Solved Lifts and Max tire sizes

EDAK52 · July 12, 2009

Easy lift?

i have a 96 ford explorer 4dr 4wd and i want to go too some bigger tires ive had 32's and 31's on it but they kept rubbing when taking wide turns. will a 3inch lift be good? does anybody have pics with a similar explorer with 3 inch lift? and whats the best cheapest way to do so? thanks

IZwack · July 12, 2009

If they are barely rubbing, the cheapest solution would probably some wheel spacers - maybe in the 1/2" to 3/4" range.

EDAK52 · July 14, 2009

i still definatley want to put a lift to get extra ride height any suggestions?

24anonymous · July 30, 2009

Long thread to try and read through. What is the best way to lift your truck 4 inches without tearing up your tires?

edit- I was looking through and searched for a 4 inch lift, looks like the superlift is the best but holy **** $1800 bucks? And you have to mess with your DS?

To give you an idea of what I want, I am putting 26's on the truck... Flame on but after the flame please help

grant00 · August 2, 2009

26's?? If im not mistaken i believe those are even smaller than the stock tires... my stock ones are about 29" and i have 255/70 R16

thepotroast · August 2, 2009

grant00 said:
26's?? If im not mistaken i believe those are even smaller than the stock tires... my stock ones are about 29" and i have 255/70 R16

A 255/70/16 is 29.05" in diameter.

A 305/30/26 is 33.20" in diameter.

He will need a lift for what are essentially the equivalent of 33's.

Not to mention, the 26's are 12" wide, your stockers are 10"

grant00 · August 3, 2009

yeah that makes sense. but that would mean 26 inch wheels which is why i was confused that anyone would lift their explorer to fit 26s. but whatever floats your boat haha.

24anonymous · August 4, 2009

Should have known to be more specific, most of you guys are the off road type.. They are 295/30/26

Correct me if I am wrong but the only way to lift the front end 4 inches is either add a leaf or spindles right? I am assuming the back can just use blocks

grant00 · August 4, 2009

24anonymous said:
Should have known to be more specific, most of you guys are the off road type.. They are 295/30/26

Correct me if I am wrong but the only way to lift the front end 4 inches is either add a leaf or spindles right? I am assuming the back can just use blocks

Add a leaf in the front is not possible due to our second gen x's have IFS in the front. you coud maybe do spindles if you have 2 wheel drive. i dont think they will work on 4 wheel drive because of the CV shafts. also if yours is 2 wheel drive you could just crank the torsion bars up since you dont have to worry about the CV shafts binding or breaking. Lift blocks in the back will not work because the explorers are the spring under axel. the blocks would be lowering it. you could do an SOA conversion but that might get you higher than the 4 inches that you want.

24anonymous · August 4, 2009

I have a 2 wheel. So its either spindles or TT in the front and SOA in the back? Whats SOA? And if I do a TT will it screw up the wear on my tires?

Pretty much I took it to a shop today and he told me what I knew... I need to lift it.. It will need to be lifted 4-5 inches and I am wandering how it can be done... If I do a TT how bad will it make my tires wear?

I dont want my **** ###### rigged is what it boils down to.. When I ask him how he was going to lift the front end all he could say if "I am just going to buy a lift"

But he went on to say he had been trying to get ahold of someone all day (a guy in town that already has 26's on a 2nd gen 2 door) to ask him how he did it..

edit: he also said he was going to use blocks in the back, if it cant be done then how else could he do it? Id rather not #### my **** up....

grant00 · August 5, 2009

okay for the front yes after you do a TT you would have to go get an alignment done to not mess up the wear on your tires. and what i would suggest, unless you dont like it, is to by a 3 inch body lift from performance accessories and have that installed. for you it would be part #883 i believe. i just installed the same kit on my 2000 XLT and i love it. that would gain you 3 inches of height and more clearance in the wheel wells for the bigger wheels and tires.

then in the front you would only have to do a slight TT to get that extra 2 inches or so to take it up to that 5 inches of lift you said you need.

and SOA is Spring Over Axel and that is taking your leaf springs in the rear and moving them to the top of the axel tube instead of under like they come stock. heres a picture i found of what it would be after the conversion. and you can search for spring over axel and find some writeups

131_0909_10_z+jeep_yj_spring_over_axles+springs_to_axle.jpg

ive also seen somewhere that you might be able to replace the leaf springs for some F-150 springs and that will get you some extra lift in the rear.

you can also add shackles in the rear, Warrior Products part #153, to get about 1.5" of extra lift in the rear as well.

grant00 · August 5, 2009

oh and you can oly use blocks in the back to LIFT it unless you do an SOA. if you use block in the back with you spring under axel setup then you will just be moving the leaf springs farther down, hence lowering the vehicle. the opposite of what you want to do.

24anonymous · August 5, 2009

So is this right? I just want to make sure I order the right thing. Noone in town can find a lift for it..

Calculator said : DIA- 33 Section Width- 11.6

3 inch body lift – 33x12.50x15 on 15x8 rim/ may require fender trimming (1st post)
(The 15x8 is irrelevant bc I am just worried about the width and height correct?)

grant00 · August 5, 2009

24anonymous said:
So is this right? I just want to make sure I order the right thing. Noone in town can find a lift for it..

Calculator said : DIA- 33 Section Width- 11.6

3 inch body lift – 33x12.50x15 on 15x8 rim/ may require fender trimming (1st post)
(The 15x8 is irrelevant bc I am just worried about the width and height correct?)

there is also a Superlift 4" suspension kit for close to $2K if you want to go that route.

and the wheels and tires shouldt rub if you do a little trimming after the lift if you have to. it also depends on the backspacing and offset of your wheels.

24anonymous · August 5, 2009

I am really not trying to go that route

I should have just stuck with the 97..

I think I am going to try the 883, if its not enough I can do a slight TT. If that dont work Ill just sell the damn things. They arent worth that much to put them on..

Thanks so much for your time.

grant00 · August 5, 2009

no problem. and to level it out after the TT you can get the shackles WAR#153 for about $70

mr_akers · August 17, 2009

Another fitment question.

I have a 2001 Sport trac 4wd. I was wondering what problems i may run into trying to add 33x15.5x18 on 18x10 wheels, if I have a 3in body lift and TT, and shackles? The only reason I ask is because ntwonline.com has a fantastic M/T tire and wheel package for that size. Thanks.

24anonymous · August 27, 2009

Ok here is where I am at, I bought the 883, I dont have a clue how to put it on or what is even in the box..

I did a TT, got the wheels on. The front wheels have about 5" from the tire to the body. The rear has about 2". So I am riding around with the front end higher..

I want to level it out, would a SOA alone get my rear end up enough to pretty much level it out?

Also will having the TT put any wear on the front end that it shouldnt? If so I would like to just do a SOA in the back and use the stuff from the kit to lift the front end.

Reason I am not wanting to use the lift in the back is from what I understand you have to do a SOA just to use the blocks from the lift and that will get me well over 3"

ShadowRaven · August 27, 2009

24anonymous said:
Ok here is where I am at, I bought the 883, I dont have a clue how to put it on or what is even in the box..

I did a TT, got the wheels on. The front wheels have about 5" from the tire to the body. The rear has about 2". So I am riding around with the front end higher..

I want to level it out, would a SOA alone get my rear end up enough to pretty much level it out?

Also will having the TT put any wear on the front end that it shouldnt? If so I would like to just do a SOA in the back and use the stuff from the kit to lift the front end.

Reason I am not wanting to use the lift in the back is from what I understand you have to do a SOA just to use the blocks from the lift and that will get me well over 3"

I myself have not done a SOA, but I have heard it gives you anywhere from 5-6", so you're gonna need to do some spindles up from if you want to level the front out with the rear. TT should have no affect on the front whatsoever, due to all it doing is pushing the rear connection to the frame downward (on the spring side) which pushes the frame upward from the rear axle. Finally, concerning the body lift question, the spacers that come with the kit are not lift blocks for the springs, they raise the entire body from the frame. Lift blocks raise the entire leaf spring from the rear axle, so they literally have nothing to do with a BL kit. Check out my PA-883 link in my signature, it'll explain everything you need to know about what a BL kit does, and how to install it. Hope this helps.

ShadowRaven · August 27, 2009

mr_akers said:
I have a 2001 Sport trac 4wd. I was wondering what problems i may run into trying to add 33x15.5x18 on 18x10 wheels, if I have a 3in body lift and TT, and shackles? The only reason I ask is because ntwonline.com has a fantastic M/T tire and wheel package for that size. Thanks.

33's are still gonna have some slight rubbing in the front if you do not twist the t-bars high enough. My fenders are 40" from the ground and I'm still rubbing on my 33's. The problem you will have is the possibility of blowing a CV Joint by lifting too high on the front end, due to your having a 4WD. From what I understand you can only do a maximum of 2" lift on a TT due to it binding the CV Joints after any further raising.

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