[Thadious]

Lol! I wonder if you haven't been giving more thought to my project than I have!!!

I wanted to get the engine and trans dropped into it's cradle for the additional weight and see what the suspension geometry looks like. That extra 1000 pounds or so on the front chassis will certainly have an impact on that! Then I'll have a look at ride level and mounting the cab. I didn't have the forethought to lock the suspension in it's original height, so I'll have to make due for now. I don't think it will be a huge issue as long as I get the major weight loads on the frame (definitely different than the explorer was) and mocked up/mounted correctly. The one thing that does come to mind is that locking it with the explorer body on will net a minor difference than with the 47-52 bodies and one would need to be more concerned with the new body as that is the direction in the end, not the beginning... just a thought.

The back end will be a little interesting as I intend to remove a ring or two off of the coils to get about 2.5" out of them. After, fab up a set of "pucks" if you will from some pipe and plate to shove the entire strut down that 2.5" or so and get the towers from poking up quite as high. In the end, I'll pick up a set of drop springs to replace them and keep the spring tension where it should be. In the front, eventually and for mockup, I'll remove 2" or so to see where they sit, then I'll throw in a set of 2" drop springs to get that bit of forward rake. Anything else other than that for ride height may need to be by tire size and I'm hoping it won't be too big of a difference from there. I'd like to be about 8-10" off the ground from the boards just under the driver's door.

As for the rad support... it's nice enough that there is a power steering cooler on the explorer that mounts to the front cross member covering the rack and pinion steering. It provides two mounting holes in about the right spot to make a bracket for the original front rad mount. The rad mounting, right now is only about 2" forward from that bracket and it looks like it could be accomplished with just a piece of angle.

I cut off the front end of a 1 ton chassis (had two and this was the worst) to get the spacing and brackets for the front bumper. The intention, once the front body is on, is to align and graft this into the front frame horns on the explorer and provide a strong mount. The 1/2 tons used 1/4"x2" bent brackets, whereas these mount directly to the frame and I'm pretty sure I can make these not only work, but look good too.