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How long have you been lowered?

Originally posted by 98FordX24
Aldive... how many miles do you put on per year. If I remember correctly, you only lowered your ride about 6 months ago.

Yes, its only been about 6 month.

I average 25-30k per year.
 



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UPDATE:

Lowering Advantage (to be fair, I give both sides of the story): Coming back from the beach yeaterday I cut across Mulholland Highway (many twists).

I roasted - repeatedly - a pair of ricer ToyoHondas through the canyon. I had to slow down and let them catch up, so I could smoke them some more. I'm really diggin' the off-camber, increasing radius, uphill turns when being followed by some sporty civicorolla.

After a 10 miles of this, MR. Gen X pulls up next to me at the stoplight and says "duuuude, whadya do to that thing"

Sad thing (that he did not know) is that he'd probably smoke me in a straight line...
 






I lowered my front 4 inches and my back a total of 3. I've had it lowered about 7 or 8k miles. I cut my rubber stops in the front, they bottom out rarely, the back ones bottom out a lot. Just today I took them out and cut them down some then drilled big holes through the middle to help the rubber flex more. Lets see, nothing has been replaced, i got the camber adjusted back to normal, as close as possible anyways, apparently a while back when my dad still had the Ex it was already slightly out of camber, so it had to be adjusted. Now when they went to adjust it back again since it was lowered, they couldn't go all the way because it was already half way adjusted. The only thing i need to replace is my shocks. The stock ones are starting to get bad now, slighty bouncy and not very good with bumps. I expected them to wear out after i lowered my Ex since they'd be compressed more. Thats all :)
 






phscotic u have 4 inches up front...how did u do that? i have a 95 and i would love to slam it 2 more inches. a lowered 4X4 is a thing of beauty...IMHO...but please infom mke how u accomplished that much. thanx.
Luego....KID
 






has anyone lowered their X using the kenne bell or explorer express lowering kits?

if so was it worth the 800 dollars?

i think they both lower the truck 1 3/8 inches
 






KID, here is how i lowered the front
http://projectx.bravepages.com/gxtech/drop.html
That site explains it step by step. I found it easier however, to put the front body (not the A-arms, the frame inbetween them) up on jackstands, then i used the jack to jack up the adjuster til i could slide out the plate, then i simply lowered the jack down so the bar would come down far enough for me to get the adjuster off, i flipped it, and jacked it back up.

doing this you will get a 3 to 5 inch drop, but you will most likely need a camber adjuster kit installed at an allignment shop, and even then it might not be exactly perfect camber. (My ford dealership did it for about $120)

Also, if you are thinking about doing this.. read this too
http://www.missionsociety.itgo.com/explorer.htm

There ya go :)
 






Alright after talking to Darren at KofP, I have decided to try and lower my truck with a few of my friends help. I just need to know a few things, what is a must in order to do this? (aka new shocks or such), sould I get my alinement (sp) fixed after I do it? I am thinking about 3 in the front, 2 in the back or 2 in the front and 1 or 1.5 in the back. I was thinking about the inch difference in the back and front because I notice with my year the most that our trucks lean back some.... Just wondering if you think that is needed. All your input would be much appreciated.
 






The first thing you'll probably need is an allignment, and make sure you ask them to check the camber. Also, check and see if your A-arms are resting up against the rubber stops that keep it from hitting directly against the frame. If it is, you should consider cutting off some of the rubber to allow for more suspension travel. After that, in about 3-5 months you're stock shocks will start to wear out, and you'll need to find some that are shorter and probably stiffer. Also, some people who have already had worn ball joints up front have had to replace them after lowering the Ex because it puts slightly more stress on the ball joints.
 






Johny57, I don't know much about the kenne Bell kit, but I do know about the Explorer Express Kit. The kit comes with lowering blocks for the rear and instructions on how to lower the front by adjusting the torsion bars. It also comes with smaller rubber stoppers for the front and the rear to allow more suspension travel (I simply cut my stock stoppers in half). This is the same way all of us here lower our explorers, so if all you want is to lower your Ex, then you can pick up universal lowering blocks for around 20 bucks and do it yourself.
The Explorer Express package, however DOES include larger sway bars and lowered shocks made 1 3/4 shorter. Basically, in my opinion, you should lower it the 2 inches yourself, and then if you want better stability, order the shocks and the sway bars from them seperatly.
 






thanx alot psychotic.
Luego....KID
 






Interesting reading everyone's perspectives. Mine's been lowered 2 1/2 years, ~50K miles. It definitely squeaks more; the frame's a flexi-flyer. On the plus side, it handles so much better (with the other mods), there's almost no comparison with a stocker.

Question: What kind of alignment settings are you guys running? I'm at about .6 negative camber, and 3.5 - 4.0 positive caster. I would have liked camber closer to 0, but then I'd lose caster and it already has minimal road feel.

Pete
 






I have been lowered 3 years and 8 days now with no problems to date... not sure on the mileage... i would say around 45-50,000
 






Lowered for 2.5 years 40k miles and no problems yet
 






Are anyones tires getting eaten up?
 












yeah, well I have an appointment monday morning at the best alignment shop around. I was going to go to him originally for the alignment but he was closed for a few weeks because of a vacation and someone in his family died. Hes an old guy and is so pickey when it comes to alignments. My tires are taking a beating so I'm taking it to him so he can get the specs on it as is and then align it correctly. Then I can take the as is specs to the shop that did it and start some trouble. :D
 






i hate to tell you, but if you have driven it for more than about a week, you have set in a wear pattern on the fronts. i did this when i first lowered mine. drove around on it for a month, then had the front aligned. inside of tires were slightly more worn than normal, but not that big of a deal. i just looked at the inside yesterday, and it looks pretty bad. never mind, i just read your post, and it looks like you got it aligned right away. anyway, just wanted to tell some of those running around dropped and no alignment, its proly to late to save the fronts. now, as for the rears...:D
 






Well, have been looking at the fronts every now and then and they looked ok. I took them off a few days ago to rotate them and the inside of the fronts is about 1/8" down from the outside. Obviously something is wrong with the alignment but I want to have proof before I go back to the shop that did it. I want my money back and a new set of tires. :p
 









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I gave them the EE specs and they said it came out perfect.
 






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