thank you all.

[Kitcat]

thank you all for all your help and advice on my journey of fixing my little blue truck. just a few more things to get done and it will be awesome. all the time and money ive put into is starting to be noticed. i had taken up to local shop to have the new rear shocks put on and when i went to pick it up, one of the mechanics said thats a good running little truck. which made me feel good of course my husband had to make a nasty remark like it looks like hell. its not a fix it up type of person and that was before all the body parts i chanced down to fix the fender bender that it had been in before i got it. now since the body parts are on my husband has had more then one comment on how nice the truck is looking and its not done yet. i still have to put on the new drives side door, replace the windshield, patch the cab corners and repaint it. I've decided that from the bottom body line down to paint it black along with its rims leaving the center caps and bumpers chrome. the upper part of the truck will stay its light blue with a black pin stripe along its upper body line. i have a set of black leather seats that my son is going to modify the seat brackets to fit and tomorrow morning im going to pull a long console out of a 98 explorer for it. i have to paint the console that blue gray color the dash and door panels are and recover the arm rest in black. so it should be pretty sharp looking when im done.

 

[Curious Hound]

Glad it's going well. It's always satisfying to get something fixed and know you did some or all of it yourself.

 

[dvdswan]

 

[Kitcat]

Glad it's going well. It's always satisfying to get something fixed and know you some or all of it yourself.

me too, i was ready to blow it up not too long ago cuz of the idling problem it had. but now i just take it in stride that its going to fight us every step of the way. lol

 

[Kitcat]

View attachment 100065

View attachment 100066

love it

 

[Josh B]

Awesome Kitcat.
Those Explorer consoles are complicated

 

[Kitcat]

Awesome Kitcat.
Those Explorer consoles are complicated

ive read the article on here about the removable of it and tryed to get as much info as possible on it. i know they are hard to find around here. thats why im driving so far to get this one

 

[Josh B]

I took one apart at a wrecking yard here, not positive what year, but was intended for my 96. It came apart in layers, the top parts, the bottom of the top parts, and from underneath. It was a real puzzle. A lot of the screws anchor through and under the carpet, likely near impossible to re-align and fasten
I never did put it back together

 

[Josh B]

Actually I had an alternate option from the start. The couple I bought it from had made a decent padded, imitation leather or vinyl wooden box with a hinged lid. Looked good, comfortable, lots more room than a console, and for her it was convenient to slide back out of the way so she easily get in back with their baby
I drove it about 6 months to a year in spite of a transmission going bad. I'm still planning to use the engine in my Ranger

 

[Kitcat]

I took one apart at a wrecking yard here, not positive what year, but was intended for my 96. It came apart in layers, the top parts, the bottom of the top parts, and from underneath. It was a real puzzle. A lot of the screws anchor through and under the carpet, likely near impossible to re-align and fasten
I never did put it back together

as i have said ive read read and reread the removeable article on here about the removal of the 95 to 01 console from a explorer. the only things that worrys me is how does the tissue box comes out, do i have to remove the coin and cd holder box under the arm rest if so how and can i beat the console back enough to get out of the tabs on the feet. besides that it seems like its just pull out the cubby to get to 1 10 mm 2 8mm in the dash bracket pull the cup holder out to get to 2 more 8mm that go into the hump and beat iy back and it should come out i hope

 

[Kitcat]

Actually I had an alternate option from the start. The couple I bought it from had made a decent padded, imitation leather or vinyl wooden box with a hinged lid. Looked good, comfortable, lots more room than a console, and for her it was convenient to slide back out of the way so she easily get in back with their baby
I drove it about 6 months to a year in spite of a transmission going bad. I'm still planning to use the engine in my Ranger

its mind blowing to me how hard its getting to be to find decent parts and right used part for my ranger. i bought a hood that was supposed to be from a 02. it had a bug guard on it so i didn't notice its the wrong hood its flat accross the front and mine has a slight jump on in the center. my son was pissed the guy lied to me and knew it was the wrong hood from the wrong year. plus i also bought a set of 16 inch jeep rim and like new set of snow tire for them was told they were 4.5x5 but no they are 5x5

 

[Josh B]

You really can't trust anybodies word on anything, and it might not be because they're being dishonest, it may be they really had no clue it wasn't what they thought it was

Always bring a measure and check

I even use a tiny 3ish inch ruler I keep in my wallet. Rugged type flexible plastic with both metric and SAE. I cannot remember for sure how long I have kept it there, but 20 years might be rather shy

 

[Josh B]

I won't be able to get back with you on all of that before you go Kitkat :/ Don't scrimp on tools to take, take them all.
Extensions, sockets, torx, philups, etc etc etc
One thing you learn in a mechanical world, you will never have enough tools