Finally registered!

First-time poster, but I've been stalking member specs here for the last 6 mos. Ha! Just started upgrading my '05 Fx4 Offroad. I'm not into hard core trail life much, but I want it set up for camping in the bed eventually. I did primary care for both my parents over the last 10 years & was not able to do anything with it other than think about fixing it up. Now, I'm free, I have an inheritance, & time to trick out 'Silver' (as call it, being a loner, w a Silver Ranger, ...get it?) ...before it turns to rust. It's been run mostly in NYS, so it's seen a lot of road-salt. Recently PA quit using salt, but they did in many years prior. So it's getting long in the tooth, & needs the attention I'm giving it. Hope to keep it on the road 5+ more years. And I'm a mech. design engineer & CAD/CAM/CNC tech who doesn't take well to wrenching in my free time. Here's a summary of my rig. I have 103K+ miles on it &, but for the Kenwood head, it's been just a stock light bad-a** up until recently.

Phase one: (I did back in Dec '18) Front needed new CV boots (?), tie rod ends & sway bar links. Also did Monroe shocks & re-keyed the torsion bars. Back got Gabriel shocks & 3" blocks (which turn out WAY to stiff for my application range). Also up-sized it's wheels & tires, & did a few cosmetics (WT wind guards, RC surrounds, Westen bars (*that will be for sale shortly).

Now phase two: RUST remediation! Rockers are shot, & a few spots on my bed exterior flunked PA inspection this Summer. Gonna be a $5,000 sticker! No worries. I'm not in the market for anything new & plan on keeping it as long as possible. Should be cutting the rockers by this time next week. Might get a fiberglass/alum bed-cap in this phase too, but they have to find, buy & ship a new bed first. I'll start a new thread on this soon,

Then phase three: ...is still on the drawing board. Hopefully before snow flies it will be a dupe of PunkRock's Sport-Trac leaf-spring swap.

End game: I'd like to haul a mt. bike(s) & kayak(s) on it top, plus a storage & sleeper set-up in the bed. More on that much l8r.

Great site guys! Member posts here have guided me thru most of this stuff thus far. Definitely gonna save me a lot of migraines! Many kudos to Admins & Members alike. Happy trails, cul8r...

 

Welcome from Georgia. Good luck with your plans. "Hi-Ho Silver Away".......Good lookin' truck. I like the wheels.