Family Wheeler

[CheapThrillB2]

i finally got around to actually doing something with the explorer. Its atleast in the garage now. I hadn't even started it since the Chili run in Feb.

But an update..........

I removed the narrowed 44 and 8.8. Sold those off to a guy in Missouri (yes he drove 9 hours one way to get them from me). And I have taken the full width 44 and 9" from my truggy and I am in the process of installing those into the explorer. My plan is to make it more pavement friendly and able to drive long distance. Oh and I am going back to coil/radius arm susp in the front.

I need to shorten the steering, move the axle atleast 2.5" forward from where its at in the pic, and build the trac bar mount on the frame. Run the brake lines and hook those up. Then pull the rear axle back out and relocate the spring perches and hook up shocks and brakes.

 

[KELLY88]

Juggling 3 builds at once? Nice!

 

[out cast]

got any really detailed pics of your leaf swap? i am still doin research n gathering $$ for mine. i have the axle, 4 dr springs and some perches...

 

[CheapThrillB2]

in my other build thread "not another CTOR build" has alot more pics etc of the leaf swap i did.

 

[CheapThrillB2]

Looks like i need some taller front coils, maybe 6" RBV coils. Have 4" Rough Country's in it now.

Still need to
1. build a crossmember for the radius arms
2. Bleed the brakes better
3. Get atleast two more 35's that resemble the front tires as those TSL's are tubed and dry rotted to hell.
4. Would like to level it out
5. Reuspport the core support on the right side, just a touch crispy and weak.
6. Build front driveshaft and replace the right axle shaft joint

 

[CheapThrillB2]

 

[CheapThrillB2]

 

[CheapThrillB2]

the explorer gots the death wobble...........as soon as it hits 45 mph on the speedo it starts to wobble. I have to jam the brakes to get it to stop around 35 mph but then as soon as it hits 45 mph again it starts.

I think i may have reamed the knuckles to much

 

[Flash Gordan]

I think i may have reamed the knuckles to much

Oops.

 

[CheapThrillB2]

Yep, I over reamed the knuckles. When I tightened the castle nut and it got tight, it was getting tight cause it was pulling the tie rod socket against the knuckle. Not tightening the stud to the knuckle.

 

[Flash Gordan]

Are you going to get new bushings installed to take up the slack or going to try to find new knuckles?

 

[CheapThrillB2]

All fixed, no more death wobble. Drove it the 30 miles into work this morning for the alignment and tire balance. The RF was 19.5 oz's out and had 2 degrees of total toe lol.

But when i got to work, I touched the 9" at the pinion and it was pretty warm, warmer then I think it should be.

I have to lower my trans/tcase on the crossmember as it is hitting the floor, and still need to replace the RF axle shaft.

Long term i would like to build a new front bumper and replace the Left fender. But for the most part its almost ready for the dunes.

 

[CheapThrillB2]

Are you going to get new bushings installed to take up the slack or going to try to find new knuckles?

Short term i layed some metal in the tie rod hole and rereamed it. Turns out i didn't over ream it. Just the new tie rods were slightly smaller and didn't notice. The old tie rods i used when this axle was under the truggy were just slightly larger.

 

[CheapThrillB2]

When I had the axle under my truggy I was using Tie rods
es2026r and es2027L

I am now using
es2233L and es2234R

the 2026 and 2027 have a larger length of taper and are just slightly larger. The 2233 and 2234 taper isn't as long so it sat lower into the knuckle. Which is why when I tightened up the castle nut it pulled the socket against the knuckle. Which cause the taper stud not to seat fully. But of course I didn't realize that until after I had a good 4 hours into fixing the knuckles.

 

[CheapThrillB2]

I swear its like the explorer is scared to go this weekend......

Got it aligned and balanced the tires and seemed all as well. On the way home the speedo quits. So i pull it into the garage and go to pull the little bastard off the tcase. Well it breaks in half flush with the case. So an hour later i finally get the inner piece out only to find the speedo gear on the sensor side is all stripped and broken. I look into the tcase through the hole and see a piece of aluminum. Fish that out and it appears to be a peice of the case that holds a bearing . So i pull the tcase out and doing so i manage to dump about a quart of really hot atf all over my chest . Get the new tcase in and go to plug the speedo cable in and the end of that breaks off. So i fight with removing that from the instrument cluster for an hour. So the other tcase is in, the other cable is in and now the speedo in the cluster vibrates and varys about 5 mph :fish:

But i did get my trans cross member done.

But the 9" seems to get really hot, after driving about 25 miles and a pretty constant speed, the housing around the pinion is pretty warm/hot. I can hold my hand on the diff but its almost hot enough to where you can't. I pulled the pinion support out and the bearings seem fine. With the brakes off and just the shafts and the 3rd member minus the pinion in the housing the shafts and ring gear seem to spin rather freely. They do not feel rough or drag at all. Last week I changed out the carrier and got a good tooth pattern before I reinstalled it. I guess how hot is to hot....I always figured warm was okay but hot is not.

it done broke (my tcase from yesterday)