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The Mighty Merc –Leaf Spring Refresh
Now that the IFS has been hacked out of the way, it is time to do a little freshening up the leaf springs that I plan to use. While not an exciting post, I did have some issues finding the right bushings for the springs I was planning on using. For the rear, I am using GM 63” leafs from a 2000 GM 1500 2wd truck. Oddly enough, this GM leaf pack wound up being the same build from my…
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The Mighty Merc – No IFS, ands, or buts! Removing the IFS
One of the big days has arrived! It’s time to really commit to this project, by hacking off some parts that would be incredibly hard to put back on. By the time I remembered to grab the camera, I had already unbolted a large portion of stuff (knuckles, control arms, etc). Which left me with this:
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The Mighty Merc – M5OD Maintenance
While the 4R70W isn’t a bad transmission, and probably one of the few automatics that doesn’t piss me off, I still rather have a manual. After searching for a small block ZF-5 that wasn’t overly priced or broken, I came across a M5OD out of a 4.2 V6 truck from a ’97 F150. The 4.2 trucks use the Small Bock Ford bell pattern (have to drill out the top two bolts to 7/16”), and they have the shifter tower further…
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The Mighty Merc – HP60 and 14 Bolt Refresh
These are some of the ‘jewels’ of this build. While likely overkill for what I’ll wind up doing with this rig, I at least won’t have to worry (much) about something failing in one of them. The Dana 60 is a leftover from the Ranger part out. It had about 50,000 miles put on it since it was installed in that truck. It was built with 4.88’s, Spartan locker, high steer, and the typical GM steering setup. You can read…
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The Mighty Merc – NP205 Mount
After shaving the stock mount off the NP205, I needed to come up with another mount to help support things. I didn’t really care for the mounts that were available commercially, so a little thinking netted me this: