Greetings from the Pacific North West | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Greetings from the Pacific North West

Capone425

Member
Joined
March 22, 2018
Messages
28
Reaction score
18
City, State
Marysville, WA
Year, Model & Trim Level
1991 Ford Explorer
Callsign
Capone
Hello,
I am the new owner of a 91 Explorer that is in roughly 8 inches of lift and 33's. I just bought it a couple of weeks ago from my friend who bought it already lifted without wheels and tires. He put some 33's on some factory rims and took it out wheeling last summer. It performed quite poorly as it seemed to be originally built as a highway queen and the suspension was too stiff, not allowing hardly any flex at all. Pair that with the worn out clutches in the limited slip and we got lots of three wheeling and tire spinning without really going anywhere. My brother and I helped him put in a rear end form a 2nd gen explorer (disc brake upgrade). Welded up the rear and did a spring over so we could go back to much softer stock springs (real soft when they are 2 decades old) giving it more suspension travel. My buddy had a hard time getting the rear brakes to bleed so he parked it last fall and there it sat until I took possession of it.

I fixed a few things, including the brakes, and am taking it out this weekend to see how it does.

Future plans include
Teraflex shackles in the back to get a couple more inches of lift and more travel
D30 SAS from 1st Gen Grand Cherokee (Just have to figure out how to change the bolt pattern from 5on5 to 5on4.5 but I think it can be done with XJ wheel bearings, just got to do a little more research)
8in long travel kit for the front, because again, more flex
35s on 15x10 so I can get much wider in stance.

20180305_091059.jpg
 



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Anybody out there with any experience in the WJ D30 swap feel free to get in touch with me haha.
 












Welcome to the forum.

Several Washington EF members will be running the trails at Tahuya next weekend. If you can, come on out!

One of our guys is coming down from Mt Vernon.

Click on this
NWX March Madness March 31st Tahuya State Forest
 






Welcome to the forum.

Several Washington EF members will be running the trails at Tahuya next weekend. If you can, come on out!

One of our guys is coming down from Mt Vernon.

Click on this
NWX March Madness March 31st Tahuya State Forest

Unfortunately I won't be able to make that. 1) My explorer doesn't do so well on the highway and 2) I haven't yet purchased a trailer to put it on so only local trips for me for the time being. Sounds like fun though, I have never been over there before.
 






What is the issue with freeway driving?
 






What is the issue with freeway driving?

With the SOA in the rear, it has no sway bars. She is now very tall, very narrow because she is still on stock wheels and has no rear sway bar. It gets a bit sketchy north of 50 MPH. Plus the front end needs some work also. Nothing I am too worried about as it is destined to be a trailer rig I think.
 






If you have the wobble, it's a camber issue in the front. Don't need a rear sway bar.

Been there done that.

If you want a good alignment (assuming it can still be aligned with max camber bushings), go see Scott at Midas on State ST
 






BTW, those fender flares are GOLD.

Be careful with them :)
 






If you have the wobble, it's a camber issue in the front. Don't need a rear sway bar.

Been there done that.

If you want a good alignment (assuming it can still be aligned with max camber bushings), go see Scott at Midas on State ST

Well, it's got the good old death wobble in the front, but that's not the real problem. The real problem is the sway. Like literally back and forth like a small boat on the big ocean north of about 55MPH. From what I have heard from a few people it's a common problem with these. This is my first as I have owned XJ's before. (I got an alignment guy lol, my brother is the alignment guy at Formula Tire on State St)
 






BTW, those fender flares are GOLD.

Be careful with them :)

Hah, they will likely be coming off. If they are gold, perhaps I can sell them to help fund further building?
 






Fix the wobble first. I ended cutting a coil off the spring cause I. don't have the money for cut & turn beams. That corrected my camber and the wobble too.

I'm sure you can get premium price for those flares on this site. I'd start at at least $200 or more and see what kind of response you get
 






Fix the wobble first. I ended cutting a coil off the spring cause I. don't have the money for cut & turn beams. That corrected my camber and the wobble too.

I'm sure you can get premium price for those flares on this site. I'd start at at least $200 or more and see what kind of response you get

Good to know. I probably wont do it though. Buying a house right now and then buikding a shop. Then this will be transformed into a trailer only rig lol
 






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