conflicts with lift info that need to be straightened out

[SwaintaN]

^^^^^^ maniak is a good guy knows some good stuff!!

im gonna throw my 2 cents in

When you do your AAL you need to look at your shackles, i know this sounds weird but when you stiffen that ride up with that lil of a lift, your also stressing them org shackles... so if they look bad... get Warrior Shackles.. run you a lil more, but are tons stronger

for front spacers.. i had those.. for about a week... i ended up just doing a real suspension lift with the works.. even with AAL and spacers you will need an alignment!

make sure whoever you take it to for an alignment can do lift with any kind of alignment. that was my biggest fight finding someone who could do an alignment and back it since your throwing it out of Ford Specs. I ended up going to a Semi aligner... they can do the old and new school with their own measurements...

 

[MountainMonkey]

first of all thanks for the help its muchly apreciated! and as for the shocks as far as i know there stock and i can push them together and pull them apart without to much effort. and for the spring i undid the coils bolt and the shock and sway bar and kinda stomped a bit on the hub and it popped out pretty good. i managed to get it back in with the spacer and hooked the coil and shock back up but i wasnt able to get the sway bar connected again. anyone else run into this issue? also i only managed to finish the drivers side spacer. the passenger side has the shock disconnected and thats all so maybe thats why i cant get the sway bar back together but im not sure. i'll finish up tomorrow and post some pics of my rig all finished. i think i will most likely be ordering some warrior shackles because by the looks of it the back will be sitting alot lower then the front. heres a link to the set im thinking of buying off ebay. http://www.ebay.ca/itm/1-25-REAR-SHACKLE-LIFT-KIT-SET-1-1-4-LEAF-SPRING-153-/120767534919?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1c1e4e5747
do they look like a worth while buy is there a better place to get them? also as for an alignment the side i do have the spacer in doesnt even look to bad so i might be able to get away without one. but then again when the passenger side is all finished it may look different.

 

[Maniak]

Those are the right shackles, but they are charging 200% + over shipping cost. USPS Priority mail medium flat rate box is only $12 and they are charging $27..

Check with Desert Rate (its not on their site).. Its been a long time since I bought our Warrior shackles from them and I didn't get it shipped (they are local to me), but its worth a shot.

~Mark

Edit:.. Amazon has them too.. If you have Amazon prime, thats 2 day free shipping too..
http://www.amazon.com/Warrior-153-R...6F2W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314771333&sr=8-1

 

[SwaintaN]

I can tell you right now your getting ripped off from Ebay buying those.. im a vivid ebayer and i bought mine from ebay and paid 50 shipped brand new only difference is they come where you have to finish the coating... ill see if i can find them again



edit: looked up the seller i got mine from.. no go.. no longer in business which is a shame he still had 100% feed back and 5 years of service. If your stuck on budget, Auto Zone makes adjustable Shackles that can give u a VERY VERY slight lift...

 

[MountainMonkey]

i think i'll go with warrior 153 shackles. im going back to work for 2 weeks tomorrow but i get internet there (****ty internet) so i'll shop around online and order some with enough time for them to get shipped to my house before i get home.
so im tryen to finish up with the coil spacers and i need to do the passenger side but i cant get the nut out. its in really bad shape and doesnt want to move at all and is starting to strip. its been soaking in liquid wrench all night but it still doesnt wanna move. is there a way i can remove the bolt from under neath instead of the nut? i noticed there is a bolt almost directly below it but im not sure that its the same part

 

[MountainMonkey]

wow guys, so dont buy coil spacers from fatbobsgarage or hammerhead44 on ebay. the stud extenders are crap. the part that threads onto the existing stud tightens with a clockwise turn and the part that the bolt goes on that hold down the coil tightens with a counterclockwise turn so its impossible to get both the stud and the bolt tightened down.

 

[Maniak]

You mean the top of the stud extender is left hand thread? That just seems wrong since the factory bolt is right hand thread (normal thread).

My "guess" is that they expect you to use locktite to hold the extender on and the top nut doesn't need to be that tight. It just has to be tight enough that it doesn't back off. You can use a nylock or some other kind of locking nut that won't back off on the top nut. That way you don't have to crank down hard on that nut.

Also, if your needing a stud extender, that means its a big spacer. The f-150 spring seats are about 1 5/8" tall and work fine using the factory bolt (unless its a 2wd explorer).


~Mark

 

[MountainMonkey]

i will have to go get some different nuts then. and these spacers are 2" tall. and yes the top is left hand. i pulles the wrench towards me to tighten the extender down then had to push the wrench away from me to tighten down the nut on top... seamed strange to me while i was doing it. i didnt even notice things were wrong though untill i was finished and let the truck down then noticed the round peice of metal thats inside the coil that holds it in place was like an inch above the bottum on the coil

 

[MountainMonkey]

just ordered some warrior 153 shackles from amazon.com and im going to install then when i get home in 11 days if they have arrived already. but im thinking i need more lift. and i figure if i do soa i can still use the aal i just put in and if i get a 6" lift kit i can still use the coil spacers for the front. anyone know of a place to buy cheap complete lift kits?(like1000$ or less) doesnt need to be super strong im just looking for ground clearance since i dont do any serious whealing. also would it be possible to fit 37's with a 4" lift and a 2" coil spacer/aal and shackle lift and a 3" body lift? i have 1.5" wheal spacers i havent put in but if i had to i would.

edit: i would also buy lift blocks at the local auto store in whatever size is needed to lvl the rear

 

[SwaintaN]

Prob w/ cost vs durability. im a tattoo guy, covered in them ,know ppl who do them etc... and there is a fine line between, Cheap, Durable and Right. Also there are huge differences in what ppl consider a full lift kit... also your looking at bigger tires that size youll need to regear them axels. keep the spacers, do a lift.. use the spacer for when you finally get saggage to level it back out.

Check these out and there is more.. but check these out...

Lift Kit Fight
How high
Dumb Lift

 

[SwaintaN]

Rough COuntry
Skyjacker
4Wheel list tons of them

IMO the MOST COMPLETE KIT would be Pro Comp

 

[MountainMonkey]

so would the 4.10 gears in my x be no good for 37's? and by full kit i mean i want to buy one package from one place with everything i need to do the lift. so procromp is the most complete kits? i think there kind of expensive though eh? and when i said cheap i dont mean like no name parts just a brand that offers lift kits more or less just for ride hight and not for rock crawling or anything. i would like to spend no more then about 1000 or 1200$ on the whole thing. so do ya think with a 6" lift and the 5" of lift i aready have be enough for 37's?

 

[SwaintaN]

Well I can tell you roughly looking back at my papers i paid 2k for my lift.... while it was only 800 for the kit from RC, that didnt include ext brake lines, exta sway bar links etc... it was just the lift... not all the small crap that goes with it... Pro Comp if you go on there and look... has everything... Brake Lines, all your shocks, all your drop brackets, longer rad arms etc its IMO the most complete kit so you dont have to order small parts from this one and that one and the other one to make a full kit... i would say from my reading and research to do 37s your looking at 5.xx gears in front/back (if 4wd) if rw just in rear... and 6" with a soa to do that size of tire

 

[SwaintaN]

Dead Link Removed

rough chart on tire size vs axle

 

[MountainMonkey]

thanks for the info. but my comp wont let me open your links. but being 500 miles away from the closest town and getting internet from a satelite will ussualy do that lol im for sure going to check them out when im home though. im thinking i may go with procomp then, i hate the idea of buying parts from a bunch of different places and having to wait for a bunch of packages to get shipped instead of just one. any idea if procomp does 8" 10" or 12" lifts? i would like to go as big as i can to get as big of tires as possible without having to do an SAS. i had a 5000$ plan for my x but i may bump it up to 10k which i would think would be more then enough to cover everything i want to do, which includes it being very tall and have a turbo deisel engine.

 

[SwaintaN]

LOL I apologize now. Sorry. I ment IMO James Duff is the most complete kit. I was trying to type on here, talk to wife and on phone all at same time.

James Duff will give you everything you need in a one time package in lift meanings... Since your link isnt working.. here is the info..

VIA JAMESDUFF Website, this is their information I claim no right to it...
Here’s the deal. We’ve been working on our 5 1/2”-6” lifts for several years... but we hadn’t released them because we were unhappy using radius arm drop brackets. So, here they are— available only with our extended radius arms. We feel this is the BEST way to lift a TTB this much for the sake of safety, strength, handling and ground clearance. This means the lifts include:
•5-6” Progressive Rate Coil Springs*
•New Coil Tower Dual Shock mounts
•Rod Ended Extended Radius Arms
•HD Tranny Crossmember
•Extended Stainless Brake lines
•Drop pitman arm (fits PS only)
•Axle pivot drop brackets
•4 front shocks, 2 rear shocks, 6 shock boots
•Urethane coil pads, leveling spacer
•U-bolt kit
•Leaf Blocks, if applicable
•Complete Replacement Leaf Spring Packs
•Spring Eye Bushings

PART# 5053-3 - Stage 3 Suspension, 91-94 Explorer, 5-5.5 $1895 +Shipping Charges.

VIA Explorer Forums... Tires vs Lift Kits
6 inch Suspension Lift - 35x14.50 on 15x8 wheels with 4" back spacing (requires fender trimming, firewall clearancing and rocker panel modification)

 

[SwaintaN]

Also if you go by charts here on explorer forum to run 36s your axles will need to be 4.56 or 4.88 also will need the change the speedo gear/color to make the speedometer to make tire rotation. Which that one I cant explain.. sorry i even got help on determining which one I needed. Your 5-10k can be done if you plan on doing most of the work diy...

 

[MountainMonkey]

ok, thats prob the lift to get then. but it says up to 35's for tires? seams like alot of money to spend to only fit 35's. for 2 g i could do a sas and get really tall custom leafs put in. and im kinda set on 37's or bigger, my buddy has a chev 2500 on 42's and i want my x to be nearly as big or as big as his.

 

[SwaintaN]

you could still do a BL after the susp lift... and get bigger tires in there. yeah it adds up after a while for everything you need. You could contact James Duff and tell them you want a lift kit without the Dual Front Shocks and Ext Rad Bars to see if it would lower cost.. those arent really needed unless you planning on doing some trails and wheeling.. they are nice to have thou..

 

[SwaintaN]

i just realized you wanted to do an sas why do you wanna do a sold axle swap if your not into wheeling etc?