I am looking into buying a 1991 Explorer. I have been told that this model has a bad reputation for not holding a good front end alignment. I would appreciate any feedback.

I've got a 91 Explorer now and like my 91 Ranger I had they both have a drift to the Right. I've had them both looked at by different places and it always comes back the same. Everything is straight, and we can't explain this drift. But other than that, They both have 120K plus with no major adjustments ever having to be done to them.

Dan

I recently had the front end aligned on my '94 XLT and they ended up having to put a shim under the coil spring on the passenger side. The mechanic said on the heavier vehicles like the Explorer the springs sag more quickly over time and the slight difference that makes would somethimes cause this drifting as the alignment can't be completely accurate and this could also cause it to come out of alignment more quickly. He says that the only thing to do besides replacing the springs are to put shims under the springs to compensate for this. It seems to have done the trick for my XLT, has anyone else run accross this?

I have a 91 2 dr EB with 90k miles, I don't have any major problems with alignment, although it does ride aq little on the rough side (its not a car) I love my Explorer in general. Good Luck

I have a 91EB with around 140k on it and have never had a problem with alignment. Ok, ok, I've knocked it out a time or two playing - but when it is re-aligned, it holds it good and tracks straight as an arrow.

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Danny
91EB
www.hit.net/~danny/explorer.html (http://www.hit.net/~danny/explorer.html)

You also may want to consider that your brake may be dragging on that side. That will also cause a drift.

Earl

Generally speaking, all Ford Twin Traction I Beam suspensions are notorious for getting alignment knocked out of whack rather easily... just nature of the beast. The best cure I found was to find a tire/alignment shop that offers life time / no minimum mileage alignments. I got a such a service contract for my '91 Navajo back in '93. When ever I did some heavy off roading, or whacked a curb too hard, I would just go in and have the realignment done for free each time. What made it really nice is that the shop is just 2 blocks from where I work, so I drop it off in the morning, and pick it up at lunch. The service contract cost me $79 back in '93... good deal! I noticed it's up to $139 now... but still a good deal cosidering I've more than paid for the life time service contract. Who knows.. maybe they raised their prices to cover all the alignments they've done for me in the past. Anyway, look into it...

Ivan

Originally posted by Quintin
I recently had the front end aligned on my '94 XLT and they ended up having to put a shim under the coil spring on the passenger side. The mechanic said on the heavier vehicles like the Explorer the springs sag more quickly over time and the slight difference that makes would somethimes cause this drifting as the alignment can't be completely accurate and this could also cause it to come out of alignment more quickly. He says that the only thing to do besides replacing the springs are to put shims under the springs to compensate for this. It seems to have done the trick for my XLT, has anyone else run accross this? What side was your Explorer pulling to before the shims were added to the passengers side? im geussing it was pulling to the right?, thanx!