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Republished November
2004
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Ford
ExplorerTech
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| By Fidel
Gonzales
Several months ago,
Off-Road.com was proud to present Gloria & Lee Zimmermann's
outrageous Ford Explorer. With over 19 inches of "VERTICAL" wheel
travel from the Dana 35 TTB, It was right at home where many lesser
vehicles feared to tread. Namely, 4+ rated territory.
But with more capable equipment comes the desire,
nay, "Need" to push those capabilities. Eventually, things will
break, or as in the case of the Explorer's radius arms, "bend".
Well, chalk it up to a lesson learned, but now what? The answer is
simple (that is, if you're Lee Zimmermann ;-). Off came the
offending hardware, and in thier place went a new, far more durable
design.
With more massive tubing, extensive
bracing, and hiem joints sized for a Trophy Truck (literally), the
Zimmermann's Explorer continues to redefine the outer limits of TTB
performance!
From Gloria Zimmermann: "Here is some new information on our front end. The pictures old pictures in the 19" Travel article of the radius arms are now incorrect. After leading Woodpecker at the AZ State Assoc Jamboree in Oct 97, we built new radius arms. The reason, we bent the old ones, and the crossmember." "The new radius arms are built with 2" tubing with 1/3" wall thickness (schedule 160). They are connected to the stock sections of the arms in the same manner as before, but more reinforcing is used. We also double plated the mounting area of the arms (see picture newarm). We are now using 1" heim joints with a load rating of 24,000 pounds (they weigh 2 1/2 pounds each). The ends of the arms where the heim joints connect are made out of solid stock." 
"We turned them down on the lathe so that they could be press
fit into the tubing (a 12 ton press was maxed out doing this). Lee
radiused both the tubing and the solid stock to accept a thick bead
of weld. He then turned out the other end, and tapped it to recieve
the heim joints. We then built a new cross member out of square
tubing for more strength." 
"For those people who may be interested in doing something
like this, there is one thing they need to know. The upper bolt for
the passenger side radius arm needs to be spaced up 1/4" and the
end needs to be relieved 1/8". This is due to the ammount of
verticle axle movment from the travel. If you do not do this the
axle will bind and the washer that goes on the end of the stub
shaft to retain the axle in the spindle will get mutilated and
pulled in."
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