2wheel drive lift

[gt fast]

does anyone on here have a 2wheel drive first gen explorer they lifted. im trying to find a kit or a way to lift mine bigger. its on a 3 inch body but i want taller. and also, ive heard flipping my axle will give me 6 inches of lift in the rear, is that true. and what would i need to do to the front to make it level with the rear after axle flip. i dont want to cut grind and weld abunch of crap. or want to spend a bunch of money. f150 coils seem like a good idea, but how much lift would those give me

 

[red.EDDIE.4x4]

there dozens of thread's, registry's and posts about lifted first gens.
do a few searches, a 2wd first gen is lifted just the same as a 4x4 first gen. flipping leaf springs from the bottom of the axle to the top will give 5 to 6 inches. the only hard part is matching the front with lift.
and the f150 coil seats will only give about 1.5 inches or so.

 

[gt fast]

yea im fully aware of the threads for 1st gen lifts, but there mainly 4x4 and i dont have time to find the 2wheel drive ones out of the million pictures there are. and thats my main concern man is getting the front equal to the rear. now heres my question, someone told me flipping the rear on the explorer makes the pinion not work?, sounds fishy. also, if i flip, couldnt i do like 2-3 inch drop shackles in the rear and make it a 3 inch lift back there. since the flip would add 5-6 inches, with 2-3 taking back off with drop shackles it shouldnt be to hard to match the front.

 

[FIND]

yea im fully aware of the threads for 1st gen lifts, but there mainly 4x4 and i dont have time to find the 2wheel drive ones out of the million pictures there are. and thats my main concern man is getting the front equal to the rear. now heres my question, someone told me flipping the rear on the explorer makes the pinion not work?, sounds fishy. also, if i flip, couldnt i do like 2-3 inch drop shackles in the rear and make it a 3 inch lift back there. since the flip would add 5-6 inches, with 2-3 taking back off with drop shackles it shouldnt be to hard to match the front.

So we have time to find them for you?

the 4wd lifts fit the 2wd explorers IIRC, and there are lifts available for a 2wd explorer as well. Also, what is this, the third time you have asked about a SOA lift? SEARCH. The answers are out there... though, IMO if you want a 3" lift in the back, there are better ways to do it than SOA and drop shackles.... The information is out there though...

Why would you want to lift a 2wd explorer anyways? Screen door on a submarine comes to mind.... Just going to hurt your gas mileage and make it easier for people to see your offroad ready explorer can't go offroad.

Have you fixed your lifter tick or any of your other problems yet? Spend money on those first. No sense dumping money into a truck then having it break on you.

 

[lounge lizard]

maybe just building a taller mall crawler!

I can understand, sometimes you can only afford a two wheel drive but you want a lifted truck.

I've done it in the past!

 

[Slowlyvverot]

we sure do have a lot of folks joining lately who want all the information handed to them...

don't forget along with a big lift, you'll need tires and lower gears so you don't wreck your trans. and after you go past 2" of lift in the front things can get a bit pricey.

 

[pickupman6]

Hold on there buddy my 2wd has went through plenty of stuff thats stuck Z71s zr2s fs broncs and blazers. nothin wrong with 2wd. i wish i had some more ground clearance.

 

[gt fast]

yea so i bought the truck before i moved to arizona, then got here and need something better for work in the desert. my truck makes it threw everyhting i throw at it with the 31's on there. i just want a better visual appearance. and no im not expecting anyone to go view things and tell me. i just figured someone would come across and reply with useful information. so would it be a bad idea to just do 2 inch shackles in the rear, then leveling kit and 2 inch coils up front?

 

[FIND]

Hold on there buddy my 2wd has went through plenty of stuff thats stuck Z71s zr2s fs broncs and blazers. nothin wrong with 2wd. i wish i had some more ground clearance.

I drive through plenty of stuff in 2wd people can't seem to figure out in 4wd. I have used 4wd so few times, I often question the wisdom of having a 4wd vehicle. If I were doing more serious off-roading, I'm sure I would appreciate it more... and it is REALLY fun playing in the snow with 4wd or pulling people's cars out... but yeah...

I guess I was just trying to say that a lift aint gonna do much for his truck aside from making it more of a pain to drive. I honestly don't even think a lift is a very good visual mod.... not something I would ever do just for looks I mean... But lifting to serve a function (clearing larger tires for serious off-roading, clearing obstacles on serious off-roading)... definitely.

Plus... this guy complains about a bunch of other minor problems with his truck in other threads.... he should really focus on making his truck run perfect and solve any issues that could lead to reliability problems before he dumps money into it. A lift won't look very good on a truck broke down on the side of the road. besides... this is a truck that is all stock aside from tires really... stock transmission, stock gearing, stock stock stock stock stock. Before changing much, one should look into supporting mods.

 

[grihn]

^ Who cares how somebody else spends their money.

I have been attacking this same issue...I am in the process of getting parts to lift my 91 2wd (yes, because I like the way it looks, i've got an 86 4runner for my off-roading). I want to go cheap as possible because I'm doing it strictly for looks, but I still want it to be reliable. I have decided to go with shackles to lift the rear and coil spacers (leveling kit) for the front. This should provide me with a good 2" lift, which is exactly what I'm looking for (personally I think the stock suspension sits too low). I'm also replacing all the shocks at the same time with skyjacker shocks good for up to 2" of lift so I don't loose compression from the stock shocks. Without the shocks this is gonna run me about $200 and a few hours of work...pretty cheap if you ask me. I'm not sure about the coil spacers because I'm worried they'll sag, but I found some aluminum ones that may address that issue. I was going to get new coil springs but discovered I'd have to drop the radius arms, which would be quite a bit more expensive since I can't seem to find the right parts without purchasing a kit. I'm in the process of ordering parts now, but I'll get some pics up when I get it finished...probably be within the next month.

 

[atx-iroc]

wow 200 bucks i just put my 2 inch lift on for about 25 dollars. 15 for shackles and 10 for f150 spring seats that are cast iron and will never sag and a couple washers for just a bit more lift

 

[rhauf]

3 inch body lift and you want to do a SOA for another 6 inches of lift? i think an explorer with 9 inches of lift would look retarded. not to mention it will fall over as soon as you attempt to go around a curve in the road.

why do you want to lift it so high? just for "awesome looks"? if you want to go fast/jump it, you will not be able to utilize all that lift in the front as wheel travel without serious suspension modifications.

FWIW i'm running my rear axle under the stock leaf springs. it lifted it about 6". and i'm running 37's (no body lift either)
what size tires do you plan to run?

your going to have to do cutting/grinding/welding no matter what. there is no way around that (other than having someone else do it for you)

 

[69Explorer69]

man thats nutz 9 inches of lift,as soon as you have someone cuts you off and you have to yank that wheel to the left or right..can you say :roll:

i am pretty sure its going to handle like sh*t on the road...DIdn't you say its going to be your dd..i wouldn't put her threw all that stress not to mention you will have to rebuild your trans if you use 9 inch of lift

9inch lift+33's-35's+stock trans+stock gears=PROBLEMS!!!

Just my two cents on how much of a bad idea is...

 

[jd4242]

What are you all talking about 9" of lift aint that much!!many people run soa and 3" of body lift.i run 11" of lift.rhauf how the hell do you only run 6" of lift and clear 37s?do you have any fenders left from all the trimming? ? I rubbed with 33s and 6" of lift with no trimming.if you have 3" bl just do f150 seats and shackles in the back,cheap and will give you about another 2 inches,that should be plenty with the bl for a 2wd.i would spend my money on an aussie for the rear

 

[4x4junkie]

4WD lifts won't fit a 2WD, at least one bracket is different due to the beam length being different (pivot for the passengerside beam).

Unless someone specifically makes a 2WD Explorer (or Bronco II) lift, most you're gonna be able to do is coil spacers or leveling coils (limits you to about 2 to 2.5" lift) which won't match up well with a rear SOA conversion. Ranger 2WD lifts will not fit either.

You COULD however use a 4WD lift on it and swap in a 4WD front axle at the same time... The truck frame itself is the same. Though you'd need a transfer case and transmission too to actually make it functional.

 

[rhauf]

What are you all talking about 9" of lift aint that much!!many people run soa and 3" of body lift.i run 11" of lift.rhauf how the hell do you only run 6" of lift and clear 37s?do you have any fenders left from all the trimming? ? I rubbed with 33s and 6" of lift with no trimming.if you have 3" bl just do f150 seats and shackles in the back,cheap and will give you about another 2 inches,that should be plenty with the bl for a 2wd.i would spend my money on an aussie for the rear

yes lots of trimming was involved. my philosophy on offroad vehicles differs from most, i try to stay fairly low. a low center of gravity is a must IMO. so i only lift as necessary, and trim fenders to fit the tires.
there is a lot of trimming in the front. i trimmed about 4 or 5".. maybe more, all the way around. in the rear i only had to trim a couple inches in the front and back of the fender well. i limited upward wheel travel in the rear some by moving the bump stops down 3 or 4"

 

[jd4242]

yea just watched your videos.i love that cage,shes a beast

 

[rhauf]

yea so i bought the truck before i moved to arizona, then got here and need something better for work in the desert. my truck makes it threw everyhting i throw at it with the 31's on there. i just want a better visual appearance. and no im not expecting anyone to go view things and tell me. i just figured someone would come across and reply with useful information. so would it be a bad idea to just do 2 inch shackles in the rear, then leveling kit and 2 inch coils up front?

That sounds about right

IMO a first gen explorer with stock suspension and 31's looks perfect. they won't rub and it gives a nice aggressive look. 2" of lift would be acceptable as well. honestly, anything more than that and its going to look silly unless you have bigger tires (which will involve fender chopping, among other things)

 

[arco777]

That sounds about right

IMO a first gen explorer with stock suspension and 31's looks perfect. they won't rub and it gives a nice aggressive look. 2" of lift would be acceptable as well. honestly, anything more than that and its going to look silly unless you have bigger tires (which will involve fender chopping, among other things)

Second that... my 93 2WD has 31s on stock suspension and gets compliments all the time. They only rub a tiny bit at full lock. I wouldn't want larger tires.

You gotta consider, too, that the more lift you have, the easier it is for people to see your 2WD front suspension. Also it's hard on your driveshaft u-joints.