Well I put a deposit down on my dadmobile!

[SnuffThePunkz]

Black Betty, my dadmobile!

Long time creeper, recent poster. I have been saving and checking local postings and finally found one I want.

1997 (Yay 2wd, not AWD) 5.4L Eddie Bauer 4x4 254,000 km's. And fresh spark plugs less than 5 miles ago.
Only have the dealer photos to post, need to detail the living crap out of it. Body isn't perfect, but that means I can wheel it without crying over pinstripes.

Needs some love, brakes, tires, alignment, some wiring repaired, and I'm pretty sure the drivers wheel bearing is starting to go.

$1800

Will upload photos when I get home.
Taking her to ford for a oil change/full inspection to tell me where to start.
Looking forward to picking brains, and having some fun here.

 

[AbbadonTD]

Welcome to the party...

If you still have air ride equipped, start learning about removing it for coil over, since it is likely to fail soon.

The entire front end that you can see over the front wheel could/may/does need help. control arms all the way down, you will get to rotors and brakes on the way there.

If the tires have tread, keep them until after you do your suspension work, then replace, and all the re-align and such will be fresh, and if you have a deeper problem, you can read your tire tread wear.

 

[SnuffThePunkz]

Welcome to the party...

If you still have air ride equipped, start learning about removing it for coil over, since it is likely to fail soon.

The entire front end that you can see over the front wheel could/may/does need help. control arms all the way down, you will get to rotors and brakes on the way there.

If the tires have tread, keep them until after you do your suspension work, then replace, and all the re-align and such will be fresh, and if you have a deeper problem, you can read your tire tread wear.

It looks like a previous owner ripped most of the air ride out and did what I planned. Left the rear air bags and plummed them as stand alone with a filler valve on the bumper.

The front end shall be ripped apart and rebuilt. I plan to wheel this, 7700 torsion bars, TT, custom uca's, moog joints and everything that can be beefed up done. Got a shop who will build new coils to level it. Then body lift, 35's and play time. Full lift eventually.
Plan is to throw a used pair of Duratrac's on her 60% all around goes for like $300. More than enough till the lift.

 

[AbbadonTD]

Are you sure that you dont have an aftermarket "Air Lift" or air spring installed, and not the factory air suspention?

These are not the best offroad beasts out there. They seat great and Mud a little, but dont try to make it a climber or a true beast, you will find out that there were better options for that than the Expy. But these older ones (pre 99) are like lifting the F150s from that era, easy to do. The expy is heavy for its size, and with a carload of people...

Mine is a dad mobile too, I had to give up my F150 for this. I needed an automatic for towing [wife and mother in law, i was fine on the manual], and more space for these kids and the afformentioned mom in law. Thats how I combined dad mobile with tower and got to the expy. Now I have to drive all the field trips.

 

[SnuffThePunkz]

Nothing crazy out here, I know they aren't built to be insane offroad. Mostly trail running and camping/overlanding is the intention with this rig. Anything hairy I'd bring along my 92 F-250. Lifted like 5" and running 35's (soonish to be 38-40's) after I build it up a bit more. I'm pretty lucky where I live where clearance is more important than travel so I was thinking of getting the Expy up on 37's and just having fun with it.

Upside is that I get parts at 50% of list and accessories at cost and I do my own labour.

Could very well be, until I get a chance to tear it apart and inspect it I won't know for certain what it has under it.

 

[SnuffThePunkz]

IT was weird walking out to this instead of my truck this morning. Bittersweet...



Got her all cleaned up. Now to decide if I detail and wax the living shit out of her, or murder her out.





First add-on when I get to work tomorrow! Found a new old stock hood deflector that is actually discontinued for $40. Just need some tabs.