thepotroast's Lifted 2003 Ex 4x4

[thepotroast]

** NEW PICS ** 07/20/09 3" Body lift and wheels/tires on. See bottom of post

** NEW PICS ** 07/26/09 DDM HID foglight and headlights in. See bottom of post

** NEW PICS ** 08/26/09 RoadBully Lift installed. 2.25" front / 1.75" rear See bottom of post

** NEW PICS ** 07/08/2010 Roof basket, Bull Bar, PIAA lighting, full size spare on top See bottom of post

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My 2003 NBX 4x4, currently 136k miles (as of July 2010).

List of mods:

3" body lift
2.25" front / 1.75" rear RoadBully suspension lift
16x8 Dick Cepek DC-1 Polished Wheels
285/75/16 Nitto Terra Grapplers
KKM Cold-Air Intake
DDM Motorsports 6000k HID headlights and 3000k fog lights
PIAA 520ATP aux lights
Yakima LoadWarrior roof basket
Bull bar
Alpine deck, Sirius Sportster 5 radio


Stock:












KKM Intake:




3" Body Lift:




Dick Cepek DC-1 16x8 wheels and 285/75 Nitto Terra Grapplers:



3" Body Lift (no suspension lift):










DDM Motorsports HID lights. 6000k headlights, 3000k foggers:




Body Lift & Suspension Lift:













*** UPDATE July 2010 ***

Here's some more current pictures of the Explorer:

















*** Bull bar installed with PIAA lighting with full size spare up top ***

[huntersteve61]

Very nice. Do something about that center radio bezel!!! I like the 4x4 stickers I always liked white 3rd gens. I bet its going to look good when its defying gravity next month!! Keep posting pictures

[thepotroast]

Moved pics to first thread

[dkchrist]

Oh, come on the suspense is killing us

[Sams01XplrSprt]

nice x u got there keep up good work

[thepotroast]

I'm hoping to start the body lift this weekend....I've dedicated the past couple of weekends to replacing ball joints and hub/bearing assemblies!! That and with a new baby in the house, it's hard to get some "garage time" to dedicate to on weeknights!

So hopefully I can get this body lift started and make some progress with going up!

[Cozmik]

Nice wheel/tire package! Can't wait to see the lift and tires on the truck.

[davesexplorer]

I'm waiting on free time to do a body lift on mine too... Pretty difficult to keep waiting. Looks good so far though!

[thepotroast]

Just did the body lift over the weekend, will update with pics shortly. RB spacers will be in this week, they are next to go on.

[Cozmik]

How did the lift go? What kind of time frame did it take you?

[thepotroast]

Originally Posted by Cozmik

How did the lift go? What kind of time frame did it take you?

Actually was a royal PITA....and this from a guy who has done BL's in the past. Mainly because the kit really isn't for an Explorer...by this I mean that some of the bolts are too long so you need to add washers, a proper BL would include brackets to adapt to the lower radiator fan shroud (instead of having to cut it), you have to drill out the threads on the front body mount bumper discs so the bolts can go through, you have to modify the steering extension significantly to fit the telescoping tube as well as shaft, modify the front bumper brackets to fit, no rear bumper brackets so I cut away at some of the plastic on the bottom so the hitch could clear (I did not flip it....I have a class III/IV and did not want to waste the time trimming and flipping...it was easier to keep it in place and make a few simple cuts).

I solo'd this, thankfully in my air conditioned garage, pretty hot and humid here on the east coast this weekend. Took me probably 12 man hours total. Besides the above mods, getting the front body bolts out (by the front bumper) were absolutely the worst. I had to take a torch to them, soak liquid wrench, and break them loose with a chain wrench (to grip the threaded washers). Actually I ended up using a torch on every body bolt from underneath, just heating up the threads where there go into the large discs that act as nuts....it made getting them out much much easier, I highly recommend this. I just used a $10 propane torch set.

Will get pics up later this week, transformation is still not done, waiting on the RB lift to come in and will tackle that....also waiting on new locking lug nuts for the wheels....so the truck will sit in the garage for the next week

[Cozmik]

Congrats on the job getting done. That is one job I have no intention of doing. If I can fit 285's with the spacers great, if not I'll stick with my 265's.

I look forward to seeing the pics of this beast as the build continues.

[thepotroast]

New HID's are on order....

DDM 3000k (yellow) fogs
DDM 6000k headlights

Will post pics once installed

[thepotroast]

Just posted some pictures of the 3" body lift and new wheels/tires, in the first thread, bottom of page

The RB suspension lift is still in transit....so once it comes in, the truck will go up a couple more inches

[thepotroast]

Bump, new pictures added in original post with complete lift.

[mhartson]

Stern rules! baba booey! love the '03 x , i got one only its green.

[Got2bneo]

What did you do with your front hitch adapter?

[thepotroast]

Originally Posted by Got2bneo

What did you do with your front hitch adapter?

It's listed in the Classifieds section on the forum

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/...d.php?t=266795

[Sams01XplrSprt]

i wanna put 8,000k for my headlights and 3,000k for my fogs on my 01 sport

[thepotroast]

Originally Posted by Sams01XplrSprt

i wanna put 8,000k for my headlights and 3,000k for my fogs on my 01 sport

www.ddmtuning.com is where mine are from. $50 per kit (so $100 total for heads and fogs), and you can pick your color, they are ultra slim digital ballasts, I've had mine for a year with no issues at all. About the cheapest and most reliable HID's around. I heard about them from members on this forum, and have not been disappointed.