!!! What kind of crap is that. I went to every local auto parts store, a specialty tool shop, home depots, ace hardwares, harbor freight, and even a few car repair shops. Only one dude had 1 and he didnt want to sell it to me or loan it out on colladeral. He was like your welcome to bring your truck over and do what you need, until I told him I was taking out the axle, then he said he dosen't think his boss would like me changing my axle seal in the parking lot. I need it done ASAP. Any suggestions?
 






F*** mate! You've gotta stop kicking black cat's and breaking mirror's. Oh and go around that ladder too!

Anything available online with overnight delivery?
 






Yea lynchy, there is sockets online i can order in stock, the onle problem is when the a$$hole took my money out of my account I had to cancle my Debit/credit card, so now I have no way to order it till next week or when I get a new card. I sent a PM to some locals so maybe they can help me out.

It probably had to do with that mirrior I broke a year and a half ago.
 






Replaced that leaky front diff axle seal today and it went pretty smooth. I am still searching for some decent tires I can afford and probably do a junk yard run for some brake calibers and rotors somtime this week.
 






Changed out my Radius arm bushings today. A job well worth the time, almost all clunking noises gone. I will post some pics of the tore up bushings tommaro.
 






She's going to be brand new soon! Glad you got that diff sorted mate, it's always the socket I need that I can never find until I need a different socket then I find the first one (usually well after I need it!)
 






Got Radius Arm bushings?

As you can see I was in desperate need to replace my radius arm bushings. I would hear a awful ckunking noise. My girlfriend was always spooked by these noises thinking the tire would fall off at anytime. After I installed the coil spring spacers the noise went from a clunk to a twang as the noise would recoil through the aluminum spacer and into the spring. So I did the research wich I have several times before and decided enough is enough. Even though it was raining outside I went ahead and did it anyways. I picked up a 11.99$ RA bushing kit, but wanted the energy suspension kit. It was a little dit of a pain in the a$$ but all was well. The onlt recomendation is buy 1 3/4 in x7/16 dia bolt because the 1 1/4 in reccomended will interfere with the fuel filter holder. Well got past that issue and now that all the rivits were grinded and bolts were in place it will be easy to swap out the cheap bushings for Energy suspension bushings later.

All said and done I am well satisfied and no more clunking over speed bumps, pot holes, in and out of driveways ect. A job well worth the work and the front end feels tighter and handles better.

Here are the pics
 

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Here She Is

Here is a pic of her right now!!

I am gonna fid some new calipers because the seals are shot in mine now and dont want to open back up all the way after braking. I have a feeling it is what contributes to my crappy gas milage. I am also gonna find some rotors so the brakes will be nice and happy.
 

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