Found a unicorn

[Shran]

Downside to a bigger, thicker one is you simply need more heat. One morning last year during our CO trip, the little Coleman burner under my buddy's skottle would not heat it up enough to cook on. It was a combination of high altitude and temperature... even with a 20lb propane tank we just couldn't get it to heat up. Our propane stoves did the same thing and we ended up cooking over the fire. Rather would have had a smaller, thinner disc that time and they are sure more easy to pack up.

 

[Shran]

Made quite a bit of progress and we are still well over a month out for the AZ trip...feeling pretty good about this. Rear bumper is more or less done. I still have room to add maybe a water jug storage thing, cooler holder, etc on the swing out arm but haven't decided what yet and am just leaving it as is for now.

As you can see I had to add a brace going back to the frame. The tire carrier was heavy enough that I could twist the whole bumper with very little effort.

I still have the spare tire in the factory location as well as the second spare on the swing out arm. For now I will just have two at all times. I may, at some point, replace the factory location spare tire with a water tank or something... not sure... having water onboard would be nice.

I also built a bracket to hold my 3.2 gallon fuel packs on the roof. These things are pretty slick! They just stack and are a lot easier to work with than your typical 5 gallon plastic jug or even a jerry can.

Next on my list is replacing a leaking timing cover gasket. I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this and that new hoses throughout would fix whatever was leaking... and they sure helped... but the timing cover is definitely leaking too. I have time now to fix it and I'd hate to be topping off coolant all the time for the next 3-4000 miles.

 

[Shran]

Well... this happened... I was going to replace just the timing cover gasket but I decided since I will have it halfway apart, I might as well go a little further and do valve cover, upper and lower intake gaskets, and injector o-rings all at once. So it is a little disassembled now but I'm glad I went this route - gives me a chance to clean the oil and crap off everywhere that the pressure washer can't reach. 27 years on the original gaskets and nothing was really leaking, exception being the timing cover. Not bad.

You can see where the timing cover gasket blew out and was seeping coolant. The paper appears to have just disintegrated over time.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Nice job on the bumper and tire carrier. Kinda looks like you probably took an old bent axle and cut the flange off for the hub? Did you build the bumper itself out of box tube? If so... I'm surprised it was twisting.

I can't wait to get started on mine...

 

[Shran]

Thanks, the tire mount is actually the outer 10" or so of a 7.5 axle shaft. The lockout hub is just a spare that seemed handy to throw on there... it's just sandwiched between the flange and the wheel. I had to grind down the middle of the axle shaft to make it fit. Good place for that greasy bastard to hang out till I need it.

The bumper is built out of pieces of 3/16 flat plate. Top and rear are 6" wide, the angled part is 4". I cut all the little sections out and pieced them in.

I'm not real surprised that I can twist it, the tire carrier arm is about 50" long and weighs probably 100lbs with a tire on it... that's a lot of weight and leverage. It springs back though so it's not like it's bending every time it opens and it's way better after I put the brace behind it.

 

[Shran]

Small pic dump from our AZ trip below. We had a lot of fun, the wheeling was, at times, a LOT harder than I wanted to do but we made it back. Roughly 3000 miles round trip in a week. The trip took us through south eastern AZ, Lake Roosevelt/4 peaks trail, Lake Pleasant to Crown King, then up to Flagstaff, the Grand Canyon, and Monument Valley.

My poor little Explorer is in need of some love soon. I bent something in the steering, dragged everything over a bunch of big rocks in a creek, both rear shocks and one front are blown out and something shakes but overall it did pretty well. Winch definitely got a workout.

The new skottle worked great. Cooked on it at least once if not twice a day.

Cool trivia regarding the last pic: the spot we camped in the Monument Valley area was the same location that John Wayne was at in his movie "The Searchers." One of the locals informed us about that.

I do not take credit for some of the pics - borrowed them from a couple of the other guys.

 

[Jim Oaks]

Looking like a true Expo rig. ?

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I have thought about picking up an Ex while they are cheap for a family wheeling rig that is a little more disposable than my '85.

Torn between a TTB first gen or a 5.0 second gen (with a t-case swap)

Looks like a lot of fun.

 

[Shran]

I like the 1st gens a lot, obviously, but the 5.0 trucks are nice. The main thing I don't like about mine is how underpowered it feels with all my camping gear loaded up. Maintaining 75mph on the interstate is pretty hard at times. I don't think it'd be a problem at all with a V8. Going to 4.10 gears may be a necessity for me or I need to lighten my load, although I'm not sure how - I don't really pack that much stuff.

We are planning on doing a Utah trip sometime next year. Before then and besides the high rider lift, I am hoping to replace the factory spare tire with a water tank. Something small like 10 gallons or so would be ideal.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Sure sounds like nice campin' weather up your way...

 

[Shran]

Igloo camping, maybe! On the bright side, there's no fire danger...

 

[stsalvage]

Well, I know where there is a sport now that has the 5 speed and the 4X4 are you saying they're worth picking up if you can steal them for 600.00 driving and running and in straight condition.

I just bought a 1994 last year of the Ford explorer 4.0 5peed 4X4 for 800.00 its straight Never been hit Needs a new clutch no cancer Needs new door hinges on all 4 doors needs new window motors looking to put manual windows in 1994 I hear if I move back east manual is the way to go.


But I got a better one for you all this is a true unicorn I found me a 1991 ford explorer LX modal meaning no Power in the doors it's all roll-up windows no rear window heater option It has cruise control and it's 5speed 2 wheel drive on;y has 12,000 miles on it.

All of the interiors are brand new Blue No cracks in the dash not a ding in the body and no RUST on any of the undercarriage Can't find any webs any road grime. It needs front springs cus the front end is sagging still has the metal steel wheels on it.

Nothing is rusted under this truck I took it to a shop to see if my friend could see how long it will take to pull the springs out. He told me normally 4-6 hours. He looked at my truck he said 2 hours and off to the alignment shop. He was amazed at how clean it was under this explorer. I told him I paid 1500.00 for it.

He said there are people out there that would jump to have one this clean.

He said you might want to see what people would offer for it He said it might be worth $9000.00 11K

He said it would have had the 4vX4 15K all day long.

I like it cuz it's the First 1000 off the line. I'm 3 owner of it But I bought it because it had roll-up windows it still has the factory blue shocks under it. I put belstines under the front I like to find some for the rear. I order 2 new 2 inch rise front springs will get pics of it soon.

 

[Shran]

Probably way easier to find nice ones down your way. Up here they're either totally rusted away or just plain beat up, very few in between. I got really lucky with this one and I'll probably keep it forever.

I think if you can find one that's straight, minimal rust and none of the usual issues with broken interior panels/bad A4LD/trashed front end, it's worth an easy $2000 or more. I've flipped a couple of them in the last few years and they sell quick.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Probably way easier to find nice ones down your way. Up here they're either totally rusted away or just plain beat up, very few in between. I got really lucky with this one and I'll probably keep it forever.

Same here. Would make decent parts vehicles at best if they actually had any decent parts...

I've flipped a couple of them in the last few years and they sell quick.

They would probably sell even faster if you sold them before you flipped them.

 

[stsalvage]

Made quite a bit of progress and we are still well over a month out for the AZ trip...feeling pretty good about this. Rear bumper is more or less done. I still have room to add maybe a water jug storage thing, cooler holder, etc on the swing out arm but haven't decided what yet and am just leaving it as is for now.

As you can see I had to add a brace going back to the frame. The tire carrier was heavy enough that I could twist the whole bumper with very little effort.

I still have the spare tire in the factory location as well as the second spare on the swing out arm. For now I will just have two at all times. I may, at some point, replace the factory location spare tire with a water tank or something... not sure... having water onboard would be nice.

I also built a bracket to hold my 3.2 gallon fuel packs on the roof. These things are pretty slick! They just stack and are a lot easier to work with than your typical 5 gallon plastic jug or even a jerry can.

Next on my list is replacing a leaking timing cover gasket. I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this and that new hoses throughout would fix whatever was leaking... and they sure helped... but the timing cover is definitely leaking too. I have time now to fix it and I'd hate to be topping off coolant all the time for the next 3-4000 miles.

May I suggest If you take the factory spare tire out you can put the other Gas tank where the spare tire is but instead fill it with water. You could drill a hole throw the back and use a hose with a hand pump. If you want to know how much water you have left you can put the other float with a gauge on the dash or build it into one of the plastic covers in the back it will have a negative ground to show you how much water you have in there. A problem to think about If you have water in that rear tank it will make the back heavy and you will use a little more fuel. Love your idea on the swing spear tire mount You know the Toyota 4 runner and the Nissan pathfinder has something close to this if you you get a call to make another one Just giving you a Idea