replace torsion bars with coilovers?

[Premier]

ok, in this thread http://www.explorerforum.com/forums//showthread.php?t=198971 this guy replaced his shocks & torsion bars with fox coilovers.

i've tried to ask him more details but i never get any answers anyone else have any insight on how this might work, or how its done?

 

[IZwack]

Plenty of people have done it, search a bit.

But there's really nothing to it -- although I'd probably fab up my own shock tower or get a shock hoop off of E-bay and weld it on.

EDIT -- here's a good looking shock hoop: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Shoc...023QQitemZ360051098366QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

 

[chad551]

Here is an entire thread that has all the info you could need.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=186393

 

[GJarrett]

Yep that's the thread that's gotten me looking at it. The member you'll looking to get info from put almost all of his info into that thread.

That thread is so long that I copied another copy of it into Duds and started cleaning it up to try to make sense out of it. I quit my "cleansing" after awhile but still figured out most of what I need to do.

 

[white96x]

agreed, that thread is a little bit messy..and as stated you could go tower or hoop for the upper mount...here's a picture of my set up

and mounted

this picture gives you an idea for the lower mount, it's just two shock tabs welded to the lower arm

you could either go that route and try to establish the geometry on your own or you could buy a pre fabbed tab that bolts into the lower arm...it essentially is a plate with a shock tab that bolts into the arm..companies like Camburg(www.camburg.com) sell it so people can run an upgraded shock that uses a bolt instead of a bushing for the lower eye of the shock...this route is probably the easiest, the only hard part is the upper tower(or hoop), and after that it's just a matter of selecting your spring rate and length of coilover shock(which you should already have in mind when designing the upper and lower mounting points)...hope that helps