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Ford Explorer Maintenance - Modifications - Performance Upgrades - Problem Solving - Off-Road - Street
Explorer Forum Covers the Explorer ST, Explorer Sport, Explorer Sport Trac, Lincoln Aviator, Mercury Mountaineer, Mazda Navajo, Ford Ranger, Mazda Pickups, and the Ford Aerostar
Now to make the sway bar axle mounts. I did run into one problem though and that was where the left one needed to be was dead on top of the breather tube. So decided to TIG weld the breather tube hole closed. And then metal finished it.
I will drill and tap a new one up here on top of the pumpkin that way I can flip the axle so that the cover is facing down then stick a shop vac in there while I drill and tap so that NO shavings get inside. I didn't want to have to disassemble the gear set and things in order to do a new one on the axle tube so on top it is going.
Built these out of 1/8" plate just like the factory ones on the 8.8. I just copied that hand here they are.
Here they are and they are just tacked in place until I know for sure what I am doing with the rear shaft. I talked to Tattons today and gave the ride height measurement for length and he thinks that doing a double cardan will be easy and so that's the way we are leaning now. Soon as I know for certain the sway bar mounts shock mounts and leaf perches will be final welded then the axle can be painted and fully put back up in the truck.
Also got the U part of my trans cross member bent up today as well. Hard to explain what I have to do but its kind of a PITA to fit it in there and clear the drive shaft. So as it gets done I will post more pics of it and explain.
Now form info on the shock hoops. I am going to make some 1/4" plates that will be attached to the frame for the hoops to mount off of. Then I will use some 2"X.250 wall tube that come off of the plates then off of those the shock hoop will attach. The shock hoop itself will be 1.5"X.120 wall tubing. They will always be in tension so they are more than strong enough.
Some one broke the vertical band saw blade so I had to cut these out with the plasma torch. I made some patterns on paper with the size and shape I wanted to use. I didn't use any square corners as that just creates stress points. So diamond type shapes eliminate that so this shouldn't give the frame anywhere to start tearing from. Plus i made them so they go close to the top and bottom of the frame which uses the frames beam strength and ties them in where they roll to the top and bottom of the frame so they will be very strong.
I forgot to take pictures but again like everything else I tacked them together and metal finished them so they look really nice and clean. Then I marked on the patterns where I wanted the plug welds to go to help tie in the center of the plates to the frame. I did 3 plug welds on the rear bigger plate and did 1 on the front smaller plate.
I then painted the frame and the back of these plates with some weld through primer to help prevent rust between the frame and the plates. I then help the plates up where I wanted them and with a steel scribe I marked where the plates edges where as well as where the plug welds will be. I then took a flat punch and scraped off the primer around the edges as well as where the plug welds would be this will eliminate any contamination from the primer.
Bad picture but painted the back sides of the shock plates.
I then metal finished the plug welds so you can't even tell they are there. But they are to help support the center of the plates. I then wire wheeled the frame around the plates so that all the weld through primer is gone. This way when I weld around the plates it is all free from any contaminates. They turned out great.
I then welded the plates fully to the frame. I welded a 1/4 of the plate on one side then on the other. Then went to the next plate. So all 4 where welded 50%. 25% on opposite sides. Then let the frame rails fully cool. Then welded the next sections until all 4 plates where fully welded.
These welds where the welds that I was by far the most nervous to weld. They can been seen whenever the rig is flexed and everyone will notice them. They can also be seen when the rig sits at ride height so I had to get these not only strong but aesthetically pleasing as well And I really am happy with the way they turned out. Again I am by no means a professional welder but I think I did well and and very happy with the results. So I will post a bunch of pictures of the welds.
And a few more. There was a few small spots where its not perfect but I had 2 times where my hand or elbow slipped that was guiding me so that's where those spots came from. There was a few little award spots because you have to go all the way around each plate and some places the clearance to get you and your helmet to see properly was a pain. And the curves mean while you are welding your gun angle has to be constantly changing with it. But again I am very happy with how they turned out.
A few pictures of the bends. Again these are rough bends I will have to bend them a hair more but that can be done easily. Un bending them is a pain so didn't want to have to deal with that.
A view from the top looking down at the plates. I removed the ABS control module on the drivers side and I removed the coolant overflow and the washer bottle reservoir on the passenger side. These will more than likely have to be re located. That is done fairly easily though. These shock hoops will be very tight in there but should work fine.
You can see the coilover simulator in there. Set to the length that will give me 6" of compression. From these I can better see where the shock mounts and hoops will need to be.