Freshmeat's Eddie Bauer (Now SAS Build)
Long story short, my girlfriend gave me my 1992 EB. The automatic transmission was giving her so much trouble she gave up and bought a new Altima. The Ex was her first car, though, so she was reluctant to just outright sell it... so when I started looking for a new 4x4 project, it fit. She would get to see it live a whole new life and I'd get a 4x4... free!
Now that I've had it a few months, there were LOTS of things wrong...
Transfer case motor was "lost" (I replaced the bushing)
All window motors were bad (I rebuilt all four)
TPS was shot (I replaced it)
Power steering was whining (I somehow shut it up)
Intake tube was compromised (I replaced it)
All fluids and filters were NAAAASTY (still need to do the axles)
Fuel level gauge doesn't work (haven't gotten to that yet)
I managed to get the A4LD working decently enough to think I was good to go. Boy, was I wrong!
Here it is stock:
I installed a set of 132X Skyjacker coils, Procomp shocks (up front), and added a Chevy leaf to the rear. I also removed both swaybars completely and threw on my 34x10.50s to see if they'd fit...
They did... but I couldn't turn anywhere...
I cut the crap out of the front fenders. Spent six hours on the passenger's side, twenty minutes on the driver's side once I figured out how much to take out...
I thought things were good, so I took it on its first trail ride... and had a blast!!
Unfortunately, so did my transmission...
I let it cool off, filled it back up, and drove it 45 miles back home. I went the next morning and pulled a M5OD and all related hardware from a 1991 Mazda Navajo, then spent the next month and a half doing the transmission swap in my (rare) spare time. In the process of swapping the transmission the exhaust system fell apart, so I installed the Dynomax catback, which sounds great! I've been driving it for almost a month with the five speed and it's a whole new truck. I'm loving how well it rides, now. I scored some manual hubs from a member here, as well as a single hub at the junk yard and installed them recently. I'm sure glad to have a spare, as violent as I get on my throttle. Next will be to extend all my breathers- transfer case and both axles- to under the hood, probably by the master cylinders. I have a set of JKS bar pin eliminators that I'm hoping will fit the rear so I can run shocks with eyelets on both ends. I already have F250 shock towers for the front; just waiting until I get the time to tear into the front suspension and get all that work done. I figure it'll take a full day to get both sides installed and I don't have a full day any time soon, so I'll have to be patient on that.
That's the current status so far. I have its first trail ride (with manual transmission and manual hubs) coming up this Saturday... planning to have a great time. I'd get pictures, but it's a night run, so there's no guarantees!
Here's a final shot of a co-worker and me goofing off with the forklift after work one day...
What do you guys think so far? It's come a LOOONG way, but still has a LOOONG way to go...
Long story short, my girlfriend gave me my 1992 EB. The automatic transmission was giving her so much trouble she gave up and bought a new Altima. The Ex was her first car, though, so she was reluctant to just outright sell it... so when I started looking for a new 4x4 project, it fit. She would get to see it live a whole new life and I'd get a 4x4... free!
Now that I've had it a few months, there were LOTS of things wrong...
Transfer case motor was "lost" (I replaced the bushing)
All window motors were bad (I rebuilt all four)
TPS was shot (I replaced it)
Power steering was whining (I somehow shut it up)
Intake tube was compromised (I replaced it)
All fluids and filters were NAAAASTY (still need to do the axles)
Fuel level gauge doesn't work (haven't gotten to that yet)
I managed to get the A4LD working decently enough to think I was good to go. Boy, was I wrong!
Here it is stock:
I installed a set of 132X Skyjacker coils, Procomp shocks (up front), and added a Chevy leaf to the rear. I also removed both swaybars completely and threw on my 34x10.50s to see if they'd fit...
They did... but I couldn't turn anywhere...
I cut the crap out of the front fenders. Spent six hours on the passenger's side, twenty minutes on the driver's side once I figured out how much to take out...
I thought things were good, so I took it on its first trail ride... and had a blast!!
Unfortunately, so did my transmission...
I let it cool off, filled it back up, and drove it 45 miles back home. I went the next morning and pulled a M5OD and all related hardware from a 1991 Mazda Navajo, then spent the next month and a half doing the transmission swap in my (rare) spare time. In the process of swapping the transmission the exhaust system fell apart, so I installed the Dynomax catback, which sounds great! I've been driving it for almost a month with the five speed and it's a whole new truck. I'm loving how well it rides, now. I scored some manual hubs from a member here, as well as a single hub at the junk yard and installed them recently. I'm sure glad to have a spare, as violent as I get on my throttle. Next will be to extend all my breathers- transfer case and both axles- to under the hood, probably by the master cylinders. I have a set of JKS bar pin eliminators that I'm hoping will fit the rear so I can run shocks with eyelets on both ends. I already have F250 shock towers for the front; just waiting until I get the time to tear into the front suspension and get all that work done. I figure it'll take a full day to get both sides installed and I don't have a full day any time soon, so I'll have to be patient on that.
That's the current status so far. I have its first trail ride (with manual transmission and manual hubs) coming up this Saturday... planning to have a great time. I'd get pictures, but it's a night run, so there's no guarantees!
Here's a final shot of a co-worker and me goofing off with the forklift after work one day...
What do you guys think so far? It's come a LOOONG way, but still has a LOOONG way to go...