Well, its been a year since I bought my 91' XLT and just realized that will all I've done to it, I should have a build thread on it. So this first post is just going to be all I've done to it in the past year.
I didn't really start out with any real direction in mind when I bought her. But my intent seems to be to turn her into the ultimate farm hand truck. I pretty much use her as a rolling shop.
When I first bought it:
She was very clean with I bought it. The only serious rust issue I had (still have actually) is the core support, passenger side is rusted through. I just need to get off my ass and get a donor one from the JY.
Anyways, the first thing I did was take it into the base hobby shop and change all the oils and filters and give her a real look over.
Replaced the radiator hose:
Why anyone would patch the hose instead of replacing it is beyond me.
Next, I fixed the tranny temp gauge the PO had installed. The temp sensor was just wired backwards, but the way the PO used a trailer light wiring harness just made me want to :banghead .
Next I pulled some roof bars off an explorer and mounted them to the shell as the start for a roof basket install, which I'm still working on.
I also picked up some tow points from an expedition in the JY and throw them on as well. I did have to trim the bumper a bit, but the fit is almost perfect now with no sag or tilt to the bumper.
I then began work on a custom forward center console. I kept the bucket console and just added to the front of it with some 1X12 pine boards. The console also houses some electronics for my lights and future projects, such as winch cutout and gauges.
Wired in the lights for front and rear.
Installed auxiliary reverse light.
I found this square tube grill at the JY on an F-150 and grabbed it up, since I have bad luck with breaking the plastic grills. Painted it up and mounted right in place. I've added newer lights since this pic was taken, but don't have any pics of them.
Finally got around to upgrading the exhaust over the summer. The original pipe where the two exhaust pipes connected had been broken and rewelded together and poorly at that.
I did have to tweak the new pipes a bit to make them fit, but it all worked out in the end. Sounds great and runs better!
I also had to replace the intake after the original developed a crack in the base. The old battery shelf since it had rusted through, and the passenger side window motor.
The last upgrade has been a tinkering project that turned into a nightmare. It started out as a simple axle seal replacement on the rear passenger wheel. Well, when I went to remove the axle, the screw that holds the spider gear shaft in the differential had broken off and could not be drilled out or removed. So I had to go get a new diff housing, but I guess I screwed up the swap, since the gears were grinding. Not much, but just barely noticeable to me. So I finally decided I'd had enough, went to the JY to get a "new" ring and pinion gear and redo the whole job. I struck gold however and the donor truck had a limited slip diff in it. So I decided to just swap out the gears and the diff housing as one. Saved me a buttload of trouble with swapping out the ring gear. Anyways, new bushings, bearings and everything. I was not gonna let this one get screwed up. Got it shimmed just right, within specs and now it runs like new. Love the way the limited slip feels on the snow.
I didn't really start out with any real direction in mind when I bought her. But my intent seems to be to turn her into the ultimate farm hand truck. I pretty much use her as a rolling shop.
When I first bought it:
She was very clean with I bought it. The only serious rust issue I had (still have actually) is the core support, passenger side is rusted through. I just need to get off my ass and get a donor one from the JY.
Anyways, the first thing I did was take it into the base hobby shop and change all the oils and filters and give her a real look over.
Replaced the radiator hose:
Why anyone would patch the hose instead of replacing it is beyond me.
Next, I fixed the tranny temp gauge the PO had installed. The temp sensor was just wired backwards, but the way the PO used a trailer light wiring harness just made me want to :banghead .
Next I pulled some roof bars off an explorer and mounted them to the shell as the start for a roof basket install, which I'm still working on.
I also picked up some tow points from an expedition in the JY and throw them on as well. I did have to trim the bumper a bit, but the fit is almost perfect now with no sag or tilt to the bumper.
I then began work on a custom forward center console. I kept the bucket console and just added to the front of it with some 1X12 pine boards. The console also houses some electronics for my lights and future projects, such as winch cutout and gauges.
Wired in the lights for front and rear.
Installed auxiliary reverse light.
I found this square tube grill at the JY on an F-150 and grabbed it up, since I have bad luck with breaking the plastic grills. Painted it up and mounted right in place. I've added newer lights since this pic was taken, but don't have any pics of them.
Finally got around to upgrading the exhaust over the summer. The original pipe where the two exhaust pipes connected had been broken and rewelded together and poorly at that.
I did have to tweak the new pipes a bit to make them fit, but it all worked out in the end. Sounds great and runs better!
I also had to replace the intake after the original developed a crack in the base. The old battery shelf since it had rusted through, and the passenger side window motor.
The last upgrade has been a tinkering project that turned into a nightmare. It started out as a simple axle seal replacement on the rear passenger wheel. Well, when I went to remove the axle, the screw that holds the spider gear shaft in the differential had broken off and could not be drilled out or removed. So I had to go get a new diff housing, but I guess I screwed up the swap, since the gears were grinding. Not much, but just barely noticeable to me. So I finally decided I'd had enough, went to the JY to get a "new" ring and pinion gear and redo the whole job. I struck gold however and the donor truck had a limited slip diff in it. So I decided to just swap out the gears and the diff housing as one. Saved me a buttload of trouble with swapping out the ring gear. Anyways, new bushings, bearings and everything. I was not gonna let this one get screwed up. Got it shimmed just right, within specs and now it runs like new. Love the way the limited slip feels on the snow.