Thanks man.

To answer your specific questions, yes those are the stock fog light reflectors, I removed the shrouds from them as well.

I love the coilovers, they are an awesome upgrade from the torsion bars.

As far as my overall build, I am at a point where I am trying to decide between an SAS or keeping the IFS. Also I'm trying to decide between a supercharged 4.0 or a built 5.0.

The SAS may happen anyway, but for now I might double lift and go 35's to hold me over until I get a shop.

As far as the powertrain is concerned I have a few options:
-Supercharge the 4.0
-Expo 5.0 with a mild build (can still utilize stock gauges)
-Crate 5.0 for more options and run a full Autometer gauge cluster.

I haven't decided yet so I'm stick with aesthetics for now.

Hopefully I will be getting a styleside bed soon and some painted Edge flares.

Oh, and hopefully some taillight mod 2.0's

 

How did you get your reflectors out? I broke like 6 out of 8 of the plastic mounts taking mine out.. but then again I was in a ham-fisted mood at the time.. or maybe the plastic piece I'm talking about is the shroud you mentioned you got rid of.

Regarding SAS, are there particular reasons you'd like to make the switch or is it just something new to do? I've been considering putting a Ford 8.8 up front on my truck to match the back.

And the supercharged 4.0 vs 5.0 swap... that's a good debate cause you win either way Lol. I suppose it depends on much work you wanna do, and how much boost you'd be looking for if you go the SC route. If I remember correctly these engines tend to blow HGs at relatively low boost..

Personally I'd do the SC cause it would be easier, probably cheaper and less effort. Might want to replace/upgrade your head gasket while you're at it, and then you could look into cams and a valve job if you wanna go that direction.

Also depends on if this is your daily driver or more of a trail rig... if it were a trail rig I'd be more inclined to go all out and do a crate 5.0

 

an explorer 5.0L would be cheaper than a properly supercharged 4.0L.
uhh...8.8 up front? wut?

 

Mine were very stiff, I just move each a little a time until it came out, colder weather makes it much harder. The shroud is the black/grey thing inside of the reflector that keeps the light from taking full advantage of the reflecting surface

I've pondered SAS for a couple of reasons:
-It's an easier suspension system to service and modify
-more lift options
-more height

This begs the question on whether or not I really need SAS. Since I've had this truck for almost 10 years I'd hate to destroy it as a trail rig. I'm actually leaning towards going show truck/weekend driver kind of route. So it wouldn't be 'purpose built'

There isn't an 8.8 front axle, you'd need a D30 from a Jeep to match the rear

Any direction I go will be a lot of work, I have almost 150K on this motor so I would want to overhaul it for a SC regardless of the boost.

The Expo 5.0 would let me use stock gauges easily, but may keep me from unlocking true potential being limited by it's dated OEM computer system.

The crate 5.0 will be nice because I can pull all the OEM wiring and start fresh, but I would need to find a transmission and manual transfer case (manual tcase is easier to work with in that situation)

None of my options will truly be cheap, since the 4.0 and Expo 5.0 would need rebuilds.

One of the best mods I've done recently is buying a car to DD, this is going to let me really dig into the truck and get bigger stuff done.

 

Random thought of the night.

I'm thinking about removing my OEM fog lights, but with a catch. I want to leave the outer lens intact and mount an LED offroad light behind it.

The Rigid D2 Dually or cheaper imitators would fit in that space, but I'm wondering if I should try and find a round LED light to better fill the hole.

This would be wired independently of the OEM fog light wiring. I would wire the switch to the OEM fog light switch.

This is basically keeping with a clean look but with better lighting system.

What do you guys think?

 

I have thought long and hard about doing the same thing. The issue is keeping the lens clean as all the road grime finds its way up there. Maybe wih som good splash guards or sealing. I have been looking for a good set of round led fogs for a while but nothing perfect has popped up yet

Let me know if you come up with anything.

 

One way to solve that is to have a two position mount so you can swing it back and clean it, then lock it back into place

 

I'm ordering a set for My F- 250 justin. So much more light output vs. The stock fogs. My buddy has a set on his f150 and he just runs those and leaves his headlights off

 

In your truck and some Rangers they have the convenience of square fogs that the duallys fit into perfectly.

I have to deal with round fogs so I want to balance a clean look with a superior lighting setup.

The 01-03 fogs are so succeptable to leaking I'm afraid they will be full of water every time I hit a puddle

 

Some of the local shops that sell the off brand cree leds have round style lights. Or were you gonna get a plug in play type of Led bulb?

 

At first I was going to get plug in LEDs but 01-03 fogs leak too much for that.

That's where the idea came to mount a sealed off road light

 

Tape measure for reference. I can get a better measurement later when I take the whole thing out

 

Or get a 2004 edge lower valance. They have square fogs and run some d2s through those

 

I considered that at one time as well. I like the way my 01-03 valance looks, I might have to dig around and look at trucks that have done that valance swap.

The D2's fit perfectly in those fog spots. Someone did that and inspired me to try it on mine

 

Nice looking truck by the way so clean and organized. Puts mine to shame right now

 

The valance is pretty similar minus the fogs

 

Thanks. It's been a labor of love for sure.

 

Keep it up

 

I didnt know they fit into the 04 valence. Hmm...time to spend some cash i guess in the spring then lol my stupid oem fogs are fogged even after i sealed them. doesnt help that they occasionally get submerged under water

 

Yea, I just saw it the other day. The fit perfect.

Swapping an 04 valance will make this much easier, I just want to be different and try it on my current valance.

 

yeah i personally like the 01-03 front end the best so if you pull it off maybe i'll have to follow suit and give myself more work lol

 

I just ordered up a pair of BMW oem LED fogs and am going to see how they fit in the stock fog light openings. Dimensions are right I will just have to see about wiring.

 

i tried this before it was cool haha, before D2s even were out. i should have recessed them more, but they worked great.








scratch that, i did recess them. later..


aaaaand i just remembered that my photobucket account is maxed, so you probably cant see any of the pics above.

 

I can see them. The pics I saw on Facebook, the guy recessed them farther back and it looked great.

 

Link fgt