New to the Gen 2 Explorer

[Oldhenry1]

Howdy,

I recently picked up a '99 Explorer XLT 5.0 4x4 from a friend and I will have questions. I've owned Fords most of my life but I'm new to the second generation Explorer platform, a lot of the tech crosses over with the Ranger and a friend had mentioned the Ranger Station as a good place to start. I actually came here before when I was researching Level II Ranger specs and options when one came up for sale locally.

Respectfully,

Oldhenry1

 

[Robert Mangrum]

Welcome aboard. We have a great tech library here. If you can't find it there feel free to ask. A lot of great people here who have helped me through multiple situations. I always throw out coming to an event as well. Some of the best people you can sit around a campfire with.

P.S. we like pictures. No matter how bad you think it is we still like them haha

 

[Curious Hound]

Welcome. The explorers are what we call RBVs - Ranger-Based Vehicles. Sharing the same basuc platform between them, Rangers and Bronco IIs. So, it's all fair game here.

 

[Oldhenry1]

Film @11...

Battered but spirited, 225k miles, gray leather, sunroof, about as close to stock as I could find. Generally pretty straight with the usual bumps and bruises for it's age.
It has one of those vibrations somewhere up front that you can't really tell if you're feeling it or hearing it. Under power only, not during coast or deceleration. My friend did wheel bearings, CV joints and brakes trying to find what was making the noise. I was thinking maybe pinion bearings but the seal isn't leaking and I don't get any excess movement there. Over on the Explorer forum the signs are pointing towards the Front Driveshaft rear CV joint. It could also be the output bearing on the Transfer Case.

It's also had a new Water Pump and Battery recently. My friend's daughter's family was driving it until the stork paid them another visit and they needed something bigger.

 

[SenorNoob]

Something bigger than an Explorer? Third row type thing I guess?

Looks pretty nice to me.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Something bigger than an Explorer? Third row type thing I guess?

Looks pretty nice to me.

I rode all over the country in the back of a '94 in the 90's and early 00's... yeah, Explorers are not really all that big. Especially in the day of modern child car seats.

 

[SenorNoob]

I was half joking, but yeah. It's crazy how much more room there in something like a Dodge Caravan. Which doesn't look much bigger from the outside.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Nice, I technically have 3, two runners and one for parts. They're pretty spiffy rigs, I put 50k miles on my '00 and rebuilt the engine at 255k, somehow it was just fine but needed the new rings, bearings and seals... There's a few things you can do to them as well like converting to 4x4 with a manual transfer case is doable with all junkyard parts and one conversion U joint (I can give specifics if you're interested).

Welcome!

 

[Oldhenry1]

I am interested!!

I actually got a BW4406M transfer case from a '01 F-150 with it in the sale for just that purpose, it's missing the shift linkage so I'm looking for that and a couple of drive shafts to make that possible.

 

[bobbywalter]

you have what i call...a 4wd Mark 7.


its just noice.

 

[Oldhenry1]

This Explorer is destined to take the place of my '78 Bronco which has been off the road for quite awhile and needs a bunch of work to be road worthy again. It's got 4 doors, power windows, A/C, the previously mentioned sunroof and a lift gate going for it, none of which the Bronco has. And it's stock height which suits me just fine, it's getting harder to climb into the lifted Bronco. I may put slightly larger tires on it but nothing that needs a lift.

I could use some Mark 7 type cushiness in my life these days...

 

[scotts90ranger]

I am interested!!

I actually got a BW4406M transfer case from a '01 F-150 with it in the sale for just that purpose, it's missing the shift linkage so I'm looking for that and a couple of drive shafts to make that possible.

You're a good part there then... get a front driveline from a 4.6L powered Expedition (or F150 of that era) and a 1310 to 1330 conversion U joint for that at the front axle end then get the rear driveline out of a 5.4L powered Expedition and that will just bolt on. The main trick is the front gas tank bracket needs to be trimmed to clear the T case. The T case linkage once you find one fits nicely, I have a picture at home of where I cut the floor, the shifter just misses the center console, if you just slit the carpet in the right spot you don't need a boot... I do have a literal sock taking up some of the gap though

 

[Oldhenry1]

There are only a few junkyards around here anymore and they are pretty well picked over unfortunately. I've read about clearancing the gas tank bracket, possibly grinding a TC tab off and possibly re-drilling/slotting the cross member for better drive line geometry. For me, the shorter the stick is the less in the way it's going to be, and tight to the console makes me smile.

I would like to see that picture of your install, it might not be worth all those thousand words I've heard about but I'll bet it would help me!!

And speaking of socks and shifters, that reminds me, don't tell anyone but my '66 Mustang still has the cute knit "bootie" the previous owners wife made for him that I haven't gotten around to replacing yet, maybe tomorrow

 

[scotts90ranger]

There's only a few junkyards around here anymore too, sometimes you luck out and others not... When I got the parts to do my '00 back in '16 I don't remember everything that went on but I know I got one of the drivelines from craigslist, thought I got the T case from there too but maybe not... when I got the parts for my '98 I lucked out and found everything I needed at the same junkyard on half off weekend... they're still "in stock" as I haven't gotten that far yet... I just looked through my pictures and all I have is this one of the shifter and none of the gas tank bracket... as you can see it's just up against the console, at that point I didn't have a passenger motor mount so it was a little further over, it's within 1/4" now that it's attached properly... On the tank bracket it's just the last like inch that gets in the way, if it's not raining tomorrow night I can probably get you a picture, I took it off to modify but it shouldn't be necessary.

EDIT: I take that back, I looked at a couple more pictures and I found one... in this next pic you can see my sharpened beaver work of cutting the corner of the gas tank bracket, I think that's all I did but maybe took some channel locks and bent it up a little... that was shy of 9 years ago so details are fuzzy... I know it was in my asphalt driveway so that wasn't ideal...

 

[Oldhenry1]

Thank you for those pictures!! Does that TC lever bother your leg at all when driving, or is it mostly out of the line of fire?

It sounds like we are about the same when it comes to collecting parts for a project like this. A part here, a couple parts there, time goes by and eventually the details blur. That seems to be the case the older I get. I used to remember all the stories of all the different parts in my shop for all the different projects I have laying around. Those details are starting to escape me at times, in my defense I've never been this old before, lol. I'll be the first to admit I'm not very organized and that could be a big part of it. I may have too many projects but don't tell my wife that