Kroussin 93 Explorer build

[kroussinoffroad]

its primarly a trail rig but still makes th ocassional trip to town (20 miles) however i do drive it to all the trails (and back)

I'm not too concerned as these are suposed to have reinforced sidewalls so they should hold up until my bank account is back up there. it's bout drained for the winter with the gears and whatnot. anything else for the truck will be primarly off commission checks and side jobs

 

[Josh40601]

i have taken the SGT offroad once with Railman and crew, but driving on the road is all it has really done going between my dad's and my place. (between 25-30 miles each way) They ride like shit on the road. They did in my Jeep and they do in the Ex. I think i will stick with these or LTB's when replacement time comes.

So you are on 38s? Are you using chromo shafts yet?

 

[kroussinoffroad]

no fancy shafts yet. i was on 37's now it'll be 38.5's. i'm fairly confident as of right now with the shaft's. i shouldnt have to beat on it nearly as hard as i did with the 37's and open open.

 

[kroussinoffroad]

front axle made some progress tonight and I droped the rear 3rd member off. so hopefully i can get those back pretty quick and hopefully get money for the front locker before i slap it all back together.

 

[kroussinoffroad]

hopefully the bumper and axle's will be done by the first of the year... hopefully.

 

[kroussinoffroad]

well first of the year is tomorrow. and the axles arent back yet. oh well.

however pulled an allnighter and got the bumper 99% done. all i need to do to it is put it back on, remount the winch and add some aux light tabs. it was a PITA since again this was in a minor accident on the driversside front. makes getting everything to look symetrical a PAIN. its crazy how long it took just to add bars from the "rock dick" over the headlights and down to the corners.

I'll upload some pics once i start to wake up more and function halfway. also want to wait till its on the truck as well.

 

[kroussinoffroad]

bumpers done for now will add lights in the near future. turned out good in my mind. may want to add some down tubes next to the headlight in the future to keep deadfall and saplings off of them.

here is why i added to the bumper to begin with
yep more body damage from the last trip out

yep there is a sx hiding under that fender.

mocking everything up, and yeah the garage was a disaster!!!

used up alot of material trying to find a design that i was happy with in this area. finally found somthing that i was happy with.

reciever mount on the right side that will hold a stinger and shackle most of the time.

and the front axle is setup all i need to do is order the locker now. i will wait to put it all together till i have that in hand. i have debated on just slaping it back together and wheeling it with the front open but i have a feeling that i would wait getting the locker for a long while. and now is prolly the best time to get it done.

 

[Josh40601]

looks good. I would do like you said and put something in there to protect the lights...

 

[kroussinoffroad]

i'll run it a couple times and see how it is. the added tubing should help keep stuff off. what i really need to do is just get out and put the chainsaw to use everytime this happens however we go thru typically twice a year and clear all the local trails takes a couple weeks but its a good time

 

[4.0B2]

got a question..

why did you use the block on top of your leafs? b/c of the u-bolts you had? as a spacer?

 

[kroussinoffroad]

BINGO^ yeah i have yet to get shorter u-bolts yet. i'm on the elcheapo kick right now

 

[4.0B2]

BINGO^ yeah i have yet to get shorter u-bolts yet. i'm on the elcheapo kick right now

i posted the shock pic up on MSJ b/c they were talking about how to do shocks on a rear axle... and someone asked. i never noticed it before..

do you have a problem w/ axle wrap or anything w/ your shocks just on top like that?

 

[kroussinoffroad]

havent encountered any yet but all the wheelin ive done has been in slick stuff. planin on building an anti wrap setup due to how highly everyone speaks of them. never any in the mazda though and it was setup very similar

 

[4.0B2]

havent encountered any yet but all the wheelin ive done has been in slick stuff. planin on building an anti wrap setup due to how highly everyone speaks of them. never any in the mazda though and it was setup very similar

i personally don't know anything about it, someone asked over there... so i figured i'd ask you. i'm debating on doing my 8.8 like this, so it doesn't hang down so low... but then again, mine ain't a dedicated wheeler or will be wheeled like your ex. think i'll be ok lol

 

[kroussinoffroad]

as fara as wrap goes the shocks are mounted very similar to how they would be factory in the explorer. upper mounts are 100% factory lower mounts are tabs cut from explorer spring plates notched to fit onto the tubing and burned in as close to the factory geometry as i could.

the springs are 100% facotry. just running a SOA with a 1" perch. as for the block i hope to have it gone by summer time. as of right now I am gonna leave it like that cuz i may end up tossing a small block in the rear and getting some taller springs up front to help clear the larger tires but i wont know until i get it on the trail and test it all out. i'm gonna try and keep it low but dont want to completely hack the fenders yet.