What did you do to your Sport Trac today?

[Powly]

I said goodbye to my 2001 Sport Trac with 127K miles. Purchased it used in 2005 as we needed a truck with a back seat for our baby daughter's car seat. In August we took the Sport Trac on a 2,800 mile road trip to Colorado to drop her off at college. Along the way, someone backed into the rear bumper while we were at a restaurant. Bumper parts are not available, so it got totaled. I will miss the truck.

Totalled by the insurer but I suspect could be repaired with wrecker or after market parts, no?

 

[Doug Kaye]

as Powly says - shouldn't be too hard to find bumper parts in the scrapyards ?
127k miles is just getting started ;-)
Also, fairly sure a back-in to the bumper will not have done structural damage. My bumper is bent down from a rear-end collision and I'm just driving it, frame is straight and the damage is only cosmetic.

What did I do today ?
put on new tires on my 2004 with 174k miles.. had been running the cheapest tires I could find, Pep Boys Futura Scramblers for $40 each. They were surprisingly good but not much use in snow. Those have been discontinued and the cheapest tires I could find are now $90 and up for brands no-one has ever heard of. Now have Atturo Trail Blade A/T with the 3PMSF for snow, at $112 each, $570 after fitting taxes etc etc. I'm interested to see if they are any better in the snow..

what I still need to do - the center console snapped when I leaned on it to get something out the back seat. The replacement metal piece is $150 which is ridiculous. I have a bunch of kevlar and fiberglass epoxy for repairing canoes, going to see what I can do with the plastic snapped bit..

 

[Richard McAlister]

Replaced the transmission shift interlock module with Dorman #924-707. It became increasingly stubborn to shift out of park. Installation was relative easy, to visualize the install, I "borrowed" several images from online to see the various views of the module and wiring. The module sits almost behind the air duct going to the back seat, but the duct is a flexible plastic tube which can be gently moved to provide more room for the install. I even considered cutting a portion of the duct to get it out of the way (repairing with duct tape later), but found this unnecessary. Advice: if you need to buy the part, shop around, I found prices from $26 to $84 for the same Dorman part. I paid $26. If you need one I'll sell you my old one for half price (it does work half the time) .

 

[Duane Foster]

To follow up on my post of Oct, 26, we took our 1357 mile round trip to Worthington (Columbus), Ohio via I-80, I-74, and I-70 2 weeks ago in my '02 ST. The truck did great, but didn't get the mpg I'd hoped. Wind was a factor. There was a 25-30 mph NNW wind hitting the left rear quarter for the 170 miles on I-80 through eastern Iowa, which was the hilliest portion of the trip. When we turned south on I-74 in Illinois, the wind was against the right rear quarter. By the time the terrain leveled off near Galesburg and we turned east, the wind died down a bit. We spent the night in Peoria and filled up there. The truck only managed 16.36 mpg on that section. Cruise was set at 75 for the trip where possible. Speedo reads a little fast.

The land between the Galesburg area and Columbus is pretty flat with the hills being long and gradual for the most part. The weather was great on Day 2 with virtually no wind. We made it from Peoria to about 30 miles west of Columbus before refueling. We got 19.63 mpg on that leg. We might have made 20 mpg if I had eased it back up to speed rather than hit the RESUME button on the cruise coming out of the numerous construction zones and after truck traffic cleared ahead of us after the steeper hills in Indiana.

When we left Columbus on Day 3, there was a stiff wind out of the south or SW. It wasn't too bad, but it created turbulence around trucks. I filled up before crossing into Illinois ($3.27/gal vs $3.67 just across the line). Spent the night in Danville, IL. 17.99 mpg on that tank.

Day 4 brought a breeze out of the SW. It seemed to ease somewhat as we got closer to home. Mpg on the last section was 17.77. Mileage for the trip averaged 17.9 mpg, not the 19+ I was hoping for, but the wind didn't help at all.
I only saw 2 to 4 other Sport Tracs on the entire trip. I often see more on a short trip across Des Moines.

 

[tim Peterson]

Looks like you live here in Canada, Alberta. You get some nasty winters out there.
Have you ever used LED lights on the exterior of a vehicle before?
I'm not a fan of them.
They don't produce enough heat to keep the head and most importantly, the tail lights clear in a good snow. Visibility is good.
Yes, you clear off your vehicle before you start out, but any Canadian knows that it doesn't take long for good snow build up to happen in a snow storm.
I've had several incidents in the last few years of almost hitting someone from behind because I couldn't see their brake lights, or any lights. It's always been a car with LED lighting. My wife's new Subaru last winter, Halogen headlights kept the road clear ahead of her, but zero could been seen of her led taillights. A 10 minute drive home from school and nothing could be seen of her tail lights. I am currently trying to figure out how to retrofit them back to a good old, heat producing incandescent bulb.
In snowy winter conditions, I just don't think they're safe.
I drive my vehicles all across Canada for work. On the road, I've seen it all.

All this negative being said however, LED's do make great supplementary lightning, I have have LED light bars or driving lights on all 3 of my vehicles (just put them on the ST yesterday) and love them. I couldn't imagine allot of dark nights in the middle of nowhere driving without them. I am know they have saved me from hitting more than a few big animals on dark nights.

Just my 2 cents worth, food for thought.

My first winter with led lights, I just bought the truck with all the lights replaced so we will see. The guy I bought it off drove from Edmonton to Saskatoon every week for years he stated and just did the lights.so we'll see.

 

[tim Peterson]

Hi, did your baby come with the Microsoft sync head unit, the one I bought the gut put in a cheap touch screen unit, I went to wreckers twice and could only find a cd amfm Unit. If you do I'm interested ok.

 

[user 78012]

Installed a Roush Tensioner today.
I got all the belt tension now!

 

[my red sta]

Hi, did your baby come with the Microsoft sync head unit, the one I bought the gut put in a cheap touch screen unit, I went to wreckers twice and could only find a cd amfm Unit. If you do I'm interested ok.

This one?

 

[tim Peterson]

This one?

Yes that one , hard to find, do you want to part with it ?

 

[my red sta]

I would be willing to let it go.
PM me.

 

[user 71196]

Oh man, what didn't I do is more like it.
Today I tackled the body mount bushings. Had the red prothane ones in the box for years, finally put them on today! Long story short, a divorce has made me take the truck from a "ranch vehicle" that it has been the last 5 years; back into a daily driver. Been slowly getting it back into shape the last 9 months, but that time is up now, and it's got to step up.

 

["Risky Bizness"]

A divorce sux !!!

 

[my red sta]

Replaced all of the gauge cluster bulbs yesterday.
Looking into putting heated mirrors in, and maybe wiper de-icer elements, and a defroster on the back window of the bed cap. Very handy things here in Canada.

 

[user 71196]

Took it easy today. Replaced the alternator and the battery cable post connector (neg side) which seems to have resolved my speedo bouncing around at idle, and my overhead (temp, compass) resetting when rolling any windows down.
Tommorow should be another easy day, replacing the center console arm rest and maybe some interior touchup

 

[kent Gorham]

Replaced all of the gauge cluster bulbs yesterday.
Looking into putting heated mirrors in, and maybe wiper de-icer elements, and a defroster on the back window of the bed cap. Very handy things here in Canada.

How hard is that to do? My cluster bulbs could use help. Pictures or advice appreciated.

 

[my red sta]

How hard is that to do? My cluster bulbs could use help. Pictures or advice appreciated.

I am a Gen 2, not sure what yours is, Gen 1 might be different.

Very simple.
Here is a link to the video I watched:



Also a picture of the Ford part.
As far as I could find, only available from Ford.
7 bulbs in all, I would change them all while you are there, and while they are still available. Parts guy at my local dealer was surprised he could still get them.

 

[user 78012]

I may have a problem…

But 12psi feels pretty damn good tho!
Everyone pray for my rods

 

[user 71196]

Finally re-covered my arm rest finally. Took way too long to get the new vinyl stretched and folded "good enough" onto the plastic parts. You can see a few areas on the edges where I said to heck with it; at least the top is smooth. Much better than what it was the last few years.

 

[Doug Kaye]

busted my arm rest by leaning on it to reach something in the back seat, stupid. It's a silly little piece of plastic under there, not surprising it busted.

The replacement part appears to be about $150, that is silly too.
part # is 3L2Z-78047A20-AAE available a few places, some Ford dealers, and copies on ebay.

Instead used what I've learned repairing Kevlar canoes, to repair the plastic..
Removed the vinyl and cushion which is still in good shape. The remaining scrap of plastic on the hinge was large enough to do a repair I thought. Used a leftover piece of 4x4 wood in front to support the broken piece while the epoxy cured.
Apply epoxy, fit the pieces together, paper towel under the break to absorb any dripping epoxy. Cut a piece of Kevlar to fit, epoxy over that. A sheet of peel-ply over the Kevlar while curing, to ensure good epoxy saturation of the Kevlar and a smooth finish.
Wait 24 hours, remove peel-ply, reassemble with cushion.

Now my plastic is bulletproof ;-)

 

["Risky Bizness"]

Gave mine a bath, before the weather turns bad.