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Performance Upgrades - Maintenance - Modifications - Problem Solving - Off-Road - Street Trucks. Covering the Explorer, ST, Sport, Lincoln Aviator, Sport Trac, Mercury Mountaineer, Mazda Navajo, Ford Ranger, Mazda Pickups, and the Aerostar. Featuring H.I. - Human Intelligence.
I have a 98 Sport and want to put a 3 or 4 inch lift on it however i cant find a lift kit. I think i came across a pro-comp kit but it was almost $2000. Is there a way i can put a lift on for a decent amount of money? (i can install it myself- i just dont know where to get the parts)
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you can put on a 2" or 3" body lift kit for about $150. im doing mine this weekend on a 99 sport. they dont make one for the explorer so you have to do very slight modifications to the ranger's kit.
a torsion twist and shackles (TT/Shackles) will add about 1.5". you simply just twist your torsion bars (front springs) about 1.5"-2". this is a safe amount but any higher and you start risking damage. the torsion twist is free but you have to get a front alignment afterwards (maybe $100???). then to even out the back you buy 2" warrior shackles ($50-75) which add on to your rear leaf springs.
im pretty sure pro-comp doesnt make a kit yet for the explorers. the only two kits are a 4" Trailmaster and a 4" Superlift. They both go for about $1500. They are basically identical but everyone on this site agrees that Superlift is far superior because of easier install and better components. Especially since you have the shorter 2 door version, it is highly recommended to lengthen both front and rear driveshafts when you do this lift. a shop can do this for you for about $400-600.
finally, the fourth way to lift a 98 ex is to do a solid axle swap (SAS). this would have to be strictly custom and would cost you several thousands.
It's nothing hard to do, just the bumper brackets may not fight right, and maybe the steering extension, really neither of them a big deal at all, very easy to do, just time consuming.
As far as your driveshafts I don't think you have to lengthen them for the BL, for the Suspension lift you should, but I'm not positive about the BL, I think if you go over 4" is when you should do it, but since the Body lift is only 2 or 3 I would think it would be ok. But, don't take my word for it, look around some.
Many members have the 2" TT/shackle + 2 or 3" body lift combination. Once again, please use the search feature for lots of info. You will not need to make any driveline mods (other than diff gears to compensate for the tires).
While this lift combination isn't the best for articulation, it seems to hold up very well to abuse and it's very inexpensive.
A 3 inch lift would be plenty. Aside from the lift kit, what else do i have to buy? (as in parts to extend steering and to make the bumper brackets fit)
Tires im also not sure about. What size tires do most people use with a 3 inch lift? I would like to keep my stock rims if possible.
If you're thinking about the 3" body I'd do the 2" suspension instead. This just costs $50 in parts + the cost for alignment. 31x10.5 tires will fit well and work on stock rims.
Originally posted by sk1er17 ive searched yahoo/cs/aol and other search engines and havent been able to find a TT/Shackle lift for my explorer........where?
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By the way Your X looks good. Never really liked the look of the Lund hood scoops but yours looks good! You may have changed my mind about them.
One more thing that you guys can probably help me with...
I'm deffinetally lifting about 2" so i went looking at some tires. I found that the tires I have on now (with stock suspension- Or so i think its stock..seems a little different than other explorers, stiffness) are equivalent to 31's. I have plenty of room too. So if i do a 2 inch TT/Shackle lift do you think I'll be ok with 33's? (i have P255, so if not 33's- how about P265 or even P275). I'm putting them on my stock rims which are 16's and don't plan on going any wider, just taller.
Well, when I had 31s with just the 2" it looked like there was plenty of room. So I figured what the hell and put on an addaleaf and bought 33s. The rear isn't a problem at all, it's the front. I've had to trim a lot from my front fenders and finally broke down and got Perry's fiberglass front fenders. They go on this week. I have 33x12.50s though, and 33x10.50s (or the equivalent) will be a lot easier to fit. They will rub on the front swaybar with stock wheels, but that's not a big deal. You will have to trim the rear of the front fenders, but depending on how much, most people can't tell you trimmed there if you do it right.
The only way to see is to try some tires on. But remember that unless you're test fitting the exact combo that your gonna run (rims and all), there's no telling if you're doing an accurate test fit.
Remember that an extra inch or 2 can make a huge difference in wheel well space, especially when turning the front tires. Oh, and with only 2", 33" tires rub on the top of the inner fenderwell liner in the front, but that's not a big deal at all; it just makes a bit of a scratching noise when you hit a large bump.
sk1er if your interested a bunch of us are runnin our truck at a place called paragon in hazleton pa. Its about 3 hours from where you live. We're probably going out there the weekend of october 12th it should be a good time. Its nice to see yet another person from the "Garbage State"
Your stock tires are the equivalent to 30" X 10". The height isn't the problemf or clearance. It's when turning that you will encounter your first bit of rubbing. Go to the link I posted at the end to see what needs to be trimmed. You can actually fit 265 75R16 tires (31.7" X 10.5") without any lift. I had mine on for several months before I did the TT lift. I just did the TT lift since the larger tires looked like they were stuffed in too much. The larger tires will contact the curve of the sway bar as Alec said but it won't cause a problem. Without a body lift you will also contact the top of your inner fender liner under full compression. My 3" body lift took care of that. When I get new tires next year I will be trying a set of 285 75R16s now that I have the body lift. With only the TT lift anything larger than a 265 75R16 will require a lot of cutting inside the wheel well.
Here's the link: Dead Link Removed
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Namity,
Im deffinetally interested in going. Email me when you know the details and i'll see what i can do. Hopefully school work will calm down a little and i can get some time off from my actual job too. Thanks for the invite!
Oh, and i see you're running a TT/Shackle lift with 31"s, can you send me some pictures of your truck so i can get a feel for what mine is gonna look like?
Thanks
Rob,
Thanks for the info. I've been going around asking different dealers about the tire sizes- so far your post has had the most info. I'm hoping to do the lift within two weeks, then the tires......we'll see if i can afford them right away. Do you think the explorer will look bad with the two inch lift running my 255/70R16's for a while?
