Bunny v2.0

[Don]

Well, I had a goal of getting the explorer back on the ground over the long weekend, I made great progress, but didn't quite get there. Here are some pictures:

New wheel bearings and seals done:



Rear axle buttoned up with new brakes lines, wheel cylinders and Ruff Stuff cover:



Passenger beam plated and painted:





Cut and reflared the pesky rear brake fitting that wouldn't come loose:



Comparing the Duff Deavers to the stock springs:



Rear axle at home:



Front end progress:





I'm finding that the Duff 5.5" kit install isn't as easy as I anticipated. First, I received the wrong bolt kit for my coil buckets, so for the sake of time, I ran to the hardware store and bought all the hardware I needed. Then, to install this kit on an Explorer, there are a bunch of 1/2" holes that need to be drilled in to the frame. To add to that, some of the hole locations are through the double wall expanded portions of the frame, so they are a pain to drill, and require longer hardware. Aside from that little frustrating stuff, the kit once mounted fits really nice and looks really stout.

Hopefully a few more evenings and I will have it rolling again!

[bobracing]

To add to that, some of the hole locations are through the double wall expanded portions of the frame, so they are a pain to drill, and require longer hardware.

Did you end up putting a sleeve in these? or just hope the frame is strong enough?

[Don]

I don't see that sleeving these is necessary. Both walls of the expanded portion of the frame are heavy, I'm using nylocks and wide washers, so I don't see them deforming the frame from torque. The particular cross member that has several bolts pass through the double walled section of frame is laterally supported very well, so the bolts should only see shear. Plus, the expanded portion is only half the thickness of the frame flange, maybe 1" at the most.

[Don]

It's alive!

I was able to get another good weekend in of wrenching on the Bunny. I'm pretty sure it's not going to debut at the 50th run. With life's events, I completely lost track that the 50th run is NEXT weekend. I put in a solid effort, but it's going to take more time than I have to get it trail ready.

Here's some pictures:

C-clip eliminator done per: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/ind ... sy.256302/



New wheel bearings, seals, u joints, calipers, pads and hardware. Everything is assembled. James Duff sent me the wrong hardware kit, which didn't include my upper spring retainer clip. I also just found out that they shipped the wrong shocks, so those will be getting swapped out as well.



Rear end is all done! Finished if off with all new brakes with hardware, wheel cylinders, etc. I found my drivers side parking brake cable is frozen, so I disconnected it from the arm inside the brake and will have to deal with it later



Here it is on the ground for the first time!



Took it for a drive around the neighborhood to get things settled in. The front end settled down quite a bit, I think it will still settle some more. The rear still needs to come up. The shakedown drive was great. No creaks or rattles. Nothing fell off. Just a minor brake line leak, and no rear brakes (which I suspect was an issue before the tear down).



I've got a small punch list of small items on the suspension, then it's on to tires, body protection, cage and winch!