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Post number 3327 has been selected as best answered.

Whats In A Name?

It was hot humid august night. The winds have all but vanished. I was doing my best to keep the sweat out of my eyes. The A/C was dying in my 94 Explorer, lovingly named "Pugly", and there was no relief in sight. I decided it was time to stop throwing good money into bad. I was gonna do the unthinkable,.......I was going to commit the most heinous crime of them all! I was going to trade Pugly in for a newer model! Oh the heart break! The insanity of it all! I couldn't believe the thoughts were even going through my head.

I managed to get the old girl back home, to her resting place. She seemed at ease in her familiar surroundings. I had to come up with an explanation to let her know of my evil plan. So i just gave her that old wink and grin that she likes to see from me as we made it back home from another day of adventure in the treacherous Midwestern terrain. I did my best in hiding my cynical thoughts, as I walked around to her rear flank and gave her that little pat on her bumper, as I always have when we part for the night.

The next morning I gave her a real good bath, cleaned behind her mirrors, and brushed her grill. She still looked pretty good for her age. Oh sure she had the tell tale signs, gravity has got its firm grip on her, and I am not the best cosmetics guy in the world. she didn't seem to mind too much, she still kept her nose up and drove with pride.

After looking at many vehicles I just could not find anything that had the same feel as my old girl. Then it happened! Was I seeing a mirage? Was I so desperate to find another rig that I was blinded by insanity? I found my replacement! I quickly made a sale with the owner, and brought it home.

When I pulled in the driveway, my heart sunk as I looked into the yard to see my 94 looking at me in disbelief. She was sunning herself in the grass looking all shiny and then, she just looked away from me. My heart was tearing in two. I parked the new rig, and walked up to her and gave her a soft spoken "Hello". No reply. I tried to tickle her mirrors, no response. The tension was so great, you could have cut it with a 32 count fine tooth hacksaw. I had to explain to her that she gave me great satisfaction for many years, and we made a terrific team together, but the time has come for her to just relax and enjoy her final days. She finally revved up, and understood, her days as my work horse has ended (so we thought).

I introduced her to her daily driver replacement. The shiny new(er) next generation of her kind. The 95 Explorer XLT. She warmed right up to it. Before you know it they were swapping stories. Now I had to ask her for help. I needed a name for the new ride,
so I went to find her, and what did I see? Those two were grill to grill in the driveway. rubbing chrome! I had to get the water hose out and break them up! Sheesh, she was acting like a girl at the prom dance! I let the name thing drop for awhile.

The new(er) Ex needed to get its shots, and a physical. When I got the word on it's health, I about had a coronary. "What do you mean Doc"! I yelled. "Your kidding right"? I asked. The Doc just shook his head and gathered his tools. As he walked away, He said it had a 50/50 chance of survival. My stomach knotted up, my teeth ground, my heart raced, and I could feel the energy build up as I let it all out, "Why! Why! Why did this have to happen"! I screamed.

The prognostic exam from the doc was as such. It had a blown steering rack, the shocks were gone, the brakes were non existent, front sway bar was cracked in half, the 3rd brake light was out, none of the windows or the moon roof would work, the door locks were broke, the rear end LS clutch pack was burned up, the tires were all in need of replacement, the spare was a Firestone recall and flat, the engine had a nasty tick to it, the TPS was shot, the MAF was corroded, the battery had a dead cell in it, the hood shocks were not working, the rear hatch lock was jammed up and you couldn't open it with out a key in the lock, The carpet was stained to no repair, the rear window wiper didn't want to work, and we could not tell what year its engine swap came from. it was a mess, to say the least.

I went in the house to get my gun. I was gonna just put it out of its misery right there and then. I suddenly realized I was out of ammo, from shooting at the jeep that was in my field. I went to the computer to find a place to buy some cheap ammo, and I stumbled across this website, explorerforum.com that said it could heal any ford Explorer no matter what the problems were! I jumped for joy, I could not believe the things I was reading! I wore out the search button, asked a bunch of questions. I quickly broke out my pen and paper, feverishly writing down things as I was learning! I had found a cure for everything that was wrong with my new transport. It was a Godsend, an angel from the SUV heavens!

I sprung into action. I worked day and night, Pugly was right by my side the entire time, helping me in any way she could. I never seen this side of her, and was really amazed at how well she handled the pressure. She gently squeegeed the sweat out off my fore head with her soft wiper blades as I worked away. After an entire weekend of work, I collapsed. I needed some rest, and so did the 95. The sun crested over the hills, and awoke me to a new day. I shuffled my feet to the window facing the driveway, peeled the drapes gently back, and peered out at the 95. WOW!
It had a its color back, and was looking great! Now as the time went on, (and most of my paychecks), and the selling of almost everything I own, for funds to get the 95 to its former glory.

After some time to reflect on this name thing, I strolled up and whispered into Pugly's passenger side mirror, and she giggled with delight.

I climbed up onto the front bumper in my pajamas and robe half opened, with a cup of coffee in one hand and the daily newspaper in the other, I raised my arms with out stretched hands and proclaimed the new name of the 95.

BEHOLD...........THE BLACK HOLE!!!!!!!! (Then the neighbor yelled at me to close my robe)



The End................(or is it just the beginning?)


Actually, only some of this really happened. :D




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Mogwai, hey that will fit on a license plate. Interesting.
 






Hahahahaha, so will GREMlLIN but I wouldn't want to invite them!
 






Newest Mod to the rig.

After installing the F-150 leaf packs and having 7 leafs in each, they are a lot taller and the stock U-bolts were just to short for my liking. I wanted some BEEF to replace them. After looking around the interweb thingy, I got an idea of the costs of larger U-bolts. I then called the guy that I talked to about the leaf packs, and he told me to come by and he would take care of me.

Glad I listened to him :) He made me a custom set of grade 8 U-bolts to my specs for the rig. 5/8" x 3.5" x 8" plus 24mm grade 8 deep nuts and double thick washers for less than anything I found on the webs. :bounce:

Alright so today was the day to tackle this simple bolt on Mod...(so I thought :rolleyes:)

The 1/4" skids I have (made by boogerwelds) have always been one of the coolest things on this rig to me, up until today :( These made this mod a royal PITA! You have to drill out the plates for the bigger U-bolts, no biggie right? Nope, major biggie. The skids have large holes to get an 18 mm deepwell socket in, I needed holes large enough to accommodate a 24mm socket. Let me tell you, this wasn't an easy thing to enlarge 1/4" plate with 1-3/8" already in them. A 1" drill bit was the largest I owned, and I needed a 1.5" deming bit for the drill press. ACK! Look some up online for pricing...wow!

Anyways, I got the guy who helped me with the bumper fab work to pitch in a hand and save the day. He used a BURR bit with a 13 HP gas powered compressor to power a die grinder and enlarged the holes in no time. Woot!

After fighting the axle and having to run down a thin wall 24mm deepwell socket, I got it installed.

Here is the old stock U-bolt, the new HD U-bolt, the plates with the enlarged holes and a 24mm socket to show why the hole has to be so big on these things.

uboltcomparison.jpg

uboltcomparison2.jpg


Installed and ready to tear stuff up.

uboltupgradeinstalled.jpg





For any of you that want to upgrade to a 5/8" U-bolt set up, remember when you drill out the larger holes to also go to the outside another 3/8" to accommodate the larger bolt thickness. Otherwise they won't fit. The width of the leafs (2.5") and the stock hole centers are made so the stock bolts are snug to the sides of the leafs.




:salute:
 






Holy s*** mate!!! Awesome. How long 'til you go SOA???:D:thumbsup:
 












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The rig got a little mud on it this weekend. The front locker was a nice addition to it. The 35's might be just a tad too much for the 4.56 gears tho. I was stuffing them meats pretty easy and rubbing the fender flares everywhere on the trails.

Had a brake mishap again. The pedal liked to lose pressure intermittently and drop to the floor when it felt like it, mostly at the worst possible time. Going to have to bleed the entire system with new fluids again. Might be that reman master cylinder has gone bad...IDK.

Even though there is around 30" of rear shock extension, I managed to limit the axle with them. Time for some limit straps asap.

95rearmadflex.jpg


Stuffed that puppy in there.

IMG_1030Custom.jpg
 






Great photo mate and at least the limiter's are a cheap piece of kit.
 






Great photo mate and at least the limiter's are a cheap piece of kit.

Yes sir, they are cheaper than new shocks, thats for sure. I think that is the most front to back opposite flex & stuff this rig has ever seen.
 












Getting the doubler does seem like the best option for this rig. Cheaper than an atlas, will save my clutch, and not have to re-gear. Taking on such an endeavor is scary to me as it is completely unknown territory. Getting the shaft/plate made, doing the linkage, how much shorter the drive shafts need to be, and what to cut off the extra case is the parts I will have to learn about. Things unknown, like does the gas tank have to modified for it? Do I have to lose the full console for the shifters? :dunno:

I have found that just reading how to do mods is not the same as actually doing them. I will always learn/retain more by doing, than imagining doing it. I would definitely need help from someone that has actually built and installed a doubler to take on such a Mod.
 






Getting the doubler does seem like the best option for this rig. Cheaper than an atlas, will save my clutch, and not have to re-gear. Taking on such an endeavor is scary to me as it is completely unknown territory. Getting the shaft/plate made, doing the linkage, how much shorter the drive shafts need to be, and what to cut off the extra case is the parts I will have to learn about. Things unknown, like does the gas tank have to modified for it? Do I have to lose the full console for the shifters? :dunno:

I have found that just reading how to do mods is not the same as actually doing them. I will always learn/retain more by doing, than imagining doing it. I would definitely need help from someone that has actually built and installed a doubler to take on such a Mod.

The first step is to figure out what you want to use as a doubler. Bolt pattern and ease of building/mounting should be the first priority. What pattern does your 1354 have? Is it the same or different than the usual Ford 6 bolt circular pattern? Its probably different, cause I think??? only fullsize trucks have the 6 bolt circular. So if you go with a fullsize case half to use as a doubler, you will need another adapter to mate it to your trans.

If you use a 203 you will have a 4 speed doubler, (doubler gear/case gear) low/low, low/high, high/low, and high/high, because a 203 is 2:1, and the 1354 is 2.6?:1.

If you use another case with the same ratio you will only have 3 speeds, because with 1 in high and the other in low is the same no matter which is in low.

Don't worry about your new driveshafts until you get it all built and installed. Measuring for, and getting new shafts built is pretty easy. That being said, don't forget completely about them. Just use a broomstick or something as mock up, to make sure you have clearance and aren't hitting something, for shafts before you get it all in.

As far as shifters, you can get cable shifters for a couple hundred bucks. Then you can put them anywhere, and won't have to lose your console.

Stazworks is where I am getting my stuff. $600 for the adapter and a new billet shaft. D.D. Machine, Behemoth, N.W. Fab, O.R.D., there are a bunch of people out there making adapters and shafts and shifters.

If you decide to go with an atlas, I personally would just spend the money on a Klune V or N.W. BlackBox. Then you have 4 speeds, whereas with an atlas you have high, and super low. With an underdrive setup or doubler you have high, low, lower, lowest. Just more versatile...
 






Thanks for the post Jason :)

Was thinking of using the 1350 for the other half. 5 bolt pattern.

The drive shafts would be made after the fact and balanced at a driveline shop here for $100/pc.

The cables sound nice, but a little steep in price to me.

I might be able to get the plate made here for cheap, and I heard the shaft can be had for around $150 for the 1354/1350 combo. This is all hear say tho from talking to others.

All I'm after is a higher crawl ratio in low range, and nothing more.
 






Thanks to Techiman33 for taking a couple vids at the park over the weekend. These were posted in the Smorr thread, but thought to share them here as well.



You can hear the "AWE" from the crowd and being called a "Rookie" for killing the engine in the 2nd vid.....lol!! I'm still learning to wheel with a manual as you can tell. :D
 






Looks like it did well Gregg.
 






Thanks for the post Jason :)

N/P man, I got nothing but time on my hands til summer classes start in a few weeks. I'm bored to death and trolling the boards all day, lol.

I think there is a write up on RROC about a 1350/54 doubler. Check Pirate too, there is a TON of information there, way more than here about hardcore stuff like this. Just don't ask dumb questions there, its not pretty, lol.

Getting the plate machined locally will definitely save you some $, it just has to be designed properly. I would take your case and the doubler to the shop to get it made. Have them drill/machine it so that the cases are clockable. That way you have some flexibility as far as interference from stuff with both the cases and the shift linkage.

The linkage might be a little more complicated for the 13 series BW cases, and I don't think you can get a cable shifter for them anyways, just because the shift pattern isn't a straight line like a transmission, or 203/205. Its easy for me cause the 2 shift rails go straight in and out to change gears. I am going to use a modified E-brake lever and cable for the doubler.
 






Umm, yeah, Ive been a member over on Pirate for a long time now, I know how they can get. :shifty_ey
There are a couple threads on EF about them too. Foxracin has a wicked shifter set up on his, so I know at least 1 person here that has it working...lol
 






Works great to and the shifter setup only costed around 50 bucks all said and done and the shift knobs was like $30 of that. lol

I would the the D.D. Machine doubler like mine. Its right and it works. Plain and simple. Takes all the guess work out of it and has a nice chromo heat treated shaft.

You could do the shifter like mine just bend the handle more and get it around your console so you can keep it.

Only doubler you can put behind a 4.0 trans is 1350 combo.

Anymore specific questions about doublers just ask.
 



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