Adam Berger
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 15, 2002
- Messages
- 203
- Reaction score
- 3
- City, State
- Melbourne, Australia
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1999 XLT 4wd
2" Body Lift Installation on 99 Ex with pics.
There seems to be alot of posts regarding body lifts on late model Explorers, so after completing mine, I thought I would add my experience in the hope that it may help someone.
I firstly purchased a Performance Accessories 792 2" Body Lift Kit made for 91-94 Explorers. I did alot of reading to make sure I knew what I was doing. The kit came with instructions but I found that this site helped alot:
http://mudmarine.tripod.com/3bodyliftinstall/
It's for a 3", but most steps are useful.
I first removed the front and rear bumpers. I found that doing this first gave more access to front and rear body mounts (they need to be modified later anyway). Next I got under the car and checked for anything that might stretch upon lifting. I disconnected the connecter for the towbar, 4 connectors under the passenger side (yankie driver's side) for the transfer case and related items, I didn't have to touch my park brake but I can't vouch for other Explorers. I disconnected the air intake, unbolted the radiator shroud, and most importantly, there are three brake lines clipped to the passenger (yankie driver's) shock tower. You must get these off. After the lift, I found that they no longer reach, so damage would have resulted in skipping this step. Lastly, I unbolted the steering shaft, which may not have been necessary. My steering shaft may have enough length to do a 3" kit.
The next step is to loosen all of the body mount bolts on one side, then remove the bolts from the opposite side. Depending on your year and where you been with you car, this could be very hard to do. I only had two bolts that wouldn't come off. One under the driver's seat which spun while undoing, so I jacked up the car at this point. With the weight of the car, it no longer spun. The other problem was one of the front bolts that was stuck. This turned out to be a two man operation.
After all this, it's just a matter of jacking up the side that is unbolted, sliding in the spacers, putting the new bolts in and repeating on the other side. Not all the bolts in the kit will fit. I found that the short bolts in the kit fit up front and the rear. The old rear bolts can be reused in the cabin, and you will have to pruchase an extra 4 bolts 50mm longer than the standard ones to bolt the rest in the cabin.
Now it's just a matter of reconnecting everything. The radiator shroud needs relocating and the kit comes with brackets. I had the drill out the upper brackets due to the upper radiator hose getting in the way. The end result is that it only dropped 25mm instead of 50mm but there is still enough clearance for the fan. The bottom bracket is in the kit and I just bent it some more to suit. I had to make a drop bracket for the transmission oil cooler lines, but that wasn't a big deal.
The spare tire winch needs to be relocated up 50mm so that the hole lines up in the rear of the car. I used some tubing with longer bolts and added two more fixings to be safe. I'm not sure how strong it is. Only time will tell.
The rear bumper needs to be relocated. I tryed it as it was and it looked shocking. I simply modifed the original brackets so that they lifted it up 25mm which was enough to make it look half descent. The kit comes with brackets, but I'm not sure how they would be of use. The front bumper is a different matter as I have a bullbar. The brackets have to be professionally modifed, so this is as far as I got.
All in all, this job wasn't too bad. It just took a bit of time. If I had the bolts I needed to buy, I would have completed it this weekend, apart from the bullbar. I hope this post helps someone who is considering a body lift.
There seems to be alot of posts regarding body lifts on late model Explorers, so after completing mine, I thought I would add my experience in the hope that it may help someone.
I firstly purchased a Performance Accessories 792 2" Body Lift Kit made for 91-94 Explorers. I did alot of reading to make sure I knew what I was doing. The kit came with instructions but I found that this site helped alot:
http://mudmarine.tripod.com/3bodyliftinstall/
It's for a 3", but most steps are useful.
I first removed the front and rear bumpers. I found that doing this first gave more access to front and rear body mounts (they need to be modified later anyway). Next I got under the car and checked for anything that might stretch upon lifting. I disconnected the connecter for the towbar, 4 connectors under the passenger side (yankie driver's side) for the transfer case and related items, I didn't have to touch my park brake but I can't vouch for other Explorers. I disconnected the air intake, unbolted the radiator shroud, and most importantly, there are three brake lines clipped to the passenger (yankie driver's) shock tower. You must get these off. After the lift, I found that they no longer reach, so damage would have resulted in skipping this step. Lastly, I unbolted the steering shaft, which may not have been necessary. My steering shaft may have enough length to do a 3" kit.
The next step is to loosen all of the body mount bolts on one side, then remove the bolts from the opposite side. Depending on your year and where you been with you car, this could be very hard to do. I only had two bolts that wouldn't come off. One under the driver's seat which spun while undoing, so I jacked up the car at this point. With the weight of the car, it no longer spun. The other problem was one of the front bolts that was stuck. This turned out to be a two man operation.
After all this, it's just a matter of jacking up the side that is unbolted, sliding in the spacers, putting the new bolts in and repeating on the other side. Not all the bolts in the kit will fit. I found that the short bolts in the kit fit up front and the rear. The old rear bolts can be reused in the cabin, and you will have to pruchase an extra 4 bolts 50mm longer than the standard ones to bolt the rest in the cabin.
Now it's just a matter of reconnecting everything. The radiator shroud needs relocating and the kit comes with brackets. I had the drill out the upper brackets due to the upper radiator hose getting in the way. The end result is that it only dropped 25mm instead of 50mm but there is still enough clearance for the fan. The bottom bracket is in the kit and I just bent it some more to suit. I had to make a drop bracket for the transmission oil cooler lines, but that wasn't a big deal.
The spare tire winch needs to be relocated up 50mm so that the hole lines up in the rear of the car. I used some tubing with longer bolts and added two more fixings to be safe. I'm not sure how strong it is. Only time will tell.
The rear bumper needs to be relocated. I tryed it as it was and it looked shocking. I simply modifed the original brackets so that they lifted it up 25mm which was enough to make it look half descent. The kit comes with brackets, but I'm not sure how they would be of use. The front bumper is a different matter as I have a bullbar. The brackets have to be professionally modifed, so this is as far as I got.
All in all, this job wasn't too bad. It just took a bit of time. If I had the bolts I needed to buy, I would have completed it this weekend, apart from the bullbar. I hope this post helps someone who is considering a body lift.
