Travis' 94 - The Culmination!

Thanks for checking out my thread!

I've owned about a dozen 1st & 2nd gen Explorers over the last 8 years. I've done Dana 44's on a 1st gen, coilovers on a 2nd gen, uniball uppers, leveling kits, lift kits, fabricated a handful of front ends, shock hoops, bedcages, the list goes on and on. For my latest truck, I began my search towards the end of last summer & actually started out looking for a 2nd gen, (I really like the ones with the AC in the center console). Thankfully this truck was not needed as a daily driver, so I was able to take my time. I happen to stumble across this extremely clean 1st gen that reminded me so much of my favorite Explorer, which was also a white 94 with black wheels. I could not pass this truck up. Here in Southern California, these trucks are getting very, very tough to come by, and this was one of the cleanest 1st gens I have ever seen. Here are the specs:

1994 XLT
218,000 miles without a rear main leak, signs of a power steering leak, mostly clean oil pan & block, clean rear end & under carriage
4x4 - A4LD - Pushbutton 4x4 - Stock auto hubs
3.73 Limited Slip
Full power seats with lumbar & bolsters
A small additional lower exterior trim piece that seems to not be too common
31x10.50R15 Toyo AT knock offs on Pro Comp Series 51 steelies
Kenwood Deck with a pyle (o' ****) sub in the stock location


I'm 9 months behind on making this thread, and I have done A TON with this truck, so stay tuned for a lot of catching up!!!

Current pic

Here are the photos from day 1 (October 13, 2019)

 

[Travisfab]

I'm surprised we haven't run into each other on the trails. You seem to run the same trails I do when I take off for a spur of the moment run. I've gone through Oraflame Canyon dozens of times. Did Rodriguez Canyon to Blair Valley last month and Valley of the Moon in May.

Very suprised as well, we definitely need to meet up for a run soon. I have 3 other good friends locally that have 1st Gens, that could join us.

Man I love those LED DRLs. I haven’t seen those on a gen1 before and it sure does update the look.

Thank you. Ebay/China is on a constant rotation of availability of lights for these trucks. Was pretty pumped to find these.

wicked cool thread the best part is the smiles on your sons face
Love the DRL lights!! Makes me want a gen I!!!!!!!

Kid has more offroad miles than most adults! I agree on the DRL's, it took me months to finally wire them up though, and it was kind of a pain in the ass since I put them on a switch.

I like where this build is going. Julian is my old hometown. Need to get back down there and do some exploring.

Let me know! There is a lot to check out around Julian/Pine Valley

 

[Travisfab]

April 9, 2020

Secret Trail in East San Diego with my son & a friend.

 

[Travisfab]

April 11, 2020

I took my good friend Zack with his newly purchased Explorer

on the same trail.

 

[Travisfab]

April 12, 2020

The local creek crossing was dominated, lol!

 

[BKennedy]

Cool trail. I think you found one I haven't been on before

 

[Travisfab]

April 18, 2020

Last minute run out to Anza Borrego found me in some deep mud! (which down the road contributed to my passenger window not working)

 

[Travisfab]

April 25, 2020

My immediate Explorer family grew by 1, so we hit some dirt!

 

[Travisfab]

May 2, 2020

Typical night before shananigans at my buddies & snuck in a desert run before it got too hot.

 

[Travisfab]

May 4, 2020

The status of my rear bumper was pretty rough. Somehow this truck turned into a recovery vehicle & I had drug out about 10 people at this point. The dually's and 2500 trucks did took their toll!

 

[Travisfab]

May 14, 2020

A very subtle upgrade. I painted the area below the lower factroy trim piece black. Really cleaned things up in my opinion

 

[Travisfab]

May 21, 2020

LED time! Now everyting in the truck is LED minus the gauges.

 

[Travisfab]

May 23, 2020

New front shocks

 

[Travisfab]

June 6, 2020

Usually this time of year I am exploring in Baja, such a bummer to miss the spring/summer this year. Instead, I'm seeking shade locally.

 

[Travisfab]

June 9, 2020

Tune up time. New Motorcraft plugs and wires. Can you tell I needed them?

Replaced a leaky power steering line

And went to a solid transmission mount

 

[Travisfab]

June 20, 2020

Threw some Bilsteins on the front, and off to the lake!

 

[Travisfab]

June 28, 2020

You could say my radius arm mount needed to be replace, lol! Also threw on new bushings & picked up a new tow strap.

 

[Travisfab]

July 1, 2020

Painted my rear pillars rattle can white.

 

[Travisfab]

July 3, 2020

My favorite upgrade to date. Makes a HUGE difference off road. I also threw in MB quart door speakers, and replaced all the door panel clips while I was at it.

You can see the splice I did into the factory harness to accomodate the puddle lights in the 2nd gen mirrors

 

[Travisfab]

July 9, 2020

I never thought the day would come that I would add a sway bar to a truck. This sway bar is off a 98 with a 5.0, so I'm not sure if it's any different than stock. It helped the ride quality and body roll significantly.

 

[Travisfab]

July 14, 2020

I had been driving around without a drivers door panel since the sound deadner install because of this project. The door clips only work good once, so I needed to make this happen before the panel went on. They do not power anything at this point, and the wires are run into the drivers side kick panel. Inspiration came from the factory limited switches.

You can see a few JB patch attempts, I should have used fiberglass