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Ford Explorer Community - Maintenance - Modifications - Performance Upgrades - Problem Solving - Off-Road - Street
Explorer Forum Covers the Explorer ST, Explorer Sport, Explorer Sport Trac, Lincoln Aviator, Mercury Mountaineer, Mazda Navajo, Ford Ranger, Mazda Pickups, and the Ford Aerostar
A friend of mine has a 99 explorer sport 4x4 and he wants just a 3" body lift.He says he cant find one for his year and sport model. Will the body lift from a regular explorer or ranger of that year work?And can he fit 33x12.50s on stock rims w/o rubbing?
I have the 3" Performance Accessories one for a Ranger on my '99 Sport 4x4. It works. The only thing different is 2 of the body mount bolts (need a different length). I solved it by calling the company I got the lift from and lied and said it didn't come with 2 of one length of the bolts (you need 4 of one of the sizes, I think one of the longer ones).
You'll also need custom made rear bumper brackets. Very simple brackets. You just need 2 flat rectangular pieces of thick steel with 4 holes drilled in them each (set of 2 3" above the other set).
The front bumper brackets will fit. They bend into shape after you tighten the bumper. If he has a grille guard/push bar, then he'll need some custom brackets to accommodate.
There are some things to watch out for. Not because the kit is designed for a Ranger, but because of the nature of 3" body lifts.
1) The A/C hose that runs from the accumulator/drier on the passenger side, under the front of the engine, to the A/C compressor on the driver's side. It runs very close to the tensioner belt pully. Ripped a hole in mine and required full A/C service. I put a new one on, but used some heavy duty zip-ties on the outlet of the accumulator and fender to pull the hose away and downward.
2) If you have a manual shifter, PA also sells a shifter handle extension separately, which is a nice piece. But the rubber internal boot will no longer handle the longer throw. Right now I have an open hole in my floor board, I'm working on a custom metal 3" deep box to drop down the rubber boot.
3) It pulls the automatic shifter cable tight. When I had an auto, I had to delete a bracket and the cable rubbed against the firewall. Wasn't a problem for me.
4) You'll be able to see through the body above the rear axle. I don't think anyone makes "lift lips". Nothing a sheet of rubber or metal can't fix.
Basically, a 3" body lift pulls everything to it's max. A tenth of an inch more would require lengthening of many components. Keep your eye on everything.
I highly recommend the lift. It is the cheapest way to lift any truck and combined with a free "torsion bar twist" and cheapo extended Warrior shackles, you can cram some 33 x 12.50 muds on.
Oh, yea, the spare tire pully doesn't line up. The jack handle that you poke through the hole in the rear bumper to lower the tire, it won't line up.
All of this crap can be solved with some basic metal fabrication skills. If you can make a simple bracket, you can fix all this.
I don't have a winch yet, I'm sure there would be no issues with it besides it wouldn't look as good with a 3" gap between it and the rear bumper. If he has a hidden-hitch, he'll just have a hitch afterwards.
can't tell you for sure. i did the BL at the same time as the TT/Shackles. i don't see why you wouldn't just throw in the shackles too, they aren't very much. Then again, the front end alignment after the TT will cost you some money too.
33's won't fit with just the BL. I have them with my setup and I had to space the bumper 1/2 inch forwards and delete the plastic trim corner piece by the rear of the fender.
Sounds like he may be trying to stay with the stock rims. You really can't go wider than 9.5-10", not because of the width of the stock rims, but because of the spacing/offset, it will rub on the front sway bar.
With my 12.5's I had to use rims with a wider backspacing/offset to keep them away from the sway bar, but that also gives them a wider sweep when steering.
I did the lift first, drove around for a bit with the stock tires looking stupid, and busted out the ruler and made every measurement i could think of. Things are pretty simple if you stay with the stock rims. Measure how far the inside wall of the tire comes to everything, esp the sway bar, during all degrees of turning, to figure out how much thicker in the tire you can go. Measure how far the edges of the tires come from the front edge of the bumper and the rear corner of the fender during all degrees of turning too, to figure out how many more inches you can go in tire diameter. The tires come the closest to the bumper/rear fender not in full steering lock, but about a half a turn before then.
I use GoodYear tires, and their website gives good stats on all their tires. Don't just go by the generic name of the tire (i.e. 33 x 12.50), the website will tell you exact measurements (e.g. 33.4" x 12.8"). It will also tell you the width of the tire at it's fattest point (keep in mind the fattest part of the taller tires will be higher than the stock tire's fattest point)
And order your tires from tirerack.com. Best prices even with the shipping and extra costs for mounting & balancing for BYO tires.
Here's the simple flat rear bumper brackets with 4 holes you have to fab. You'll need a new set of bolts w/ nuts. You have to notch the bottom of the rear bumper to make way for the frame, and the size of the notch depends on the length of your new bolts. Oh yea, you have to cut away a tiny piece of the top of the frame to make way for one of the upper bolts. I was able to do it with a drill using a dangerous procedure.
Those are the front 'C' bumper brackets that come with the PA Ranger kit. I used ghetto wood to space the bumper 0.5" outward to make room for the tires.
Upper & Lower Radiator brackets that come with the kit. As you will read, this is one of the PITA parts. Steering Extension; many people had huge difficulties with this, I did it in a minute. I actually did it right away, days before I did anything else, you can put it in without doing the lift, that way you can determine whether it will be a problem before you start everything else. The last pic is the manual shifter extension, which is a separate part you have to order from PA.
Here's the A/C "Barrier" hose next to the tensioner pulley. I have the zip-tie holding it a safe distance away. Without the zip-tie it was pretty much barely rubbing. If you got a loose belt or it breaks, it's going to take a hole in the hose with it. I learned this the hard way, and it's one of the things they don't significantly warn you about in the instructions. Under that duct tape is a sheet metal shield I fabbed.
with my 3" body, AAL and shackles in the rear, and ~1/2" TT (bolt maxed out) up front, a set of used 33x12.50 BFG AT's barely rubbed at all.
with a set of brand new 33x12.50 TrXus STS, I get a lot of rubbing on the dri. side at only ~1/2 left-hand turn
How would one go about installing this 3" BL if you're not too machanically inclined? I've been trying to figure out how to lift my 99 sport for months. Should I find somebody to help me, or would a shop be able to too it?
