The rig gets some much needed TLC | Page 6 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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The rig gets some much needed TLC

Josh S - rear glass, suspension, manual tcase

Hey guys I'm back! Well it's been a while since I've done anything major to my truck and it's high time! For starters, I've been running off of one shock in the rear forever and the shock will bottom out if I hit too hard. It was just a thrown together setup cuz I got some free 5150's so I slapped em on.

Anyways, it now has 1.5" per side widened beams up front with rigid bumpstops, kings, eibach coils still. The front end hangs pretty good right now minus the jacked alignment, but that's alright for now cuz I haven't been driving much.

The imminent plans include:
1) Cleaning up the rear fender hackage, round the corners and trim up the body straight so it looks cleaner, then maybe wrap the edges into the wheelwell.

2) mount the rear fiberglass quarter panels. These will be ordered in the next few days from Fiberwerx. I have the mounts already for the fenders, courtesy of Camburg. These are preferable and less of a PITA that dzus fasteners, and I like the look too.
Fenderwasherkit.jpg


3)finish rear suspension. This will involve the most work. after a lot of thought over the past year or two(while not having any spare $$), I have decided to keep the shocks under the bed instead of coming up through the floor. I have been in Sirhk100's old X that was set up this way and it hung hard enough for what I plan on doing. I just would like to bomb around the desert mildly(not fullon race speeds) with a bit of jumping in the mix, with also doing trails of course.

Having Kings up front I would like to stick with em, and also match them with 2.5s. I'm having trouble finding some used right now so they may have to be ordered new :( I'm estimating that I will need around a 10" stroke, but cycling will tell the truth.

I will disassemble the Deaver leaf pack that is on there currently, and just have the main leaf to cycle the suspension, and get some rough measurements off of an "imaginary" upper mount, then I will know the right length to get. A crossmember will need to be fabbed for the shocks to mount to, as well as some of the stock spare tire mount cut off. gooood, my sawzall is getting a bit of dust settling on it :D

in this same time I will mount my Radflo 2" stroke hydro bumps in the cans I just picked up from Camburg. These will be nice for the harder hits in the whoops or on dropoffs or mild jumps. The short stroke and bodies of these custom bumps work great for mounting under our explorers and fitting underneath the floor. After this is complete I will measure for and order some limit straps to keep my leaf pack and shocks together at droop.

While this doesn't sound like a whole lot, it's going to be a lot of work for me but I know it is going to be awesome!

One more current event lol...I ordered a manual t-case from a guy that will be waiting for me when I get back to Chico. Just need to track down some linkage and a shifter and I'll toss that baby in to get rid of these darn shift motor blues :rolleyes:

I'm down in OC right now and won't be back up home to the truck in chico for another week or so, so not really any pics of the stuff...but you can count on this thread having mad amounts of pics once the work starts!!!
 



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Hey dud , im wondering what shafts will you use to extend that beams?
 






bisne- I already have an extended shaft leftover from my old beams so I will be using that. If I need another one I would just cut and sleeve a stock one;)

Got the radius arm brackets done finally, but not without accidentally welding my C-clamp to one of em haha...
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Here they are. I picked up my tranny jack from a buddy so I'm gonna start on the crossmember real soon. As for now, it's time to head off the the David Allan Coe concert and party it up! :chug:
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looking good :thumbsup:
 






Okay a minor update...I took a break from the truck to get some school crud dealt with and a lot of dirtbiking but now I'm back:D

Some minor frame bendage...
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Well the 2 foot long Crescent wrench wasn't up for doing it's job of bending my frame back to where it came from so I said to hell with it and employed the good ole angle grinder;)
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I'll get this plated in and boxed, then figure out what to do with the other side, then I can get the brackets hung and get to work on the crossmember. Slowly but surely!:rolleyes:
 












Did you buy a book on fabbing or what? Summer school class? :p: It's lookin awesome!
 












Well it turns out that the crossmember in the works was completely not going to work due to driveshaft and exhaust clearance issues so I did something else. Should work better. It's not completed yet btw
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psh and it still looks good!
 






Did you use a pipe kinker for that? I'm going to need some shock mounts bent in the next couple weeks. You down?
 






nice work josh! still wanna open a fab shop with me?
 






Thanks guys:D

We used Phil's dads JD2 Johnny...he's got it up here in Chico so he's probly the one to talk to...Although I have this coming to my doorstep on Monday so you might need to talk to me about quality notching on the drill press:cool:
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That would be pretty fun Jason, I think I have a lot to learn yet tho and i'm not nearly productive enough haha:confused:
 






I like that 2nd X-member better, simpler and less welding to do...nice work:thumbsup:
 






Thanks Dave, you're right a lot less welding.

Well I found out yesterday that the stock cat system won't fit anymore because I plated in the frame where it sits:confused:

I ended up beating the hell out of it with a sledgehammer to get a spare inch or two but that ended up just destroying the cat haha...I'm gonna order a Magnaflow or a Spintech in the next couple days that is a lot smaller so it should be able to fit in there.:D
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Well I'm in socal right now and got my shopping done today:D

Picked up some new PRP seats, Crow harnesses, 1.25" FK heims and some 2.5x2 King bumps with cans. Also dropped off the coilovers and some other shocks for a full rebuild so they will be ready for smashing on. It was a spendy day but I can't wait to get back and gett this stuff on the truck!

Have my camera but no USB cord so no pics, sorry. We are heading to the Bud Light Dash on the 31st so I will have some inspirational trophy truck pics to post when I get back too:)
 






soundin good...
 






Well I'm back home now and hoping to get some serious **** done on the truck in the next couple weeks before another semester starts:rolleyes:

New seats, harnesses, heims, bumps...
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CL can for size reference:D The 2.5's add extra chick-pulling power:cool:
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My buddy up here distracted me yet again and we ended up throwing a Camburg upper A-arm and replacement c/o kit on his tacoma today. Someday I will get to work on the explorer again :fire:
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My mom and stepdad were nice enough to pick up a 1.75" tubing bender die for me over christmas so we now have the capabilities to bend up the radius arms and engine cage, etc...Stay tuned for some cool updates soon:thumbsup:
 






Got the radius arm brackets welded up to the frame today and installed the tranny crossmember.(FINALLY)
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Also made some progress on some radius arm brackets for a friend. Soon the new arms will be built for my truck...well as soon as i can afford some metal:rolleyes:
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so when am i gonna bring my truck over to be built? :cool:

still wanna know, how did you figure out the geometry for cutting and turning the beams?
 






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