1997 Air Ride Removal Issues

[smallxfires]

Hey All,

First post! I just bought a 97 Eddie Bauer AWD 5.0. Once I parked it next to a similar explorer I noticed it looks much lower than other stock explorers of that era. I did some research and found out I had air ride. I read a bunch of posts about people converting to standard gas shocks so I went to the store and bought some monroes.

I removed my front shocks to find out that the PO had already cut the lines for air ride and installed some monroe shocks. I figured they were maybe the wrong ones, so i installed my new shocks and there is no difference.

Is this normal? Is there an extended and short version of shock my car had? Should i be looking at shocks from another year or sub model? The rest of the suspension looks totally stock, i know i can crank the tortion bars, but that wouldn't solve the rear end.

Thanks in advance!

 

[swshawaii]

Non coilover stock shocks have little or no effect on ride height. Your torsion bars may have weakened over time or they may have been previously adjusted. Regardless, to check if you have the correct shocks, Monroe stamps a five digit model number near the bottom of the shock. There are many detailed ARC threads on the forum, here just two. GL

Remove ARC | Ford Explorer and Ford Ranger Forums - Serious Explorations

Suspension advice for *normal* people | Ford Explorer and Ford Ranger Forums - Serious Explorations

 

[RandomNerd2000]

It's been my understanding that the springs and TT level were different on non air ride and air ride cars, saw that on this forum at some point.