Need Stock Body Bolt Sizes/thread making custom lift

I need to make a new offroad-ready bumper for the front of my truck. Mostly due to an ice situation that occurred a few weeks ago :roll:, but also becuase I have been wanting one. Anyway since I need to make a bumper I wanted to also add a little extra lift for the body to even up my 33" tires. However i do not want to go to a full 3" PA lift becuase there are some parking garages that may be problematic when in the city.


So here are my plans I bought 6ea 3" lift blocks that will be cut in half each to 1.5". Now I need to figure out how long, and what size of bolts to order. I was hoping someone has the stock bolts laying around from installing a PA lift, and they could measure them and post the sizes. I've searched everywhere, even parts places but nobody lists the specs for these bolts. My only other option was to take mine out which would be a PITA:thumbdwn:

I thought maybe I may even get lucky and be able to switch the longer bolts into the shorter mounts and then just purchase a few longer ones.

Anyway thanks guys... and yes I will be creating a thread for the mods once I have all the parts and it warms up around here. This 13deg stuff is a bit drastic!!!

Rusty

OK did some more research and It looks like all the bolts are 12mm is that true?

bumpety bump... anyone home?

you mean nobody has the stock bolts laying around from a recent (or old) body lift that they can measure the stock length?

ALL the bolts should be grade 8 i don't know if you knew that or not

the bolts lengths vary on the position of the body mount
on a standard 3 in BL the bolts go from 200 mm to 140 mm
go to Perfomance accesories website and get the bolt lengths then estimate what you will need for your BL

You may also be able to find out the stock length searching for a spec chart for the explorer

Thanks for the response, I was a bit worried my posts were going into la la land or something

person21 said:

ALL the bolts should be grade 8 i don't know if you knew that or not

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Yeah I was planning on getting either grade 8 or maybe even high yield stainless just because I live in the rust belt. (depending on cost)

the bolts lengths vary on the position of the body mount
on a standard 3 in BL the bolts go from 200 mm to 140 mm
go to Perfomance accesories website and get the bolt lengths then estimate what you will need for your BL

Click to expand...

I checked their website however since the kit is for a ranger and not an explorer it really is no help. In a ranger there are 8 bolts in the bed and 6 in the cab. Our explorers only have a total of 10 (as best I can tell) So the question would be which bolt lengths are where in the explorer setup. The online instructions do have the lengths for the 3" lift but I have no way of knowing which ones would apply to the explorer.

You may also be able to find out the stock length searching for a spec chart for the explorer

Click to expand...

Man I wish I could find a good reference. I checked my ford DVD and it had nothing. I searched here and found nothing. I cannot even find a part number or any reference online that lists the bolts for replacement.

I was going to call the ford dealer, But I figured with the amount of people that have done the 3" lift out here there has to be someone who has the bolts laying around.

OK so here is another question.
Everyone on here says grade 8 however metric grade 8.8 is not the same as a grade 8 bolt in strength. Actually metric grade 10.9 is a closer match. However 10.9 is very hard to find in anything longer than about 120mm. And my rough calculations say that I should need at least 2 bolts that are 160mm long. So are the bolts in the PA kit grade 10.9 or 8.8 according to the head?

See This Chart Referenced from this Very informative website
Inch Grade--Marks on Head-- Material--Tensile Strength--Yield Strength
2-----------none------------Steel----------74,000-----------57,000
5------------3---------------Steel---------120,000----------92,000
8------------6---------------Alloy Steel----150,000---------130,000
SHCS-------none------------Alloy Steel-----180,000---------140,000
18-8--------none-----------302 Stainless---100,000---------65,000
316---------none-----------316 Stainless---100,000---------65,000

Metric Class---Marks on Head---Material----Tensile Strength----Yield Strength
8.8--------------8.8------------Steel----------116,000----------93,000
10.9-------------10.9-----------Steel----------151,000----------136,000
12.9-------------12.9---------Alloy Steel-------177,000----------160,000
A2-70------------A2-70------302 Stainless-----102,000-----------65,000
A4-80------------A4-80------316 Stainless-----116,000-----------87,000

Oh and this chart pretty much shows that Stainless is out due to it's inferior yield strength

Wow, I thought this would be a simple question. Is there nobody around that has installed a PA lift ?

manaen said:

Wow, I thought this would be a simple question. Is there nobody around that has installed a PA lift ?

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Read the sticky post up top titled "PA 883 Bodylift Instructions". I believe there is a complete list of bolts listed somewhere within that thread. If you read all 5 pages, I am sure just about every question imaginable is answered.

Dude, I appreciate the comments I really do. But I am not new to this site, and I have searched and read through probably 200 posts to try to find this information including the sticky you mentioned.

I would not have asked the question if it could have been easily found. I guess I am a bit frustrated as this seemed like a simple request. With so many people who have installed the lift. Someone has to have the stock bolts laying around that they can measure.

Go to LMC Trucks website. Pg 26 in their current online catalog for 95-01 Explorer. There are apparently 5 different body mount bolts. They don't list the size, but you could call there 800# and ask.

Carguy3J said:

Go to LMC Trucks website. Pg 26 in their current online catalog for 95-01 Explorer. There are apparently 5 different body mount bolts. They don't list the size, but you could call there 800# and ask.

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Awh man thanks.. So close but they don't have the dimensions in the computer. Just the part numbers and they have no way of looking them up.

OK, I called Ford they told me the same thing, they don't list dimensions Geesh this is getting comical, in a "three stooges poke your eye out" kind of way....

still searching for an answer, I'm thinking about consulting fortune cookies..

manaen said:

OK, I called Ford they told me the same thing, they don't list dimensions Geesh this is getting comical, in a "three stooges poke your eye out" kind of way....

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Did you happen to call just before closing time? I bet they just didn't want to be bothered. I recently had a dealer parts counter tell me the bolt size/length for the throttle body bolts on my '92 Sable. I think he needed to look at an "exploded view" diagram of the part to see the dimensions. The dealer was Magarino Ford in NJ. Google it for the number.

Here are the bolt lengths for the 3" body lift (except for behind the front seats), so just subtract about 38 mm from each and you should have the right length for a 1.5" body lift -

Front mounts - 180MM
Mounts that are in front of the front seats - 140MM
Mounts just under the rear of the front seats - I used the stock bolts from the very rear mounts.
Mounts in the front of cargo area - 160MM
Mounts in rear of cargo area - 200MM

Credit this to 99ex22 and CAHUNTERMAN, here is the post -

http://explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=238214&highlight=body+lift

Dude I could drive to St.Louis and kiss you(in a non-gay manly way of course <G>) I don't know why that thread is not a sticky, or why it didn't come up in my searches. I will be at least adding a post to the Body lift sticky for this information. Man I searched this site for 3 days trying to find that info and found nothing.

OK Now I have some work to DO to collect all the parts and move forward

I just now seen this thread.

I went to a John Deer dealership to get the metric 10.9 bolts for my Body Lift. They have everything you will need, including 10.9 fender washers to use for the body mounts in front if you choose to cut them off. It wont matter which length you will need, they got it for less than most hardware stores to boot. Just go to the parts counter with one of your old bolts, so they can match up the stud width, & thread.

Sweet!! I have a John Deer place right down the road and would have never thought about going there. That is a great idea!!

OK here is the first of probably many diagrams. I wanted to post it here to complete this thread and will include it later in a compilation of the entire lift.

Thanks guys for the info and help on finding all this information.