33's No Body Lift (Illegal In Maine)

[wantedexplorer]

17.5 front 18 rear i hope that helps

thanks

anyone else?

 

[Blee1099]

To be perfectly honest, 33s with no body lift is gonna require extensive amount of trimming. Your gonna have almost no articulation in the front end. Your best bet is to go to a 31 or even 32" tire.. I would do a torsion twist & shackles and then maybe find someone local to you with 31s or 32s and test fit them to determine how much trimming is needed.

 

[XLT]

The sawzall is going to be your new best friend. It should be pointed out that the pictures are of a sport. I believe the 2dr explorer has a little bit bigger wheel wells then the 4dr. I would stick with a 31 inch tire unless you really dont mind hacking your truck up alot.

 

[Blee1099]

Meatball, 98sport had a 2dr and if i remember right he had 32 that rubbed like hell..

 

[chezoom]

33/12.5 on 15/8/4 rim it can be done

looks awesome. i want mine to sit like this

 

[wantedexplorer]

To be perfectly honest, 33s with no body lift is gonna require extensive amount of trimming. Your gonna have almost no articulation in the front end. Your best bet is to go to a 31 or even 32" tire.. I would do a torsion twist & shackles and then maybe find someone local to you with 31s or 32s and test fit them to determine how much trimming is needed.

Ive already drove around with 31's on it I borrowed from a jeep friend ( hes using his winter tires) And i had NO problems at all turning,flexing ect.. Another jeep friend has 32's But they actually messure about a 33" (32.6)They fit in the well. But have maybe 1/4" to the fender And lower porsion of the front bumper valance when turning the wheel lock to lock. Im sure a sharp turn and the slightest Body roll they will rub like crazy.
There is a guy in town running 32's on his 97 explorer stock with 1" cut out of the back of the front fenders and the lower portion of the bumper trimmed.
Im thinking since I have no trouble with 31's at stock hight. with 2"s I shouldnt have to trim for 32's. If I wanted to do 33's Some trimming for the 33's 1 1/2" back of the fender and Im having a custom bumper built so I wouldnt have to worry about the front..:exporange

 

[Elessar65]

I just have a TT and 2" leaf pack, running 32s. (31.9 according to Hankook's info) The only place I rub is just a little bit on the front sway bar at full lock. Its barely enough to notice though.

 

[wantedexplorer]

I found a picture. After searching and searching..

Thats with a TT and Shackle.

If you look closely you can see the amount of trimming thats would have to be done. ( He wasnt willing to trim that much)
I wouldnt have a problem cutting that much out Ive trimmed alot more on other vehicles.
I dont use a Sawzal I use a cutting disk. tape out the fender draw with a marker where you want your lines to go nice and smooth and it comes out great. Curl the fender up to get it the rounded lip (not a sharp edge) and your good to go!

This is after with the 3" BL , TT and Shackle

You can see the differance it made and the extra room obviously.

The Thread can be found here...started in 2006.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=174199


33's Here I come

 

[dkchrist]

I am a little confused about the law. No where in what was posted says anything about a body lift or ABS (ABS will not be messed with in a body lift) Frame Height is the only thing they are concerned about. I am missing something?

 

[wantedexplorer]

I am a little confused about the law. No where in what was posted says anything about a body lift or ABS (ABS will not be messed with in a body lift) Frame Height is the only thing they are concerned about. I am missing something?

Yea the hole handbook.lol.

body lifts are illegal. Maine is stupid. thats what it boils down to. It takes some digging in the handbook to come across the rite section where its written.
But yeah That was a big debate back when they were changing lift laws. Needless to say we didnt win and we cant use a BL.

Think Ide be going threw all this trouble if they where legal?

 

[voss24]

No there is not a bl installed yet. Just TT and shackles. I just threw on the wheels and tires for the hell of it to see how it looks. Can barley turn the wheel. If I was to drive it like that I would have to do A ton of trimming. I will be putting the BL on sometime next week.

Basically, that picture is of his explorer with 33s, but he cant even drive it like that.

So i think youre gonna have to do more than just a little trimming

 

[wantedexplorer]

Basically, that picture is of his explorer with 33s, but he cant even drive it like that.

So i think youre gonna have to do more than just a little trimming

I dont mind cutting out some fender. Taking a BFH to the floor board/wheel well area and customizing the inner fender well. They fit and If I remember rite he said they rubbed like crazy and he couldnt drive it like that.
Looking at those pictures I can see the inner fender well ( saved it to my computer and zoomed in ) and the fenders/plastic along the bottom and all of that is easily taken care of. There is more then enough room from the top of the tire to the bottom of the fender for articulation. He's also running a 12.5 I plan on a 10.5 so the tire will be able to move a little better as well.

Some people just dont want to cut/or BFH there rig. With 215k on mine. All I need it 1 year out of it and Ill be happy. Im not worried about doing some trimming/reshapeing.

In about 2-3 months Ill update this thread with what I had to do to make it work.

EDIT

No there is not a bl installed yet. Just TT and shackles. I just threw on the wheels and tires for the hell of it to see how it looks. Can barley turn the wheel. If I was to drive it like that I would have to do A ton of trimming. I will be putting the BL on sometime next week.

Thats what he said So he CAN turn the wheel But barely its rubbing. once again 12.5's so some 10.5's should help with trimming and reshaping the inners. Should be a go. Also like I said Ill come back to this in a couple months after income tax time and let you know if it worked or if I went with a 32".

 

[wantedexplorer]

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37845

Another thread TT/Shackles 285/75/16s So basicaly a 33x11.5's with MINOR trimming.

And I dont have the big EB flares.

 

[voss24]

well hey man, I would LOVE to get 33s on my ex without a bodylift, I just dont want to be overly optimistic!! but seriously, if you can do it, id love to see pics and a how-to if you have the patience for that sort of thing.

Lookin forward to pics, goodluck

 

[wantedexplorer]

well hey man, I would LOVE to get 33s on my ex without a bodylift, I just dont want to be overly optimistic!! but seriously, if you can do it, id love to see pics and a how-to if you have the patience for that sort of thing.

Lookin forward to pics, goodluck

Not a problem Keep and eye out for this thread in about 2-3 Months when it gets a little warmer in Maine ( where getting 16"s of snow rite now )
Ill get the shackles on crank the t-bars. Buy a used set of 33's ( why go new just incase ) and do the trimming thats seems to be needed by all the posts Ive found. And then if its not to overly much for you. You can tare yours up.

If it works Ill do a short write up on what needs to be trimmed/modded for the 33's.

 

[voss24]

oh by the way, are you going with ATs or MTs, there should be a good sized difference when it comes to clearance issues

 

[xploder1208]

will a body lift start to wear through the body over time??

 

[XLT]

will a body lift start to wear through the body over time??

Nope, unless if your truck is rusting in that area. I had a friend with a blazer that rusted through the body mount and the thing with clatter everytime he hit a bump.

 

[trj360]

Surprised nobody has said fiberglass fenders yet...?

 

[99ex22]

You could run a 33/10.5 with little trimming. A 33/12.5 you would have to trim slot