2000 Mercury Mountaineer Build

[toyick]

It would be cool to know how to do body work, but I really don't think I have the patience for it. I can barely spray paint something without getting runs in it, haha. I think if I ever ran into a need to do it, I would try it though. Thanks for the compliments though.

My friend (screen name "toyick" on here) tried the whole shop thing and did pretty well, and I've sort of piggy-backed off of him and done a few jobs myself using his space. Stanley Fabrication is the name and he's done work on probably a couple dozen trucks now. But having a shop will suck up all of your time and energy so I like it as just a hobby, so all that time and energy goes into my own truck.

haha well said!! having ur own shop blows.. and your own trucks go to the way side..with that said i am open for business haha.. Matt has not piggy backed off me. i may have the tools and the shop.. but ive learned alot from matt him.. def can hold his own! his truck is one of my all time favorites!


Blaaaahhhhhhhh

 

[mounty71]

Got the sliders done last weekend and one welded on, just need to weld on the other side.

Also went to Pismo a couple of weekends ago.

 

[bknudtsen]

That ain't your Grandpa's Mountaineer! Nice.

 

[FLoffroad1]

Nice! Those sliders look great.

 

[bagelsjustbagels]

Awesome thread. holy Long Travel haha

 

[mounty71]

With aspirations of being more prepared for trail repairs, I made this access panel under the rear bench seat for easily replacing a fuel pump when the stocker eventually dies. Now I guess I should add a spare fuel pump to the parts bin in the truck haha.





Did nothing else to the truck except replace the fuel filter and rotate the tires, then took her back out on another trip to the Fallon 250 in NV and beat her up pretty good. Put about 650 miles on it this weekend with virtually zero problems. At one point the driver's door wouldn't open so I had to get out Dukes of Hazard style, but eventually got it open again.

 

[Trophycummins]

Following along. What's the plan with the ttbs?


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[mounty71]

Following along. What's the plan with the ttbs?


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Think I already covered that pretty well in here.


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[Trophycummins]

Think I already covered that pretty well in here.


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I was more so wondering if you had plans to cut/turn/lengthen


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[mounty71]

Ah got it, ya maybe I did skip over that part now that you mention it. I ended up picking up a friend's D35/D44 hybrid beam setup built by Solo Motorsports years ago. 4.5" extended, cut and turned, plated/trussed/TIG welded, sleeved axle shafts, and a 4.56 geared and locked 3rd member for an awesome deal. Also got the radius arms but I have my doubts that they will work for me so I'll probably end up having to make my own, in addition to converting the beams to uniball instead of stock bushings. A couple of months ago I got some new-to-me 6 bolt D44 junkyard knuckles, snouts, brakes, and stock Warn manual hubs. Down the road I may upgrade to the Warn premium manual hubs, but right now I like the idea of the stock Warn hubs being the weak link in the front end as opposed to the ring and pinion or u-joints.

 

[Trophycummins]

Thats an awesome setup and solo built stuff is stout. I had a solo LT kit on my colorado.

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[mounty71]

Finally got the truck in the shop for surgery, and was able to get the stock transmission out this weekend. Next steps are installing a shift kit in the new trans, replace the rear main seal for a 3rd time, then install the transmission and transfer case, new rear driveshaft, and then build new crossmembers. Can't wait to see what 4-low feels like!


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[mounty71]

Finally making some progress on this thing!

Got the 4wd 4r70w transmission swapped in and then the BW4406 manual t-case.


Had to tear out the front half of the interior to cut a hole in the floor for the shifter, which took way longer than expected. That center console has what seems like 700 screws holding it in. Added a shift boot and got the center console back in with only a small handful of leftover hardware haha.




And finished off this weekend by cutting out the stock transmission crossmember in order to mount these. Trying to come up with a way to add a new crossmember that still allows room for the front driveshaft and exhaust. It's going to be tight!

 

[mounty71]

Trans crossmember done! First I loosely assembled the new front end so I could get an idea of where the driveshaft will be. Bolted up the front driveshaft and made the crossmember to have clearance at max u-joint angle. Also have the radius arm brackets welded on.

 

[mounty71]

A lot of people on here seem to share other projects they're working on as well, so I figured some might like this one too. I'm working on a custom roof rack for a friend's Cherokee, mostly designed by him but I'm modeling it in Solidworks to easily figure out exactly how I'll build it. We're using this plastic flooring meant for chicken coops, but apparently a lot of Land Rover guys use it on roof racks too for a strong and lightweight floor. I just received some tabs and gussets for it from Ruffstuff Specialties a couple of days ago, so I can order material and begin building that sometime soon too. The guy whose shop I work in might want to build a few more of these with me in the future, so if anyone would be interested let me know. It's designed around a 48"x72" platform.