94 Explorer Build

[Travisfab]

Been daily driving and building this truck slowly over the last couple years. I'm copying and pasting the entire build from another forum, so bear with me on some of the details/pics

Original Plans (4/2/14)

James Duff kit in front
Shackle lift & James Duff shocks in the rear
Swap to manual hubs
Locker up front
15" Outlaw 2's
33x10.50's
Sliders
New front bumper/grille
Ski rack delete
Side molding delete
Tint windows

That's about it for now, going to keep it simple and start doing some 4x4 stuff.

James Duff kit

Thanks guy's, give a couple weeks and this thing will do a 180!

James Duff blue just wasn't doing it for me

Picked up the Outlaw 2's
Before

Mid way to being done. Punched out all the rivets

Searched for a bit to find an interior this clean

Wheels done (on throw away tires)

Started to pull off the side molding. I've done this a few times and I know it's better to stop before your fingers blister! So a bit of progress on that.

So the front end is almost completely torn down. Pic is a day old, both coil buckets & radius arms are off now. Couple more things and some clean up & I'm off and running. Been splitting time between working & being a Dad!

Also finally gave in & bought myself a brand new set of 32x11.50 Falken Wildpeaks. They will be mounted up tomorrow.

Stoked on these Falkens. Gotta get this ***** out of my garage! Just lacking time is all.

Rolled her out of the garage tonight. Just need to tie up a few loose ends here and there & it's pretty much done.

Truck is riding nice & smooth with the new tires. Ride height is low, the truck is really a sleeper, you would never guess there are dual shocks, and radius arms with 1.25" heims under it.

Originally Posted by 3linkedchevy
For the moulding, get yourself a 3m rubber wheel. Just don't work the same spot for too long, run the risk of burning the paint.
I've been working it with acetone and a heat gun, burning my thumbs down!

 

[Travisfab]

Here's the kit

And the massive droop!

Got my tablet mounted up for all the cool things tablets do. I use Orux Maps for navigation.

Good times in Plaster City. Having 4x4 is so nice. I got into a little 5-6 foot wide dry creek that was just full of soft sand, plowed right through at street psi.

Blew a brake line & the check engine light is on. I haven't pulled the code yet, but the truck is struggling to get over 65 mph.

Good times in the local hills

This spot is 2 miles from my house. I've been going up on this hill forever, but it's been a while since I've had a vehicle that could make it to the top. A lot of people call it hang glider hill. Pretty cool to watch guys take off from the top.

Hit the most challenging trail I've been on yet, the trail to Pancake Rock.

Lot's of 3 wheel action and spanning deep ruts. This little Explorer continues to impress!

Just to give you an idea of the trail

& the approach to Pancake Rock

 

[Travisfab]

Some random shots from my last trip

 

[Travisfab]

Threw a little low profile skid plate on, and a random front yard flex shot.

My old truck sold me on angle iron shackles, so..

It's great to have a vehicle that I can do this in after work on a Tuesday.

The snowball continues. I recently saw a set of fine thread FOA's and was really impressed. I just could not justify dropping big money on a set of "race" shocks, and for what I use the truck for, these are perfect.

2.5x12 for the front
2.5x10 for the rear

The front shocks should bump my front wheel travel from about 12" to around 16"

Torn down the front end last night & put 12 solo hours into it today. Shocks mounts are done, just need to build a cross member, align it, remount my air filter so I can close the hood & play with my preload/ride height

Sitting much better now

 

[Travisfab]

Threw a drop pitman arm on & it made a night & day difference. Also strapped it & started on the shock hoop cross member.

Had a blast with this thing on it's first desert run. It handles amazing. Out of the box it is really impressive. As usual, the desert will bring out any weakness in your vehicle. I cracked the housing that the heater hoses go into. Quick little bypass & I was good to go. I then had a charging issue. Alternator took a dump & took the battery along with it. I came home with a new alternator & a Die Hard platinum AGM battery. For the amount of abuse this thing can take an acid filled battery was not going to cut it. Unfortunately, no good pics, but I'm working on a little in car video.

Some randoms

 

[Travisfab]

The snowball continues, Dana 44 beam mounts

Scored some beams today & got lucky on some warn hubs. I'm leaning towards 4:88's

Here's another part for the pile, 4.88 gears are showing up next. I'm getting close to throwing all this stuff on.

Decided to just rebuild this thing.

Underwhelming update

Fresh A4LD, new torque converter, new rear main, all going in as soon as it's not 140 degrees out!

Finally back on the road!

New rear shock mount

Blue front springs

 

[Travisfab]

ills

Originally Posted by Josh40601
You didn't go down the connector, right?
No, havent hit that yet. Here some shots from the other day out with my kid

Here's my latest dirt miles. Hit a back road with the family up to Julian.

 

[Travisfab]

Another solid weekend in the dirt with the family. Ran from Plaster City to Ocotillo Wells. My back is killing my now that this thing is a little more capable, seats are definitely now high on the list, and the rear shocks need some serious valving help.

 

[Travisfab]

Another solid day in the dirt with my boy.

 

[Travisfab]

Progress

Almost done with the mock up. The front is in it's final place width wise, and the rear tire is just sitting there in this picture. The full size stuff is bigger than I expected! Front and rear gears are at a buddies shop getting finished up. Should be back on the road very soon

Getting close to putting everything back together, just taking my time & trying to do it right the first time.

 

[Travisfab]

Here it is. I am pumped on how it turned out. Just needs a little fine tuning.

Almost time to tackle the rear

 

[Travisfab]

Here are current pics as of today 5/5/16

 

[Travisfab]

Good times at jump champs. Truck is feeling solid on the highway. Almost time to start the rear.

 

[Mark Newhan]

cool thread. Looks like you are enjoying quality time with the family in the desert.

Oddly, when I had simpler off road vehicles, I went out and used them a lot more...

Have fun!

 

[Travisfab]

Funny how that works!

 

[John Bitting]

Looking really good.

 

[Travisfab]

About half way through the bed cage build

 

[Travisfab]

Had the pleasure of doing coil packs and spark plugs on a 5.4 this weekend, so not much progress. I'm starting to cycle it so hopefully I'll have it back on it's own weight by the weekend.

 

[Slippery P]

Dig your build wish i would have never sold my exploder.

 

[Travisfab]

Shackle pivots &, shock mounts tacked