1994 Ford Explorer Build

[Travisfab]

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

 

[Travisfab]

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

 

[Travisfab]

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.

 

[Travisfab]

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]

Out in the hills

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]

Small update, picked these up for when I do the Dana 44 conversion.

I also ordered up a set of these in grey/blue, they should be done any day, I'm pretty excited.

Another solid day in the dirt with my boy.

 

[Travisfab]

Picked up another Explorer so that I could do the beam & rear end swap

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.

And we are now up to date as of today 2/28/16!

 

[uscg2008]

Subd

 

[Bushcoat]

I'm thoroughly enjoying this! Wish the salt hadn't eaten away at my explorer.

 

[east_tn_81]

Totally loving this build.

 

[Travisfab]

 

[v_man]

cool build and nice work ....