Amazing All In One Gauge!!!

I have two sets... one for winter, one for summer. Both are BFG All Terrain's.

Winter: 285/75R16 (roughly 33's)
Summer: 315/70R17 (roughly 34.5's)

The summer tires are on their last life (provided I keep it to the street; I'd be screwed off road). I'm considering replacing them with 35's mounted on 18" wheels. May just continue to run my winter tires until summer 09, then buy new wheels (the 17's I've got are starting to deteriorate) and tires for both summer and winter... at-least 18's, that way I can stuff a big brake kit on the front end!! Either way, without running more lift, 35's are the biggest I can handle. I sometimes wonder if I should have ran the fabtech lift (6" vs rancho 4")... but at the same rate, I think you reach a point where you diminish the all-around practicality of the vehicle. And I do use the truck for much more than off-roading (was my daily driver till I got the LS, sees plenty of towing/hauling duty too)

Does your explorer have the 8.8 rear? If so, Superior has the Super 88 for your truck. I can not stress how much better of an option C-clip eliminators are for a 4x4. With C-clip axles, if you break an axle shaft... say goodbye to your tire... and good luck trying to get home!
 
Yeah, it's got an 8.8 with 31 spline axels. I really don't rock crawl with it so it's plenty strong for what I do, most of the broken axels I have seen come from rock crawling. The majority of the wheeling I do is hill climbs and mud bogs. I just got done with a top end rebuild with all FRPP stuff. Next is suspension, gears and diff's. I'm researching a coil over swap in the front and some fiberglass fenders so I can fit 33's without lifting it anymore. Probably going to 4.56 gears for that tire height. The rear is factory limited slip, I've been pondering a locker for the front too.
 
hmmm... I'd be willing to part with my winter BFG's... they've got maybe 5000-8000 miles on them, and with it being all winter driving (snow and what not)... they are like brand new.

I'm very happy with my Eaton E-locker, but I'd have been hard pressed to make a decision if the auburn unit were around when I had the eaton installed. I see benefits for both on the rear:

Eaton:
Open diff gives better gas mileage, better on road turns and you can run a smaller spare without worry of damaging a limited slip. On demand full lock is a good benefit for off road. Drawbacks are decreased traction on slippery road conditions.

Auburn:
Limited slip gives improved traction in slippery conditions without having to engage your locker (which you don't want to run locked in snow or ice), On demand full lock; same as the Eaton. Draw back is gas mileage decrease, larger tires will wear limited slip quicker, and tight turns might induce binding.


The auburn on the front diff is a no-brainer for me; when you run in 4x2, you won't induce any additional wear on the limited slip... Makes the perfect choice for a front diff; ideal for on-road slippery conditions driving (snow, ice), as well as mixed terrain where you want better steering control.

Now on the rear diff, it's another story; there are certainly positives to each. But, before my traclok burnt up on the front diff, I found that for snow traction... a limited slip front with an open rear worked VERY well. Allowed tight turns which a locker rear does not, and might not be as do-able with a limited slip rear.

Anyway, I already have the eaton in the rear, so why change now? Unless I decide to move up from the 8.8 rear to the 9.75. In which case, want to buy a used eaton e-locker? :-D
 
If I get 33's it's going to be another set of Baja Claws. They are amazing in mud and snow. Just noisey as hell on the hardball.

So you like the E-locker? I've heard more than a few guys cuss those. ARB's would be nice but they are way more than I want to pay for in a winter DD/toy. For the front, selection on lockers is kind of limited to what is available for the D35.
 
ohhhhh... exploders have a D35? Ouch...

You've heard people cuss their eaton? why?

I'm very happy with mine. Only real drawback is that you have to be at nearly a stand-still to engage or disengage it... So if you go into a mud-hole unprepared, it could bite you in the a$$.
 
Several have complained that they up and quit working after 6 months to a year.

yup, D35 IFS with tortion bars. The D35 itself isn't bad, the tortion bars suck though. That is why I want to replace them with coil overs.
 
I've got torsion bars on mine... I don't mind them, but it would be nice to run a coil over. I just don't think they make a coil over conversion for the 97-04 (heritage) F-150.
 
At one point I'd found a coil-over kit for the F-150, but they stopped making them.
 
They make a half coil over lift kit for rangers that will fit but it's $2400 for a 5.5" lift kit. I really am not real impressed with the front shock mounts on that kit either. It uses gussets that you must weld into the factory shock mounts to add strength. I'm looking at fabbing a tubular upper shock mount on top and a double tab mount for the lower control arm. I'll keep my current ride height, run about an 18" coil over with an 850-900# spring. I've got to get the front of my truck weighed to be sure. I'll also have to rig up some sort of limit strap to limit the down travel to keep the CV's from over-extending. It's going to be about $1000 project but it's still cheaper than a solid axel swap and will handle 10x better.
 
Where are you getting your coilovers? Might be a project for my F-150!
 
Meanwhile, Back at the post!!;)

I was planning on making my own gauge pod to fit in the left corner of my dash. It will be custom made out of fiberglass (Miracle Panels;) ) and I will cover is with vinyl. Those car audio skills coming back again:D .

So Those gauges would work great. I wonder where I could get some?? Oh yeah, Where I work...
 
Pics...

DSC06083.jpg


DSC06084.jpg
 
These guages have been around for a couple years in the gp community, scanguage for even longer. They are a great utility. I know one issue with them was other scanners couldnt be used at the same time because it took up the obd2 port. We like to scan with hptuner or power tuner while racing and would have to unplug the guage to do so.
 
how hard is it to hook up? were they able to get the lincoln star on them?
 
I haven't heard about the Lincoln star, Nate emailed the company. It comes standard with Mustang, Cobra, Mach1, Lightning and Thunderbird.

It is very easy to install. If you can plug in a lamp, you can install this gauge. It took more effort to mount the gauge pod than it did to actually install the gauge. If you put it in a pillar pod, you have to pull the pillar cover, drill a 1/2" hole in it for the plug and 4 3/16" holes for the pins to hold the pod onto the pillar cover. I don't even know if there is a pillar pod available for the LS.
 
They did program in the lincoln star... sorry, been out of town for a couple weeks!
 
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