got new lowering kit for about 4" drop

[reserved50]

i'll put it in in a week or so,bought new leafs(old ones looked rusty and wanted stock look with no blocks), drop keyways, adjustable upper arms, camcentric washers, and getting new shocks, after 1200$cnd this crap better work

 

[99SportX]

Adjustable upper arms? Sweet. Where did you get them from?

 

[etc]

got pictures of those arms?

 

[reserved50]

air bag it whatever had them, i wouldnt buy them yet, I dont even know if it'll work, they said it should(their site said 98 up, mines a 97), I was worried I had to buy ball joints but it came with them, hopefully they'll fit into the stock spindles. Main reason for adjustable arms is if I had to modify them these parts will make it easier to do so and to align it

 

[reserved50]

yes I drove over a landmine , backs done, everything fits but havent checked the spring rate compared to stock, it dropped mine about 2", add the 1" for sag so it was a 3" drop on the rear, stock shocks will still work for rear if you must, if you have a large diameter tailpipe or if it hangs too low it might hit the leafs on compression, the spring quality/materials/hardware might be slightly below OEM, but Im not complaining(less insulators used etc)

The drop keyways are offset about the same angle as what you would get when you flip the keyways, BUT they look exactly like factory and have all the machining like factory so no dimpling needed etc. Only problem might be on a 95-97? where the rubber insulator on top is not included on the keyways(mine were missing anyways) and not available seperately from anywhere, so I could of used FLEXIBLE seam/body sealer on the keyways and glued on a small strip of rubber like a 8rib wide section of fan belt and used silicone lube between the belt and body.

 

[Turdle]

Where did you locate this kit?

 

[reserved50]

air bag it whatever had them

AIM, I had to piece it together, I still have to install the upper arms so I still dont have a word on how much they correct and how they fit SLIGHT SNAG..., it'll be about a week before its all in and aligned. You would also have to buy the camber/caster adjusters from another source for these arms at the very least since you have to remove them from the frame to adjust the angles to get it close enough to fine tune it with the camcentric washers(arent on turnbuckles). SO I would still wait till I figure it all out (back to the "snag" part)

 

[Hartman]

http://www.airbagit.com/

wow, i'm interested to see how this turns out. this site used to have an absolutely terrible reputation for both customer service and quality of parts.

 

[reserved50]

http://www.truckn-store.com/product_list.asp?id=1855 , I ordered from the contact number on here, is it the same place?


well so far they have been GREAT, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and a representative is helping me resolve a problem right now, shouldnt be long. I talked to several people there and they all seemed helpful and havent got the run around yet, maybe they canned all the old employees lol. The machining and quality of welds along with the urethane bushings in the front arms( the lack of turnbuckles on the front arms is a time waster though), are what you would find with other brand name tubular arms/components at least pretty close, I wouldnt put crap on my vehicles, I've had enough of that


.... another way is to go to a wrecker and buy a 2 piece OEM right front arm and use it on the left side also, then modify both sides to accept about a 1/2" spacer between the two pieces and buy the camcentric washers and extended grade 8 bolts/washers/nuts whatever to correct for camber<---seen it done and this works also, requires some modification to the caster adjustment on the two piece arm...remember that ####ing with non OEM suspension components is something you do at your own risk, i can personally tell just by looking at it what would be safe or what wouldnt, angles,modifications etc. Since its a bad habbit of mine to fart with everything I see, your call

...yet another way : is to cut the upper arm mounts off and relocate them outward and reuse your stock upper arms, where theres a will theres a way

 

[reserved50]

for starters you need to remove the bump stops and cut the crossmember so the lower arm will touch the bumpstop metal pad (not the rubber part). Then mark the shock when fully compressed and then install it and raise the lower arm and make sure you have atleast 1/2" before it bottoms(if not cut the shock or buy drop shocks, or it will bottom and blow the seals). .This should give about 2" extra travel.

To do all this you must remove the tension on the torsion bar, or just remove it

 

[rlfknlorangers]

aim still has a horrible reputation in my world-lol

 

[rlfknlorangers]

lets just say shaim, aim sindustrustries,, F%$&in suspension...you get the idea-lol

 

[reserved50]

I'll find out lol, what have you heard etc

 

[reserved50]

... umm on the rear I had to buy the shorter/softer Energy Suspension urethane bump stops (wedge shaped rectangular stops) since there was about 1/2" from the axle. The Addco rear bar I had on was also whacking the diff cover GREEEEATTT so then I removed the endlinks and chopped out the straight section just above the lower eyelits(after I pressed out the bushing) and re-welded it back.
If anyone has a 95-97 Exploder and want to upgrade the front bar to a 98+ all you need is the bar and brackets/bolts (can re-use old endlinks if you want). I just made a note where the bar sat on a 98 and placed my brackets in the same location on the frame and drilled 4 holes and tapped them( if you DONT tap the holes right thru it leaves the holes a little tight so it pinches the bolt snug). I just used the greasable 1/5/16"? sway bar bushings/brackets and the 4.5" ES endlinks. You do have to move the P/S cooler if you have one, just unbolt it and tweak the mount so the cooler sits lower and perfectly vertical instead of slanted like before, you also need to extend one line (only use lines meant for oil or it'll turn into mush).
Also anything past about 3.5" you might experience bump steer (vehicle toe changes as suspension rebounds and compresses due to tie-rods pulling the wheel in/out), then you might have to have the outer tie-rod hole in the spindle filled and remachined so the tie-rods mount from the bottom up, theres other ways also. Anything past 2.5" drop on a 4wd/4x4 will/might cause CV joints to vibrate as speed increases

 

[reserved50]

I got another set of arms, these ones should work after I made them make another set(thats why I kept saying hold off till I try them due some info about their reputation), they used a new jig and they ordered OEM ones as reference after getting sent non adjustable arms the umm 50th time? and having certain guys there telling me what they thought was right (said 98 up Ranger arms are all different from 95-01 Exploder upper arms). . SO if you can actually get the right parts sent goodluck it should work , about 1" over stock length these will give . I'll toss them on shortly and see how they go.

BTW the guy that was actually "helping" me as I mentioned earlier they said they fired him and instead got some guy telling me how Exploder arms are custom and different than Ranger arms lol . Remember they will hold you to the 35% restocking fee anyway they can, should also keep in mind any place that has high restocking fees, customer service and quality is the ***** ( I thought the quality was ok though on these arms). Heres something to look at, I dont want people buying crap from here and sayin "you told me they were ok" http://www.s10forum.com/forum/f35/i-just-contacted-aim-um-wow-189511/index2.html

I also placed insulators between each rear leaf (got rid of the squeeking). BTW dont go more than 2.25" roughly on AWS/4WD to prevent cv binding. I also removed 1" of spacers in the leafs to raise the rear and placed the spacers on the bottom to prevent the rear shocks from bottoming.

Anyways PM me if you want to buy non adjustable upper arms with ball-joints cheap, theres a thread somewhere to modify them

 

[TerryS1980]

Do you have a part number on the arms you got from AIM?

 

[reserved50]

no part numbers, just what the site said, dont know if they upgraded the part for the original part number. Just ask if they are upgraded, long shot with them haha.
If they actually do send you some reply back here, I'll let you know if they got it finally sorted out, dimensions etc. Its a nice piece what they sent me. Dont go past about 2.25" if its not 2WD, you still need to buy the adjustable washers even though you have this kit to fine tune the alignment.

Ask for adjustable upper control arms for lowered Explorers ?, I lipped off Chris (a wise guy and head of the group that doesnt know where your parts are or so he says) and Josh which was the last person I talked to, but i dont think they have it in them to remember anything before the present from what I experienced. Good Luck


http://www.truckn-store.com/product...L=/search.asp?search=explorer&search=explorer

um I cant make any sense of that, at least they kind of sorted out 95-01 is the same unlike back in January

 

[TAS98xlt]

Interesting

 

[reserved50]

shockwarehouse, owner personally called and emailed me, told me something totally different back a few times, address etcwhen they were trying to confirm, Im trying e-shocks instead. I can see why shockwarehouse needed the free shipping gimmick, they dont know where the hell they sent them out to.

If anyone wants to buy a set of non adjustable upper arms with ball joints and urethane bushings I still have 1 pair remaining, can be modified to work with about an hour of labor for 150 US shipped.

On another note Im thinking about relocating the front diff if theres room to correct for CV angle, long shot.

 

[TerryS1980]

I already have the washer installed, but I raised my truck to about a 1" drop. As soon as I finish off some of my current projects, the controls arms willl be next so I can drop it back down. Thanks for input on these, I have been looking at them for quite some time I just couldn't trust it.