Pete M

As far as I know there weren't any sheetmetal changes up there between 88 and 91 (the first year of the H.O.). Can you snap any pics of what you see?

No can do. I have zero cash and these were given to me. So, I'm working with what I've got. Maybe I'll put it near the stock antenna, but on the driver's side. My whip and spring were under $20. But if I had to use a fiberglass, I'd put it in the middle of the bed, right behind the cab. I figure that would provide the most protection against tree branches. Of course, that is what I did with my second one and it still died on its first wheeling trip. Maybe you could just buy a spring for it?

The easiest way is to just go buy a shortbed MJ and use it. You'll instantly lose 6" of wheelbase and 6" of rear overhang. The second easiest is to dump the bed entirely and build a tube frame from scratch. You can build a flatbed on top of it to your exact specifications.

Hahahahaha! Even knowing that there was something funny coming up, it still cought me off guard. :D That's right up there with the "hurculiner on his hootus" guy. I love the internet. :D

Seems like an awful lot of work to eliminate a single key from the ring. :hmm: Try wrapping tape around the door key so it's easier to find when you're standing out in the rain. :D

Yeah, well, um, that's because I sorta neglected to measure it ahead of time. :( Oops.

Yeah, that connector right behind the rear tire was the culprit when I lost my brake lights once.

Dump the fiberglass crap and get a steel whip and a spring base. I snapped 2 fiber ones off before wising up to the fact that Michigan has LOTS of evil trees. :( In the picture it looks thicker than it is due to the vacuum hose I put over it (purely for looks on the street, it comes off on the trail so the whip can better bounce off branches)

Why yes, yes I did. :D

Don't forget that if you don't retain the MJ main leaf, the axle will be pushed forward 1/2". It's enough to be noticeable when looking at it and it'll push the driveshaft 1/2" closer to the t-case or trans.

I don't know anything about the "U" code leafs. But I believe "F"s are the ones you want. they should be the stiffer multi-leaf packs. Theoretically, the "U"s could be the same thing, only the older code, but I don't know. I go to http://www.explorer4x4.com/ for the tricky Explorer questions.

That's a better size, now go stand closer to the truck so we can see it. :D Try a 3/4 shot, where you stand in the front of the truck and snap a pic showing the front and side.

I didn't do much to the front wells. Basically I just cut the front portion off level with the top of the bumper. The tires on the other hand, have done a great job of smashing the rear of the fender. :roll: But I have the wide Ford axles (with a different scrub radius etc) and your experience will be different. Make sure you lengthen the bumpstop to keep the tire out of the top of the flare.

4.88s for sure.

Time for a gear change. :D

Care to elaborate?

Holy COW!! I'm slowly putting my laptop back together and found out that the newest version of firefox includes SPELL CHECK! Whenever I'm typing on a webpage (like this one), it automatically underlines words it doesn't know. And then you can right-click and change them or add them to the dictionary. Freakin' SWEET!!!!! No more excuses from those of us who can't spell or type to save our lives. :D :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

aluminum and rivets? Maybe. I've got some galvanized sheetmetal in the garage. :D Not sure how easy it'll be to bend into complicated shapes though. :hmm:

Grilles are easy to swap. I think I've seen that MJ on ebay before, but with different pictures. I wonder if it sold the first time and the new owner is reselling?

18"? I thought it was like 20?

The one that holds down the Tee is long gone on mine (replaced with a hose clamp) and the other ones are so short that it is hard to be absolutely positive, but it threaded into the 6mm thread-tester-thingie at the hardware store but didn't really like the 1/4" ones.

Laptop problems. I'm restricted to the old home 'puter and it's really really slow and really really underpowered. It's old enough that it once ran Windows 95. :roll: Keep up the great work! When the semester dies down a little and I'm not spending every other available hour trying to get the hunk-o-rust out of the garage under its own power, I hope to find someone local that knows the programs our site uses and can give me some tutoring on how to set stuff up. I don't want farm out all the work (just most of it, to you guys :D ). I envision different members doing different pages but I'm not yet educated enough to even get the process started, let alone fix any problems that pop up.

My guess is they are 6mm.

I've thought about a dual tank too, but I keep finding that it's a big pain in the butt to do it right and I'd have to drag another 18 gallons around with me everywhere. :( I think my '88 is heavy enough as it is. :D

If I already owned the 86 and had become attached to it, then I might attempt a 4.0L swap. But I personally would not seek out an 86 to put a 4.0L in. But then, that truck is cheap enough that I would find it hard not to buy it and fix it to drive while I continued looking for a 4.0L truck. :D