Which spacer did you use? How complicated is it to do it yourself? I'm a high schooler btw so I'm new to the scene. How did you so the body lift? My front suspension is making a squeaking noise. I assume it's the ball joint on the upper control arm.I went with a 2” spacer lift, 3” body lift, and 265/75/16 (32x10.5) tires. Truck rides fine at about 6” over stock.
I didn’t go the full 3” lift with spacers, I wanted to keep ball joint / CV joint stress to a minimum.
I used the Truxx style spacers, bought them on eBay. There is a link in my signature for the body lift. There is not a body lift made for the 3rd gen Explorer, but a Ranger kit can be made to fit with some truck modifications.
My front driver suspension is squeaking just a bit. not too often. Is the uniball upper control arm worth it? Cuz they are 700 bucks. Is it necessary to upgrade the ball joints if I do the spacer lift? Are BTF spacers any good?I used the Truxx style spacers, bought them on eBay. There is a link in my signature for the body lift. There is not a body lift made for the 3rd gen Explorer, but a Ranger kit can be made to fit with some truck modifications.
Neither is an easy job, especially if you do not have any experience working on suspensions. If you suspect that the ball joints are failing do not wait to have them addressed. A failure while driving will cause loss of control of the vehicle.
There are videos on YouTube that show how to change struts (and ball joints) on our trucks, installing the strut spacers is pretty much the same thing, just a bit harder to re-install because the strut spacer makes the overall strut longer than OEM. Air tools always help. Seeing that you are pulling apart the suspension, I did my upper ball joints and replaced the struts while I did the front spacers, and replaced a wheel hub assembly and struts in the rear. I also installed new sway bar links.
The body lift is tough but not impossible, you will need a helping hand and some ingenuity.
I have only ever heard positive things about the btf spacers. The arms are almost a must to make the lift reliable and not go through ball joints all the time.
It there any cheap and reliable upper control arm set out there? I'm actually not sure if it's my upper or lower control arm. Also what body lift did you use? Also what is the gold stick? I dont seem to recognize it.I have 10K miles on my truck since installing the spacers and my ball joints are as good as new. I installed good quality ball joints (Moog) that are grease-able, and use a high quality synthetic grease every oil change. With only 2” of strut lift the ball joint and CV joint angles are not that severe, and even on the trails I’ve never hit the struts with the upper arms.
The BTF arms are quality units, nothing but good reviews here, if you ‘need’ them is dependent on how much lift and how much extreme off road use the truck sees. Anything over 2” of strut spacer lift in the front and you should use the BTF arms due to the ball joint angle for reliability. If you plan to do a lot of extreme off road flexing, the BTF arms should be used with any spacer lift.
My Ex only sees occasional ‘moderate’ off-road action, mostly state forest access roads, and small mud-pits, and I drive responsibility while off road. The factory arms are working just fine for me.
Yes, my front suspension squeaks a bit, but I believe it’s the lower control arm bushings.
Hope this helps.
Thanks. Mine is probably rusty.
Is the body lift of the ranger a direct fit? Does is cause excess wear on any thing?
The PA883 is not a ‘direct fit’. You need to remove and modify the radiator shroud, as well as come up with a solution to raise the rear bumper. Depending on your steering column you may need to modify the steering extension. Some of the new body mount bolts are a bit too long and you’ll need some extra washers to make up the difference. This is all explained in the body lift thread, I highly suggest you have a look. I had one of the body mount bolts break, I had to cut the mount off and have it machined to remove the broken bolt.
