Completed Project Turboexplorer's Full Width SAS Build Thread

Hello everybody! It's time to start the SAS on my Explorer. It will be an awesome project and the first project of this type and size that I have ever undertaken. Up to this point the sliders where the hardest thing that I have made myself. I am open to any suggestions and or insights from anyone as the project gets underway. I have bought every last part for the build minus the hard brake lines (axles, and from master to the frame) and the flexible lines that go down to the axles. Those are all easy to make so I am not worried about it for now until I get the axles put together and can see what i want to do with those.

Now for a list of things I will be doing with the project:
1995 F-150 8.8 - I bought this used rear axle that I will strip, lock with a Detroit, convert to Explorer Disc brakes, and mount to the truck. Factory rear sway bar will be used. I will be doing a spring over conversion and will also be remaking the rear V8 anti axle wrap bars to help the leaf springs out with the leverage and TQ the V8 37's and 5.13's will put on them.
1976 F-150 HP Dana 44 - I bought this used axle and will be stripping it of the Ford factory wedges, trussing, and building custom glorified radius arms. Like DB_1 runs and like Rubicon Expresses makes. Front will also have a Detroit Truetrac LSD in it as well. This Dana 44 has 1/2" thick axle tubes.
Fox 14" Remote reservoir coil-overs - I will be building shock hoops for these coil-overs, bracing them, and tying them together across the top of the engine with removable double lock tube clamps.
1995 F-150 Steering box - This will be mounted inside the frame rail and used with the factory PS pump and will build a custom steering link from the box to the column. I picked this 1 to keep it ALL Ford and 2 because they are fairly cheap and easy and can be tapped for hydro assist at some point if I want or need it. In order to fit this steering gear I also have to remote mount my oil filter so that it has room. I will be getting rid of the factory oil cooler and have a Trans Dapt remote filter relocation kit.

Project Parts Section:
-37X13.50 R17 Interco M-16's
-Fox 14" Remote reservoir coil-overs with Eibach Springs.
-Detroit Locker for the 8.8
-Detroit Truetrac for the Dana 44
-Yukon 5.13 gears for both front and rear.
-Both axles will receive ALL new bearings races and seals u-joints etc.
-All wheel studs front and rear and spindle studs have been replaced for safety reasons. To cheap not to.
-Already had EBC brakes on it so those pads on rear will be reused and new EBC 7000 series pads for the front have been purchased.
-New front rotors wheel bearings and new Spicer ball joints, going to reuse the warn locking hubs as they work great and are in good order and easily changed later if i wanted.
-1978 Ford T-Bird calipers have been bought in place of the factory F-150 ones. They are 17% bigger in piston size so will give me a little more brake up front to help stop those 37's.
-Trans Dapt Oil filter relocation Kit and addition mount to hook to the block at a 90*.
-Currie Johnny Joints and Rubicon Express Clevite bushings for the all the link ends.
-GM 1 ton tre's for the steering with a high angle tre at the pitman arm.
-Front axle truss. (wasn't impressed with it at all so will be making some changes)
-Extending current Expedition rear drive shaft and will have a custom double cardon one made for the front.
-Metal used: 2"X.250 wall DOM for lower links, 1 1/2"X.250 wall DOM used for upper links, 1 1/2"X.375 wall DOM used for trac bar, and ALL tabs and brackets will be made out of 1/4" Flat plate by me.
-Double lock tube clamps for the shock hoop cross brace that uses 2 3/8" bolts on each. These are so It can be removed.
-All Grade 8 hardware will be used.
-All flexible brake lines will be braided stainless steel Teflon lined hoses.

I like to follow others projects and often find myself wanting more pictures so bare with me there will be A LOT of pictures of the build. I hope you enjoy lots of pictures as much as I do.


First some pictures of what the truck was! Then onto some parts pictures. Build will start shortly.
1998 XLT Explorer. 5.0L with the 4R70W trans. I have the 4406 T-Case. 3.73 gears with rear LSD. Goodyear 31's. Rock sliders and front skid plate. Links to those builds are in my signature.

And here is some video links! There are a few videos of me wheeling in CO with nssj2!

 

[RockRanger]

Looks good.

 

[turboexplorer]

Nice work.

Looks good.

Thanks guys!

I've been wicked sick this week, blah. Same with the wife and kids so nothing got done during the week. Work and sleep is all it consisted of. These pictures are from last Sunday.

All primed up with some bare metal primer.

First coat of black.

 

[turboexplorer]

All Painted up and all done.

 

[turboexplorer]

Got the pigtail for the remote control extended 18" and had the wife braided it for a nice really clean wire. Was a good thought I'll have to remember this for other projects. Looks really clean compared to 3 random wires.

Got the chrome part of the grill all plasti dipped. It turned out pretty good. I kinda suck with it, it always wants to peel around where I tape off. But either way it turned out great for a temporary look. I really like it.

Winch control solenoid box is mounted for the final time. This is where the power wire for the winch is run, it runs straight up from the solenoid box to the upper section of the fiberglass support. Nice and clean and no way to ever rub on any metal since this large wire is not fused or breaker-ed.

Nice and hidden.

And where it does duck through the core support I did 2 layers of heat shrink tubing so as not to run into any issues.

 

[turboexplorer]

Winch is fully mounted and wired in for the final time. Winding up the rope onto the winch drum. I will have to spool it out and do a proper rope spool with it pulling the rig on flat ground to make sure its tight enough so the rope doesn't fall in between itself and get stuck when I am doing an actual recovery pull.

All spooled up and fairlead mounted in place. Looks awesome tucked in there. I love how the fairlead mount turned out!

 

[turboexplorer]

Front bumper refitted and alined for the final time with the winch rope fed through. I also did a full wipe down of the fiberglass support since I was in there it might as well be fully cleaned. Compare to the bottom picture in the last post.

And the final product with the winch fully in and the chrome portions of the grill are now plasti dipped white. I really like how the winch turned out, it is very simple and really really clean looking. Turned out just like what I had in mind. I also really like the white grill.

 

[GRNMACHINE]

Your work Never ceases to Amaze me. Really Nice job!!

 

[turboexplorer]

So based on how much I have liked the white grill so far I think I am going to buy a none chrome grill and have it professionally paint matched white. This way it will be clear coated and all that good stuff. Another question to you guys, should I have the center grill section painted black like it currently is? Also should it be a semigloss or full gloss black if you think it should stay black?

Also while updating the look of the front of the truck i am going to snag a new set of these lights as well. The crystal lenses will look SO much better than the fluted factory lenses. You really see how outdated the fluted lenses are with the grill painted white. Also there is the option of the chrome reflector lights with the crystal lenses or these black chrome reflector lights. I think the black chrome ones will look better against the white and will fit more of the updated look I am after.

Will also pick up a set of these 55W HID's to throw in there as well. My brother [MENTION=137709]sector9[/MENTION] did the crystal lens lights and these HID's and they look great and are wicked bright. He has had both for over a year and hasn't had any problems at all. Also some co workers run these HID's in their stuff and no one has ever seamed to have an issue.

Also while having things painted I think I may have the B pillar sections of the doors painted a gloss black so it matches the shine of the glass when the glass is clean. The section is the black parts of the front and rear door on the B pillar between the front and rear door windows. Can see how it is flat black now. I painted them myself years and years ago but have kinda faded out again.

 

[turboexplorer]

Never noticed all the painted grills before. They look great whether factory or not it doesn't matter I like the look a lot better. So again I pose the question should the center section be black or white on my new grill? Hummm....so many decisions.

These pictures reused from the Truck Haven run thread Truck Haven Jan 16-18

 

[gmanpaint]

I actually like the way you have it right now, with the black inset. Looks meaner that way.

There is a Plastidip clear coat for a gloss finish. I would just go that route and save the coin. Your always going to be touching it up, regardless if you replace it and paint to match. As far as it peeling off next to the tape, always spray it on much much heavier to the tape. It will separate much easier, and cleaner that way.

Oh... and the winch came out great!

 

[sector9]

White outside, Black inner, and go with the black chrome headlights. Now we need to go find some snow to get stuck in.

 

[turboexplorer]

Alright, so grill will be white with the center black. It will stay plasti dipped for a bit until I round up all my work that needs paint so we can do that all at once.

[MENTION=87244]gmanpaint[/MENTION] I'll try to do it even thicker next time to see if that helps my less than stellar painting skills. Thanks for the tip!

So I back it out of the garage turned it around and backed it into the garage. I then pulled the rear leafs and went to install the new rear leafs finally. And what do ya know they are arched about 1 3/4" less than the factory leafs. So I waited to install them and called ATS to talk to them. They said there is 6 leaf packages for the 4 door. The tallest arched factory leaf is 6 1/2" That's exactly what my factories measure at. So the new ones are only 4 3/4". Each leaf is slightly thicker than the factory leafs. They said it is arched less since it is a stiffer spring to maintain the correct ride height. That all is fine but the less arch is what worries me that it will not have the same down travel it did before since the static spring is down less than the factory ones. He told me that it won't be noticeable and to run them. So I will throw them on and run them and see. He said if I don't like them to call back and we can discuss it from there. So will see I guess. Not sure what to expect at this point.

 

[turboexplorer]

So I got the hood and the front fenders clay bared and waxed. Can't wait to get the rest of the truck done, its been far to long since it has had some serious tender love and care. Man it sure looks better.

Here is some pictures of the new leafs.

You can see how much farther up the 2nd leaf goes than the factory one. You will see it better in a picture later. Also the factory 3rd leaf is shorter than what is now the 4th leaf in these packs. See it in later picture.

Here is the factory leafs out of the truck. Just left all the axle stuff fully hooked up. No need to do more work than is needed.

Leafs are out and on the ground I had to remove the shackle with the leaf as the lower bolts would not come out. Laid them down and sprayed PB blaster on then for 2 days to let it run down the bolt to hopefully loosen up the rust and corrosion holding it to the leaf.

 

[turboexplorer]

My headlights showed up today!!!!! Will be nice to get them on the truck. Can't wait to see the updated look of the front end. Wont put them on until I have a chance to make sure that they are fully sealed. That way I will not have any issues with water or dust as both would be easily seen with the clear lenses and the black background. I hope my HID's show up tomorrow and I can get butyl tape and get the lights sealed up so they can be put on the truck this weekend.

Here is some pictures showing the height differences of the old and the new leafs. You can see why I thought it a concern when I held them up next to each other. But as the spring shop said I will run them and see. It is 1 3/4" difference. If I stand on the factory leafs It is the same height so it only takes 200lbs per spring to get them to be the same arch height so guess we will see. Also If I remove the sway bar that will add the pressure that the sway bar sees into the leafs so will see how they flex. Being stiffer may add a hair better body roll on the road as well.

In this picture you can see the difference length springs. You can see that it has a longer 2nd leaf, the 3rd is about the same as the factory 2nd and the 4th leaf is longer than the factory 3rd. My factory packs do have an add-a-leaf that is the exact same size as the factory 3rd. This is where some of the weird pressure is being applied as it adds additional spring pressure in the middle of the main leaf. So again I hope the new leafs work as they are supposed to.

Factory leafs at full droop while flexing maxes out my shock travel @ 10" so will throw on the new leafs and see if I can max them out for down travel if so and ride height is correct then will run them and see what happens. I am going to re attach the sway bar so everything is 100% the same as when I just took it apart so I can better see exactly what the spring change did. I hope to take it out this weekend to wheel, maybe even a few times would be nice.

 

[turboexplorer]

Few more fun pictures to pass the cold Sunday here. Pictures with [MENTION=137709]sector9[/MENTION]

 

[turboexplorer]

 

[turboexplorer]

Tight spot!

[MENTION=137709]sector9[/MENTION]

 

[036speed]

Love the build. You make very quick progress.
Makes me want to move west....

 

[gmanpaint]

Great pics!

 

[turboexplorer]

Got the new leafs installed. I can stretch them easily to max out my shock travel so I can get the same down travel out of them as the factory leafs. The ride height is the exact same as the factory leafs. So, so far so good.

I did go out wheeling with my daughter and [MENTION=137709]sector9[/MENTION] and his family last night. Leafs seamed to do well and really don't have any complaints so far. I really hope that they don't settle since they are the same height as the factory leafs. The slightly stiffer spring rate was nice on the road though. Was just enough to be noticeable. I did put the rear sway bar on so it was 100% the same as before and they did well. Also the leafs per leaf are slightly thicker than factory leafs and the leafs under the main leaf are longer so that combined with new bushings and leafs etc made the axle wrap way better. Even when starting from a stop on the road it feels much much better. Still may make new mounts to reinstall the factory 5.0L axle wrap bars to help that even further.

But while out wheeling I did hit my rear drive line on a rock and put a really small swirled dent in it. So looks like I'll be having my rear drive line re-tubed this week lol.