mkd8919
Member
- Joined
- June 2, 2014
- Messages
- 22
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Nebraska
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1993 Explorer XLT 4x4
I’m looking for some advice on how to proceed with the rear springs on my explorer. A while back I looked underneath and noticed on the driver’s side, the back half of the 2nd leaf broke off and is no longer there. Both the driver’s and passenger springs are very rusty. The shackles are also very rusty. The passenger side shackle has rusted through on one side where the shackle and frame meet. Despite the broken leaf, I have not noticed any sag, either left to right or front to rear. I haven’t had any problems that seem like they would be caused by the spring either. However, I’d like to replace my springs and shackles, if only for peace of mind. I plan on towing a small motorcycle trailer sometime in the future and I would be nervous to do it on a broken spring and rusted through shackle.
Right now my explorer is basically stock. It spends 99% of it’s time on pavement. My door spring code is N U. I believe it had the factory tow package; it has the factory tow wiring, and the D4 rear end. I haven’t had any plans to do a lift, but I was planning on going with slightly larger tires in the future, and anything that helps overall performance is welcome. I would like to at least retain the same functionally it had stock, so at least the same carrying capacity.
I’ve been looking through the forum and it seems most members recommendations are to pull springs from the junkyard, ideally from a low mile explorer. From what I’ve seen, most people recommend cutting them out with a recip saw to save time. My concern at this point is I have yet to see a low miles explorer in my local junkyard. Most seem to be 200,000+ miles. They are also already jacked up and on stands, so there is no way to tell if the springs are sagging or not. Does anyone have any advice on finding a good set of springs at the junkyard? I don’t currently own a cordless recip saw. Would it be worth it just for this job? Also, is there a list or guide of which years/ models used the same size springs? Is there a cross reference of spring codes between years? I tried searching the forum but I didn’t feel like I found the answers I needed.
Thanks!
Right now my explorer is basically stock. It spends 99% of it’s time on pavement. My door spring code is N U. I believe it had the factory tow package; it has the factory tow wiring, and the D4 rear end. I haven’t had any plans to do a lift, but I was planning on going with slightly larger tires in the future, and anything that helps overall performance is welcome. I would like to at least retain the same functionally it had stock, so at least the same carrying capacity.
I’ve been looking through the forum and it seems most members recommendations are to pull springs from the junkyard, ideally from a low mile explorer. From what I’ve seen, most people recommend cutting them out with a recip saw to save time. My concern at this point is I have yet to see a low miles explorer in my local junkyard. Most seem to be 200,000+ miles. They are also already jacked up and on stands, so there is no way to tell if the springs are sagging or not. Does anyone have any advice on finding a good set of springs at the junkyard? I don’t currently own a cordless recip saw. Would it be worth it just for this job? Also, is there a list or guide of which years/ models used the same size springs? Is there a cross reference of spring codes between years? I tried searching the forum but I didn’t feel like I found the answers I needed.
Thanks!