New to the scene, but not to the game.

[PoweredByMB]

Hey everyone. Figured I'd drop a new member post to introduce myself. Couple quick introductory details;

My names Clayton, I'm a Mercedes master tech. Ive been working on my cars my whole life, and have been professionally in the industry now for 12 years. I have lots of experience with both old and new cars. Id be glad to help anyone with advise on any newer car questions if needed. Don't hesitate to ask. I have 2 Explorers, a 96 XLT 5.0 AWD and an 02 Eddie Bauer 4.6 4x4. (I'll get pica uploaded soon of the exploders) I also have a 2019 C300, but that's irrelevant here haha.

I just purchased by 96 yesterday, and I'm really excited to dig in! I'll have some pics up soon. It's a 96 XLT 5.0 AWD with 142k on it. Very good condition for its age. I bought from a friend for $2500. Couldn't turn down a deal like that. Runs great with no problems. First order of business will be SOA and TT with keys, followed by body Spacers and possibly AAL. I'd like to increase the towing capacity eventually to about 7.5k. All in good time.

And finally, I may be new to this forum, but I'm well seasoned in forums in general. Don't worry I know how to use the search feature haha! I've been digging around on here now for a week compiling info and building a list of how to's etc to start my build.

Anyways, glad to be here, excited to start on the new exploder and hope to see you guys around.

 

[PoweredByMB]

Pics of my new 96. It's a bit dirty so the pics dont really do it justice. I'll get it cleaned later and get better pics.

 

[Rick]

Welcome to the forum. That's a color I haven't seen much of. Looks good

 

[Fix4Dirt]

welcome to EF!!!! always nice to have seasoned professonals on the board! maybe someday you can help me understand the texh in new cars quite jealous of the shop space you have!!!! wish i had that kind of space1 one thing: if you plan on a torsion key, it most likely wont matxh the SOA, and especially not the SOA+ALL... if youre doing keys, shackles+aal may work best... howceer if you want to go SOA, you can do a sloped body lift... hope to see you around here!

 

[410Fortune]

Welcome to ef fellow gearhead! If you can fix Mercedes these fords should be a snap lol and parts far cheaper!!

I really and I mean really like that 96! I had one exactly like it for many years

You really need to consider ditching the awd t case and installing a bw4406m transfer case and drivelines. You can research that here on ef. I did a thread many years ago about putting that case into my old 96, “410fortune goes
Low range”

410Fortune 96 AWD Ex - goes low range

I picked up my transfer case last night. Two t cases were included in the deal, one is strictly for parts. The t case I will be using in my 96 5.0L AWD explorer is a 2001 F-150 BW 4406 manual shift :) this makes me very happy. I will no longer have full time AWD, instead I will have 2wd, 4hi...

www.explorerforum.com

Dont you just love the wedge wood blue interior? Mine came with blue leather seats too! Eventually I swapped the entire interior over to charcoal grey from a 01 mountaineer it was a wicked nice upgrade with that body color

A 96 5.0 with only 142k on it is just a baby! Cannot wait to see what you do to it!!

Welcome

That is my favorite paint color they did not make many In 96-97 w that color

410Fortune - 96 5.0L XLT refurbish (making 1 great Ex from 2)

Okay here we go 09/13/05 In march of 05 I rolled my new to me 96 5.0L AWD 86K miles, just after driving it back to CO from OR and putting $1000 into it. You see I bought this truck from my brother with 86K miles on the clock, it would not pass emissions for him and he drove it into the...

www.explorerforum.com

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum!

 

[Mike65]

Welcome Clayton.

 

[CDW6212R]

Welcome Clayton, it's great to have enthusiastic experts here to help. Dig in like you said and hunt for more ideas for your truck.

If you have someone to build a Ford trans so you can save the labor costs, I can suggest some upgrade parts that are worthy for a high stress application. I have those parts to go into 2-3 of those 4R70W's of the Explorer 302 trucks. The most you might spend is about $1000 in non stock build parts, not counting a torque converter.

 

[donalds]

Welcome to the forum
I too am a gear head Love fords enjoy yours

 

[PoweredByMB]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys! Definitely seems like a close knit community here.

welcome to EF!!!! always nice to have seasoned professonals on the board! maybe someday you can help me understand the texh in new cars quite jealous of the shop space you have!!!! wish i had that kind of space1 one thing: if you plan on a torsion key, it most likely wont matxh the SOA, and especially not the SOA+ALL... if youre doing keys, shackles+aal may work best... howceer if you want to go SOA, you can do a sloped body lift... hope to see you around here!

Yeah our shop is super nice! They definitely spoil us here lol. Yeah from my research here it seems like roughly 5.5" is expected in lift from the SOA and 2" from the TT. What isn't quite clear to me is, can a TT and keys be used together to get higher lift? I've found 3" lift keys online. If so a 2" TT plus 3" keys could get me very close. I had already planned down the road on 3" body spacers, which could be shaved to level any height discrepancy.

Welcome to ef fellow gearhead! If you can fix Mercedes these fords should be a snap lol and parts far cheaper!!

I really and I mean really like that 96! I had one exactly like it for many years

You really need to consider ditching the awd t case and installing a bw4406m transfer case and drivelines. You can research that here on ef. I did a thread many years ago about putting that case into my old 96, “410fortune goes
Low range”

410Fortune 96 AWD Ex - goes low range

I picked up my transfer case last night. Two t cases were included in the deal, one is strictly for parts. The t case I will be using in my 96 5.0L AWD explorer is a 2001 F-150 BW 4406 manual shift :) this makes me very happy. I will no longer have full time AWD, instead I will have 2wd, 4hi...

www.explorerforum.com

Dont you just love the wedge wood blue interior? Mine came with blue leather seats too! Eventually I swapped the entire interior over to charcoal grey from a 01 mountaineer it was a wicked nice upgrade with that body color

A 96 5.0 with only 142k on it is just a baby! Cannot wait to see what you do to it!!

Welcome

That is my favorite paint color they did not make many In 96-97 w that color

410Fortune - 96 5.0L XLT refurbish (making 1 great Ex from 2)

Okay here we go 09/13/05 In march of 05 I rolled my new to me 96 5.0L AWD 86K miles, just after driving it back to CO from OR and putting $1000 into it. You see I bought this truck from my brother with 86K miles on the clock, it would not pass emissions for him and he drove it into the...

www.explorerforum.com

View attachment 428607

Thanks for the compliments man! I really like the color to! Thanks for the advise on the transfer case, and the links. Ive been making a list of links to builds and useful info so ill add these to my list. That was definitely an item I was going to look into later, but you answered my question before I asked haha. Also that's a beautiful explorer you have!

Welcome Clayton, it's great to have enthusiastic experts here to help. Dig in like you said and hunt for more ideas for your truck.

If you have someone to build a Ford trans so you can save the labor costs, I can suggest some upgrade parts that are worthy for a high stress application. I have those parts to go into 2-3 of those 4R70W's of the Explorer 302 trucks. The most you might spend is about $1000 in non stock build parts, not counting a torque converter.

Thanks for the offer man! I actually might buy those from you down the road. I'm sure I'll need to beef up the trans for my end game build. Thankfully I'm one of 3 trans specialists in our shop so I'll most likely do it all myself.


Again guys thanks for the warm welcome! I'm in the middle of a different project for my friends daughter right now so it may be a bit before I REALLY dig into the exploder, but I'll be around until then gathering info.

 

[410Fortune]

A 2” torsiontwist already has your ride height set at max down travel, so the truck will ride like crap, 3” is just unheard of you would literally be at the bottom of suspension travel at ride height. With no droop travel available the truck will ride like a hay wagon. Usually a 1-1.5” torsion adjustment is all I will do.

There are lots of upgrades for these trucks from mild to wild. When fitting larger tires the goal is ground clearance and traction, but at what cost? The ride and higher center of gravity. So we can get there a few different ways, maxing out the suspension travel for ride height is like the worst way.
Body lift is good to clear larger tires, because it only raises the cog by lifting the body. On these trucks a 3” body
Lift causes some issues and if you talk to people who have them they will tell you it kills the ride, whereas a 1”’or 2” body lift is hardly noticeable and allows similar clearance for tires. There are drop bracket lifts from superlift or rough country that allow 5”
Of suspension drop from the frame, giving you room for the tires. Drop bracket lifts raise up everything the drivetrain the frame the body, raising cog big time. Worth it in most cases. Now you can use the 1-2” of torsion twist avail to level the truck.
I’m a big fan of fender flares, fiberglass fenders, anything that allows the larger tires without raising the cog
It’s a balancing act
Skip the torsion keys or anything that maxes out your suspension travel (over 1.5 tt) and you will be happier daily

You will find everything here from weekend warriors, full Blown trail rigs, and desert race trucks. With the 5.0 explorer the sky is literally the limit.
There are mid travel kits, long travel kits, simple torsion bar deletes, and of course solid axle swaps… all of those are right at home under your 96 5.0 with is sla ifs suspension

 

[Fix4Dirt]

for the front the rough country lift for stranger rangers will get you quite close and tou can do a .5" torsion adjatment as needed to get yourself level with the SOA

 

[PoweredByMB]

A 2” torsiontwist already has your ride height set at max down travel, so the truck will ride like crap, 3” is just unheard of you would literally be at the bottom of suspension travel at ride height. With no droop travel available the truck will ride like a hay wagon. Usually a 1-1.5” torsion adjustment is all I will do.

There are lots of upgrades for these trucks from mild to wild. When fitting larger tires the goal is ground clearance and traction, but at what cost? The ride and higher center of gravity. So we can get there a few different ways, maxing out the suspension travel for ride height is like the worst way.
Body lift is good to clear larger tires, because it only raises the cog by lifting the body. On these trucks a 3” body
Lift causes some issues and if you talk to people who have them they will tell you it kills the ride, whereas a 1”’or 2” body lift is hardly noticeable and allows similar clearance for tires. There are drop bracket lifts from superlift or rough country that allow 5”
Of suspension drop from the frame, giving you room for the tires. Drop bracket lifts raise up everything the drivetrain the frame the body, raising cog big time. Worth it in most cases. Now you can use the 1-2” of torsion twist avail to level the truck.
I’m a big fan of fender flares, fiberglass fenders, anything that allows the larger tires without raising the cog
It’s a balancing act
Skip the torsion keys or anything that maxes out your suspension travel (over 1.5 tt) and you will be happier daily

You will find everything here from weekend warriors, full Blown trail rigs, and desert race trucks. With the 5.0 explorer the sky is literally the limit.
There are mid travel kits, long travel kits, simple torsion bar deletes, and of course solid axle swaps… all of those are right at home under your 96 5.0 with is sla ifs suspension

So the plan is DEFINITELY not to daily it. I've got a 2019 C300 for my daily. The plan for the 96 is big lift, big tires, increase tow capacity, medium-heavy duty trail rig, and fender flares would be awesome! Are there readily available flares?

I definitely don't want to max out my travel to lift it, but I've found it rather difficult to source the super lift suspension kit for these, as they are discontinued apparently.

for the front the rough country lift for stranger rangers will get you quite close and tou can do a .5" torsion adjatment as needed to get yourself level with the SOA

I haven't seen or read anything about this kit yet. I have found through research that a lot of ranger sport/edge parts will fit. Is the rough country kit you're referring to a ranger kit?

 

[PoweredByMB]

for the front the rough country lift for stranger rangers will get you quite close and tou can do a .5" torsion adjatment as needed to get yourself level with the SOA

Is this the kit you're referring to? 98-11 ranger 4wd 5" suspension lift?

5 Inch Lift Kit | Multiple Makes & Models (Ford/Mazda)

5 Inch Lift Kit | Multiple Makes & Models (Ford/Mazda)

www.roughcountry.com

 

[Fix4Dirt]

Is this the kit you're referring to? 98-11 ranger 4wd 5" suspension lift?

5 Inch Lift Kit | Multiple Makes & Models (Ford/Mazda)

5 Inch Lift Kit | Multiple Makes & Models (Ford/Mazda)

www.roughcountry.com

yes its this!!!! you can use the front off of it, and then for the back SOA, OMEs+shackles, or whateevr combo you choose!!! im actually looking at getting the RC lift myself also, while youre at it....... may i suggest a coilver conversion

 

[PoweredByMB]

yes its this!!!! you can use the front off of it, and then for the back SOA, OMEs+shackles, or whateevr combo you choose!!! im actually looking at getting the RC lift myself also, while youre at it....... may i suggest a coilver conversion

Wow that's great news! I was really worrying about the front to be honest. So will the rear setup for this kit not fit our trucks? Also coil overs would be great for suspension travel. I might look into that actually.

 

[Fix4Dirt]

Wow that's great news! I was really worrying about the front to be honest. So will the rear setup for this kit not fit our trucks? Also coil overs would be great for suspension travel. I might look into that actually.

unfortlunately, in the rear the lift is achieved via blocks, and because the explroers are SUA the blocks do us no good... and yep! plenty of threads on how to go coulovers!

 

[410Fortune]

Rangers are spring over axle
Explorers are spring under axle
This is why the rear lift from a ranger won’t work on explorer

The ranger and bronco ii the frame rails get narrow and the leaf springs are hung outboard the frame rails, explorrr the frame stays wide and the leafs are directly under the frame rails
This is the main difference between the pickup and the suv

The rough country lift is a good quality drop
Bracket kit for sure
Putting the springs over the axle on the explorer is the perfect way to match a 5” front drop bracket lift

 

[PoweredByMB]

Well boys, here it is. The first step. Got my body lift in yesterday. Hopefully I'll have time to put it on this weekend.

I've been doing my research, and know that I'll need to make custom brackets for the front bumper. I found a thread that had schematics drawn up which is REALLY helpful! That will come a little later. It's kinda low on my priorities for now. I'm not dailying the explorer, and don't intend to. So I'm keeping it at my shop until I get everything(ish) done.

I'll keep updating as I go, and eventually once I get enough done to it I'll make a build tread.

 

[Mbrooks420]

You can’t technically increase towing capacity, and you especially can’t do it with a “big” lift. Those don’t go together.