1997 Ford Explorer 'Flexplorer'

The Ford Explorer doesn’t have the off-road notoriety as the Toyota 4Runner or a Land Rover, but that doesn’t mean that people don’t build them up to be amazing off-road rigs.

Brad Baker built this 1997 Ford Explorer from parts he salvaged off of previous vehicles he wheeled off-road. The frame comes from a 1992 Ford Explorer that uses a James Duff solid axle swap kit. The kit includes early 5.5-inch lift coil springs, long-arm radius arms, upper and lower coil spring buckets, and shocks.

With the original Dana 35 TTB front axle removed and the kit installed, the Explorer received a Dana 44 front axle from a 1977 Ford F-150. The long side of the axle has been narrowed six inches. The front axle has 4.88:1 gears, a James Duff diff guard, chromoly axleshafts, Warn manual locking hubs, and is located laterally by a 1.5-inch-diameter, 0.250-wall DOM track bar with spherical rod ends.

The custom steering system uses a Wild Horses Four Wheel Drive heavy-duty power steering pump; Ranger pitman arm; 1.5-inch-diameter, 0.250-wall DOM drag link and tie rod with GM 1-ton tie-rod ends; knuckles from a 1976 Chevy truck; and aftermarket high-steer arms.

A 1-inch body lift gives the needed space to fit the 35×12.50R15 Pro Comp Xtreme M/T tires mounted on 10-inch-wide Mickey Thompson Classic II wheels.

The rear axle is a Ford 8.8-inch axle with disc brakes, a Solid Axle Industries diff cover, 4.88 gearing and an Eaton Detroit Locker to improve traction. The suspension consists of dual James Duff shocks at each wheel and a spring-over-axle setup that includes modified 4-inch-lift leaf springs (one leaf was removed). There wasn’t enough room to keep the standard Explorer fuel tank due to the addition of the BorgWarner 4406 transfer case, so Baker mounted a fuel tank from an E-150 van to the rear of the truck.

The factory 4.0L V6 was replaced with a 5.0L V8 from another Ford Explorer and features a K&N air filter, Tech Performance & Engineering Torque Monster headers, and the factory radiator and fan. Other underhood mods include an Optima RedTop battery and an ARB air compressor. Baker says that all of the body mounts lined up during the body swap except for the front core support. “I just widened the front mounts to bolt the core support in,” he says.

Mated to the engine is a five-speed manual transmission from a 1998 Ford F-150. This transmission bolted right up to the 5.0L engine and it rests on a custom crossmember. Baker says he had to reprogram the vehicle’s PCM to delete inputs from the automatic transmission. Behind the transmission is a BorgWarner 4406 two-speed transfer case that was also pirated from a 1998 Ford F-150. Transferring the power to the axles is a custom CV-equipped front driveshaft and a modified CV-equipped Ford Expedition rear ’shaft.