What did YOU do to your Explorer today? | Page 39 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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What did YOU do to your Explorer today?

I woke up to 6" of snow on my truck, higher than my aftermarket roof rack is. I R&R'd tires to put snow tires on, and went to deliver mail most of the day. I just got home.
 



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Got cold here to windy
 






Got the Explorer smogged today. New upholstery shop next door specializes in pretty 4x4 vehicles.
20220321_103131.jpg
 












Looks like auto-maintenance season has finally started to spring....

Had a clunk up front that felt like it was coming from the front driver's side wheel. Did all the standard tests and found the driver's side front tire had a little play and a "clunk" when holding and tilting at 9-3. Checked the Ball Joints, they look and are amazing, no noise nor play at all. Steering is tight, no play or noise on the tie rod ends at all. So cleaned, reinstalled and replaced the outer bearings (the inners looked perfect but I had one outer that was a little "loose" on the passenger side, and summit has the wrong part# for the inners). Replaced them and cleaned all the nasty black grease off and put new valvoline high temperature grease specifically stated for this application. Never realized there was any slop, it was tight before, it's really smooth and tight now, like a brand new truck almost.

Next thing is my shocks and RABs. Still the verdict is out on the Radius Arm Bushings as to which method to choose because I still have the rivets. Grinding is tempting because I could do this with practically nothing but a pair of jack-stands for security (and without removing the wheels), but then removing the arms with the truck jacked up on stands with the tire off sounds more "correct" to me. Come-along sounds tempting as well if I do it before the old shocks. May even get the shop to do them. For shocks I'm going KYB Gas-A-Just, after reading here for awhile, I would like a tighter ride, especially since I live in Reno now and dabble around offroad a bit more than I did in Seattle (nothing too heavy though) and the truck has proven exceptionally good despite being stock for a 2wd in the desert.
 












must work well at the mall! :p
As long as they don't hit the speed bumps too hard. That's just a piece of angle welded on the outside of the frame with no support on the other side they used to lower the bump stop. Welds don't look like there is any penetration. Bronco also has a body lift, original radius arms, steering, etc.
 






ill rephrase... must look good off the trailer at the show! :p
 






I cleaned on an internal transmission part for 5 minutes for my '92 (A4LD). I keep looking for a shipper to show up with a new micrometer. I can't finish the assembly until the micrometer shows up to perform the end play check to determine which thrust washer will be needed.
 






Replaced the thermostat, so far so good. Reused the new antifreeze, lost only about a cup. But one of the sensors in the air intake had its outer case fall apart! It's the smallest of them, when I find out what it is, will have to order another plug. Still plugs in good, but no protection on the outside. Loving the 50 degree weather here! Next, to find out why my washers don't pump on front.
 






Yesterday I received the micrometer. Today sometime, I will install the pump bell/housing assembly.
 






Went to Walmart and noticed, NOW I have a coolant leak, right out of the nipple from the radiator petcock. A drop every 3 seconds, sitting turned off. Screwed it in a little more, still drips out the nipple. Afraid of stripping out the stupid nylon petcock. Tempted to take a little hose, about 4" worth, clamp it on the nipple and seal off the other end of it with a golf tee and another hose clamp. (Urban redneck!) I'd put plenty of antifreeze in the overflow tank, cannot see any fill lines but it's about 2" from top of coolant tank. Could I have caused the leak by too much antifreeze in the overflow tank? Not leaking anywhere else.
 












Yep ^^^
 






Ditto, I replaced a couple of petcocks a few years ago. They often could leak after being used and 20+ years old. The new ones were about $5 or less from RA, the O-ring is the real weak link.
 






@joney I sent you a private message...
 






Pulled all the old refrigerant out of my AC and pulled a vacuum for 30 minutes to boil off any water. Then I recharged my AC and it's blowing cold. Replaced a hose last year and didn't charge it right, but now I have a AC machine and can recover and vacuum my AC anytime I want. Gotta love craigslist.
 






If all goes well, today will be install A4LD day...
 






Just bought some KYB Gas-A-Justs for the X. Putting those on this weekend. Not sure what shocks she's got on there now but they did exceptionally well for the...I dunno..embarassingly long period of time, over 150K at least, and only now are just getting pretty bouncy (about 2 1/2 rebounds - front and rear). Good thing too since the X is going to become the only car for awhile, some dolt hit my wife's car again while backing out of a spot while we were asleep. Truck wrenching season has officially started.
 



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