What did you do to your other vehicle today?

I'm not sure if those are forum recommended.

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I'm not sure if those are forum recommended.

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The stockers had very little rebound and passenger rear was able to be compressed with a finger. But so far these are pretty nice feeling. Rear is planted, the smaller events are noticeable but the bigger ones are absorbed well. But don't tell no one they're bilsteins...
 
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The stockers had very little rebound and passenger rear was able to be compressed with a finger. But so far these are pretty nice feeling. Rear is planted, the smaller events are noticeable but the bigger ones are absorbed well. But don't tell no one they're bilsteins...

Better get a Lite Brite Nation sticker.
 
New front tire day for the Ural.
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Both old and new tires fought me but I won. Both tires are Duro HF307 in a 4.00-19 size. It's been a real PITA to get a new Duro knobby tire since summer due to supply chain issues.:rolleyes: New tires were supposed to be in the US on 11/1. That has been pushed back to 11/28. I got lucky and may have gotten one of the last ones in the US.
 
Got the front bilsteins in. What a chore. They're adjustable up to 2" by preloading the spring. I set them at 2", and the ride was horrible. Set them to 1.5, still horrible. Set them to 0 (stock) and tossed my 2" spacer back on. Much better. Firm riding and cornering, but still soaks up the jarring events well.
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I took this entire week off with the intent of finishing my Expedition rebuild, but the gods of supply chain errors have conspired against me...

Back Story
The last major work before starting re-assembly was to rebuild the transfer case. I had parts in hand and started on Saturday. On Sunday, I discovered a few worn parts inside (not normal wear items) and one missing part - the magnet, which keeps the oil pickup screen from getting torn up by the chain (the screen had a rectangular hole sawn into it from the chain.) I've owned this thing from new, and the transfer case has never been apart, so the magnet must have been omitted when it was built. I spent hours on the inter-webs Sunday finding the parts "in stock" and placed orders, including paying about $150 for overnight shipping so that I'd have them on Tuesday.

Woe Is Me
So, of the three parts, I have one in hand - the pick-up screen. Ironically, it's the one I least expected to receive on Tuesday, and since it was a cheap part, I ordered two of them from two different vendors to ensure I received it. Yes, the one redundant order I placed was the only one that arrived as expected! The other two parts' journeys are both epic fails. I spent hours on the phone and email trying to coordinate and ensure I'd receive them, to no avail.

I ordered the missing magnet online from my local Ford dealer on Sunday. On Monday morning, I tried calling their parts department to explain that I needed it ASAP - no answer. I called three times, and they never answered the phone. How is this possible? They are a brick-and-mortar Ford dealer! I then emailed them, and to my surprise, I received a response in about an hour. I explained the urgency, and he assured me that I could get it overnighted from the Detroit warehouse (the only stock in the USA), so I paid extra for that. That package is now lost in UPS' vast black hole of ineptitude. Yesterday, he re-ordered it, but both he and his helper will be off tomorrow when it arrives, so there's no telling what new surprises are in store for me!

I ordered the other part from Randy's Worldwide, that outfit renowned for great customer service (yeah, that's sarcasm). They had inventory in two warehouses. I paid $135 for the part and $133 for overnight shipping. It was an online order, and I've ordered from them before with no shipping issues. I followed up with unanswered phone calls, like the Ford dealer, but they did respond through their online chat system, which reverts to email after initial contact. A guy named Tate really tried hard to ensure I got it, but it took him an entire day to get it done, delaying delivery to Wednesday. Unfortunately, someone in their MN warehouse only entered the last four digits of my zip code, so it went into UPS limbo. How is that even possible? Apparently their warehouses and web site databases are not connected because otherwise, it would have been automatically entered correctly! Yesterday, Tate apologized for the error and assured me that the MN warehouse had corrected the error and the package would be re-routed to me for delivery tomorrow. However, when tracking it, it still shows to be in limbo. I'm hoping that it really is on the way under a new tracking number unknown to me, but I have my doubts.

I'm now fully expecting that this week off was a complete waste as far as completing the Expedition goes. Oh, well, at least I found the time yesterday to go punch 600 holes in paper with my Austrian semi-automatic paper punches. That was an unexpected blessing!

I'll tell you what - this new world order can suck it!

(thanks for letting me vent!)
 
Finally got the bus back in the garage for some much needed tlc. Hubby is going to fix the exhaust leak for good this time. He welding brackets on the exhaust that will make it direct bolt on instead of having the donut clamp. So tired of seeing everyone duck everytime I let off the throttle. LOL The bangs are very loud. :D
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The Expedition expedition continues to see setbacks. Yesterday, the second case magnet sent overnight from Ford's Detroit main warehouse to my local dealer was lost in the same system. Here's my thought on that. It's a magnet about 1" square. If it was shipped in a bubble envelope, it is probably sticking to a steel conveyor frame somewhere, right next to the one sent a day earlier! Nonetheless, I decided to heed the words of my elders - "the Lord helps them that helps himself!" It's a magnet, how hard can it be to cobble something together?

Here's the situation: from the factory, the magnet appears to have been missing (I've owned the truck since new, and the transfer case has never been opened.) The magnet holds the oil pickup screen in place in a dovetail in the case. Here's a picture with the oil pickup in place (a new one) without the magnet:

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Here's what happens when the missing magnet causes the chain to saw into the pickup screen:

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This was my plan: cut a piece of scrap steel to size, mill a socket in it for a round neodymium magnet from Home Depot, and put the magnet in the socket. Here's what I started with:

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I marked the piece and proceeded to milling (on an old drill press, since the mill I have access to is 45 miles away):

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Socket completed:

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Next, I cut the piece to size and cleaned it up as best as I could (the milling was horrible because the old drill press has tons of play in the spindle):

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Popped the magnet in:

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And put it in the case:

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And, I can now finally put this case together and start rebuilding the Expedition - woo hoo! Now, you may be asking, "why didn't sab just do this on Monday to salvage the week off to finish this project?" That's a great question - thank you for asking! There was another part that would have been much more difficult to fix that was also delayed. It didn't arrive until yesterday morning, so this simple part was not my only holdup on the transfer case rebuild, so doing this earlier would not have expedited the Expedition expedition. :sneaky:

I have one more issue I'm working through with this transfer case. I haven't figured out how it all works, yet. It has a shift cam for AWD, 4HI, and 4LO, and a front/rear friction clutch that is actuated by a big magnetic coil. The bias in AWD is RWD until the rear wheels spin, and then the clutch engages to apply torque to the front driveshaft. Apparently, the coil is controlled by a module that senses the front and rear output shaft speeds through Hall Effect sensors and 30-tooth tone wheels. When the speeds differ by some threshold, the coil is activated to either engage or disengage the clutch (I can't tell since the only way to observe the coil action is when the cases are assembled, and then you can't see it.)

When assembled per the Ford manual, which is pretty detailed, in the AWD position, the sprockets are misaligned axially, but the clutch is engaged, so the chain turns the front output shaft. I'm afraid I've assembled something incorrectly, and once I put it together, this thing's gonna grenade due to that misalignment. I've put this thing together about a dozen times (remember I had all week to kill waiting on parts), and each time I end up at this point with misaligned sprockets but the front output shaft engaged. When the shift cam turns from AWD to either 4WD modes, the sprockets appear to want to line up, but I think it's impossible to manually simulate the actions of case when it's on a bench being assembled. The coil seems to be integral to the operation, as does the need to put the case halves together. Since I have the body off, I can't even plug in everything and test it without finishing all my work, either. I'm thinking that perhaps the coil is normally energized, disengaging the clutch and preventing the misalignment from being an issue, but it just doesn't make sense to me.

If anyone has experience with a Borg-Warner 4406 T.O.D. (Torque On Demand) transfer case, I'd sure appreciate some knowledge transfer! I'm just going to put this Expedition back together and carefully test it on my lift before driving it so that I keep any damage to a minimum. I may have to remove the transfer case again before I'm done, but from the bottom this time...
 
Well, after all my shipping woes, by the end of my Thanksgiving break, I managed to get the Expedition chassis 95% complete:

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That's a Ford-rebuilt long block with new intake manifold, new injectors, new coils and plugs, and new water pump. Oh, yeah, new IAC valve, too. It was a victim of the engine installation. One of the lift chains broke the connector off when I angled the engine to install onto the transmission. It's always something... I also installed a new fuel pump and filter, rebuilt transmission, rebuilt transfer case, and rebuilt driveshafts.

This weekend, I hope to drop the cab on it, button things up, and go for a test drive. Hopefully, it'll go another 250,000 miles for me!
 
By the way, I get a lot of eye-rolling from friends who say, "why don't you just by a new Expedition?" when they see how much work I'm doing on this project. Not counting my labor because it's therapeutic to me, I've essentially completely rebuilt the drivetrain for about $9,000. That's more than book value for the vehicle, but it pales compared to the price of a new Expedition. My ideas on car valuation have changed over the years, and especially post-COVID. I no longer weigh the cost of repair against the book value; rather, I weigh it against the cost of replacement, for something equal in durability.