Kroussin 93 Explorer build

[kroussinoffroad]

recieved a big happy package from Ruff stuff today. it twas one ton steering kit. jumped right to it and got everything measured, cut welded and put together. looks good. might have some slight clerance issues between the tie rod and drag link so i'll throw it on the ramp as soon as i get a chance to check. if I dont have time i will just have to trail check it. no pictures right now as i was too busy workin to stop and take any. i'm sure it will be visable in the pics this weekend.

all that is left to do now is
replace axle joint on the driverside (AGAIN)
replace rear/rear u-joint (AGAIN)
relocate axle side trac-bar
rearrange cargo area.
possiably make a spare tire carrier

After all of that it should be ready to rip for this weekend. did a little pre-trip scouting/camp hopping this past weekend and ALL of the snow is gone up north. to the point that we were kickin up dust down most of the roads. So we plan to run some trails to get up there. never have ran them this early in the seasone and am slightly concerned about the river crossings on both of them. the one we checked looked to be around 4 feet deep in the worst spot (normally 1-2 feet) . hopefully the river will calm some and go down since there is no more snow melting now. the river we checked is the easier of the two as you enter headed down stream and cross at a big diagnol headed downstream the whole time. it is a fairly wide river and gradually drops and comes back up the same. the other river you cross straight and it has steep rock banks on both sides and is about two truck lengths across. if it is even possiable it will be intresting to say the least.

 

[kroussinoffroad]

made the trip this weekend. Had a pretty good time in the truck. ran 3 good trails thru the weekend. trails were in great shape and water went down quite a bit. covered alot of miles and only had two issues. 1 (shown below) smoked a tire 2. riped the inner door handle (grab handle) off the door. so looks like i need to do some tire swaping and time to find some doorpanels and possiably manual windows.

first river crossing

 

[escort_gts]

Looks like you had fun. Hope you had a spare. That's my fear, as of right now I don't have a spare.

Sent from my HTC EVO using Tapatalk

 

[kroussinoffroad]

yeah had a fullsize spare in the other truck

 

[Josh40601]

Looks like a good time! Only one question... What the fawk is up with that orange on the wheels?!

 

[kroussinoffroad]

yeah idk not liking it myself. gonna go all black. the chrome is pretty pitted up from all the salt this year so i thought ide try somthing a bit different. everyone keeps saying they like it so ive held off painting them but i think it looks a bit tacky and its my truck SOOOOOOO yea.

 

[Josh40601]

Looks like we both have similar tastes. Lol. Maybe a silver barrel and black face or black face and silver barrel or blue/sliver blue/black if you wanted to keep your two tone deal. I gotta say, you never go wrong with all black.

How's it doing wheeling wise?

 

[kroussinoffroad]

wheelin it did good. next big investment will be chromo's then new tires. this winter i completely depleted my spare axleshaft inventory running the 38.5's i dont really regret it as i had a blast but those tire's will be going bye bye. as funny as this sounds they make alot of the trails around here just too easy. i think somthing in the 35-37 range with good tread is a perfect tire size for 1/2 tons around here. still have to pick a line and drive accordingly. ran some of the harder trails in the area covered alot of miles and not one time did any of the truck have to winch. only real excitement was me almost floping in a mud hole and my tire issue.

still getting used to how much heavier this feels in than the mazda but all in due time. and as for the two tone they looked good off the truck but once on the truck i think just straight up black is gonna look better. was gonna run them like i did on the mazda with the chrome and black but it was just too too pitted to make look right. ive been wondering if i broke them down blasted the rims if i painted the back black and left the barrel the raw if it would look alright then just clear the whole shebang

 

[Josh40601]

I think it would look awesome raw, but that's a lot of work.

I have to agree on the heavy deal... I'm still not used to the Ex yet. The flop point in the Ex is not the same as the Ranger, and I forget that... I think a good set of adjustable/tuneable shocks would help with our heavy issue

 

[kroussinoffroad]

shouldnt be too bad for the raw look have access to a couple of nice blast cabinets. on is kept with black jack inside and the other is kept with very fine glass bead.

nice shocks are off the budget as for right now. I seem to be spending more on keeping it on the trail than i do at going out with itl. i'm really hopin that the roles will reverse VERY soon. i really cant afford to keep dropin this kind of money on it. i like dropin a good chunk of change in the winter and wheel accordingly all summer then repeat the following winter. right now it doesnt need a whole lot. (i hope) as of right now things i need to investigate further. is after changing the front drivers axle shafts the next morning there was a puddle of gear lube that driped out of the axle tube. i REALLY hope this was just what overflowed into the axle tube and that i didnt tear up a seal dickin around with the shafts and there is also the chance that the taper is a tad smaller and not sealing. ultimately i think the right fix is to go chromo. ther is also a very small brake fluid leak from the rear drum (inside) so prolly just needs a wheel cylinder (would like to go disc) also the issue of not plate on her yet. MONEY IN MONEY OUT!!!

hopefully the 38.5's will be gone in the next day or two as there are a crap load of people intrested in them and have a couple of people coming to look at them tonight. posted that i'm also willing to trade for some good tread 36-37's so we will see what that brings. and I have a couple of stand up jet skis that might be sold tonight as well. i dont know how i get wraped up in so many hobbies.

 

[kroussinoffroad]

tires just sold.

 

[Josh40601]

So now you don't have any tires on it?

 

[kroussinoffroad]

I sold the SX's. was tearin up too much stuff and they made the majority of the trails around here (that i like to run) a cake walk. lookin for some 36/37 irok's again

 

[Josh40601]

So what's on it now?

 

[kroussinoffroad]

HODGE PODGE!!!!

37 12.5 trxus mts in front
38.5x15 cut hawgs in back (actually shorter and the same width as the 37's in front)