91 explorer lift

[84-ranger]

hey everyone im kinda new to ttb and wanted to ask a few questions.right now i have a 84 ranger with eibach coils (camburgs coil) and fox 2.0 10" smoothbodies and love it.thats my prerunner and i want to get into 4x4.iam getting a 91 4x4 explorer soon and i wanted to lift it.but i dont see any good lift kits for a reasonable price.my question is can i get a eibach coil like whats on my ranger and put it on the explorer.will it fit? are the coil buckets similar? i know i can either cut and turn my beams or simply use drop down brackets.but drop down brackets are not that strong.i wanna get a spring with a low spring rate so i will get more flex. any suggestions would be greatly apprecaited thanks guys!

 

[tigercat]

most everything for a ranger will fit on the front of an explorer

 

[84-ranger]

does it matter on what year ranger? im guessing 91 and up all d-35 ttb?

 

[rngmStr]

1983 - 1997 were TTB

http://www.therangerstation.com/index.php

 

[84-ranger]

i know that but does it matter if its dana 28 or 35?

 

[tigercat]

i tink it might but im not positive

 

[Nedwreck]

My '92 explorer was a mix-match when i bought it. It had a D28 when it came here. I swapped in a D35 no problems. The lift kit came from the Ranger, they had just dropped the whole shebang and bolted it on the Explorer. Why they kept the 28.. i dunno.

Help that helps.

 

[Dannyboy]

Yeah, I think the 28 lift brackets would work. I'm pretty sure the 2wd springs can swap over as well. TTB coils are really stiff, even full size trucks with solid axles have a lower spring rate.

If you're a Hemet prerunner type guy then I'm sure you know it's not about jacking it up big and tall to get performance. The best "budget" lift that will yield true results is similar to what a guy on here named GLFredrick put together. I think it uses stock pivot points, f150 coils, extended shocks and shock towers and maybe longer radius arms. Search his name and see what you can come up with.

I'd stay away from used skyjacker or superlift bracket lifts unless you have access to a welder as they're probably cracked.

Solid axles swaps are sweet, pretty labor intensive, the TTB built right can still blast fast in the terrain you have at your access but also get jiggy on the rocks.

 

[84-ranger]

i know i dont want it high i think i good 4" lift is good.and thats how my ranger is setup^ extended radius arms camburg coils and 10" fox shocks gets 16 1/2 inches of travel. but if i have them in the stock pivot points arent i limited to around 12" of travel with 4x4?thats what i heard.i heard that if you just get like stx drop brackets it will let you use alot more travel that what autofab did they built brackets just like the stx drop brackets.and why do they say cut and turn the beams? what are you turning? isnt like bending the beam?

 

[Dannyboy]

2 ways to "bend" the beams, 1) cut and relocate the lower balljoint outbound a few inches (autofab's way) 2) cut and turn the beams outward in the center before the radius arms.(410fortune on here has done this and states it is pretty labor intensive). It would look like this.

autofab isn't cheap, but if you go that route skip the dana 35 and go with the dana 44 . The STX brackets are about 1.5" lower than stock and the beams with relocated ball joints pull 16" of travel.

If I were building a truck from scratch I would take a look at trucks for sale in the classifieds. There are some amazing deals on fully built trucks, that pic of the beams is from this navajo. http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=248240 You could buy that whole truck, take the parts you want (4.56'd axles), wheels, tires, for cheaper than the parts alone would cost. Sell the rest of the parts and get a steal of a deal.

 

[84-ranger]

yah thanks for the photo. is there a proper way to move the ball joint out? or is it as simple as it looks? cut it ,extended to proper lenth for the right camber? any mods to the top ball joint?

 

[Dannyboy]

Here are a few pics to give you an idea. 4" lift with drop brackets

5-6" lift with some home made cut and turn beams as you see above (not totally sure if these look like 410's, these look a little funny)

couple of pics with the lower balljoint relocated.

 

[84-ranger]

ok so do you just extend the lower ball joint by itself or do you cut the entire end off and reweld it? and with this done will you need any mods to the axles or no?

 

[Flip4ford]

ok so do you just extend the lower ball joint by itself or do you cut the entire end off and reweld it? and with this done will you need any mods to the axles or no?

Searching will reveal several threads of exactly what is needed to cut and turn the front end.

 

[Dannyboy]

my truck is the bottom picture with the autofab style arms. It runs stock shafts.

 

[glfredrick]

Both Rangers and Explorers have the same front ends, hardware wise, though there is some mixing between the 28 and 35 axles. Everything will bolt up from either to either.

Out back, the Explorer has a different frame than the Ranger, and uses spring under (axle is above the leaf springs) while the Ranger uses spring over (axle is under the leaf springs). The Ranger frame is friendlier for off-roading (because it is flat all the way back, not dropped down in the back half like the Explorer) but both can be made to work well.

For desert-type work, the cut and turned beams seem to be the way to go. One note, cutting and turning stock beams tend to make them narrower, which is why a lot of guys are now moving up to the full-sized Bronco D44 arms (which need a LOT of modification to work with the Explorer). There is not much strength gained with the 44 arms, except in the wheel bearing area -- the bearings are wider spaced and hold up better to abuse in high speed situations.

I'd also go with a good coil-over setup up front both for travel and for ride quality while at speed. Out back, a set of Deaver or National springs would make a world of difference. Try to run the shocks close to straight up and down, and as outboard as possible for most control.