Gabes Explorer redo

Got this hackpile in last march. Came from a guy named Gabe from Branson. Had another shop (wont name names) bag it to lay on the 22s and after 11 months of nothing happening he finally went and got it and brought it to me. This is how it rolled in...

All bags fully inflated

Grant Kustoms pan

Airtank only held down with 2 bolts... no nuts.

Great stuff used to seal the gap between the wheeltubs and outer skin

Rear leaf shackle "modified" to be solid mount for the 50/50 link

Fuel cell mounted in a way where it could not be removed if a problem arises. The angle iron was welded solid and the floor was welded in above, cell had to be cut out from below. Also note the missing bolt and soon to be missing bolt.

Gabe reported a major problem with gas fumes inside the truck, seemed the top of the fuel cell was open and the cap did not fully seal.

Rear sheetmetal

After all of this we had a sneaky suspicion of what lies beneath... Apparently this is only after 84 miles on this setup.



The upper bag brackets were only welded on 1 side as well as being 2'' above the top of the notch.


Every axle tab and bag bracket was only welded on one side, this of course was due to the fact the stock leaf spring and sway bar perches were not removed.

Seems the axle was too far foward AFTER installing the notches. And yes the weld you see is the only one holding the backhalf on the truck.

Then on to the front

Drivers side

Pass side

Guess only 1 gusset on top was enough. The truck was about 5'' from laying out. The spindle also rubbed the bag at full lift.
Basicly long story short he just wanted us to tubb the firewall and make it lay out, but it wasnt gonna leave the shop like that.

SOME OF THE PROBLEMS:
Truck did not lay out like intended
Tranny crossmember hung down
Front frameclip was not Z'd
BODYWORK
Bodywork was incomplete
Bodywork was showing through primer
Factory basecoat was not scuffed, primer flakes off
Grant Kustoms rollpan installed incorrectly and rusting
Rear door popper doesnt work properly
Gasdoor welded shut with hinge still attatched
Stock fuel filler lines still installed
Stock liscense plate bezel left under shaver panel with tag lights still installed
FRONT SUSPENSION
Bags offset on mounts
Spindle hits upper bag mount
Front bagmounts only had 1 gusset
Said gussets bowed frame in 1/4''
All copper hardline handbent and ziptied to existing wiring harness/lines/ect
Everything that was cut out for clearance was left torch cut, no grinding
Nothing painted
AIR MANAGEMENT
Airtank not bolted in
Air compressor not bolted in
Valves wired with speaker wire
INTERIOR
Silicone used as seam sealer
Great Stuff used to fill gaps
All interior sheetmetal only tackwelded
Wheeltubs installed over stock wheeltubs
Misc wiring power ran from cigarette lighter
No seamsealer
Nothing painted
REAR SUSPENSION
50/50 link had uneven length bars
50/50 link had modified stock leaf shackles
Jam nuts loose
All adjustable bar ends adjusted nearly all the way out
Bags offset on brackets
None of the axle tabs fully welded
None of the bag brackets fully welded
Upper bag brackets bent due to lack of gussets
Upper bag brackets unlevel above c notch
C notch not fully welded
C notch cut out for axle clearance and not boxed
Pinion was waaaay off and rolled 15*+
Brakelines not attatched to rearend
Nothing painted
FUEL SYSTEM
Gastank crossmember welded in so tank could not be removed
Gastank not properly vented, fumes entered the cab
Gastank bolts loose/missing
Gascap didnt seal properly
Fuel gauge not hooked up
Fuel pump wired using speaker wire
Fuel pressure reg hanging under cab
No fuel filter
Fuel line not attatched to frame, only ziptied to misc objects
Our plans:
Cut out hack work
triangulated 4 link or 6 link
backhalf frame
redo floor to accomadate a back seat with the 22s
relocate tank and compressor
rewire and replumb the air and fuel system
add the water trap and tank gauge the customer wanted the first time but was told they were unnessesary.
relocate the nessesary components uder the hood
redo the front bags and cut for tie rods
FINISH shaving roofrack, body cladding holes and redo the grant pan. The gas door and handles will probably be ground out since the back side shows they were only tack welded in and theyre already visible through the mud and primer. Theres prolly more, toast can fill in the blanks.
In all I feel Gabe got fucked by a "reputable shop" and it pretty much pisses me off as a fabricator that shops can get away with this and still get work. Im not going to say who did this to avoid drama, but if they feel the need to try me ill let everyone know exactly who is responsible for this.

Started by fixing the sheetmetal.



Z'd the front clip


Simple lever 4 link setup


Smooth bedfloor


Pop up chopper gascap in the rear doorjamb


And finally laying out


Lately ive been extending the rocker down to the pinch to cover it since the ground effects arent going back on

I remember seein that pile on RPS, glad to see it is in good hands. Looks a 100% better. JIMMY

wow! that has to be one of the worst hack jobs I have ever seen....glad to see someone who knows what they are doing has it now

nice redo man... looks great laid out on those wheels! cant wait to see it finished!

awesome redo man.


this is the type of stuff that guarantees my shop will be open forever!

xxxxcjxxxx wrote:nice redo man... looks great laid out on those wheels! cant wait to see it finished!

the wheels may be going bye bye. The valve stem is on the back side and even with a short stem the cap hits the lower arm everytime it passes.

said it before but damn glad to see you take that thing from a hack to looking as good as it does now. its sad that this came out of a shop that used to go around bragging about how great their work is. ill respect kyles decision to leave them unnamed.

man nice turn around

Good lookin Explorer!!

Camber wrote:said it before but damn glad to see you take that thing from a hack to looking as good as it does now. its sad that this came out of a shop that used to go around bragging about how great their work is. ill respect kyles decision to leave them unnamed.

f@#% yea, goin round like their shit dont stink, kinda shocked me when i heard what shop it came from

WOW thats crazy i cant believe ANY one would think about letting that thing out of their shop i dont care if it was a well known shop or just some local joes working on the truck that was just sad and not to mention on how unsafe it was!

well you guys did one hell of a great job im really glade to see you guys where able to turn it around and make it sparkle again and not just toss it in the pile of junk cars out back ha ha

shows you guys know what your doing and are not scared to take on any task good job and cant wait to see this thing done and hope it makes it to C-n-D finished or not!!!

got any finished pics on the inside sheetmetal Ive been throwin around the idea of getting one of these

apparently i dont, if i remember tomorrow ill snap some.