4 inch lift?

[HSlough]

Guys I'm curious, which lifts are considered the best in quality and performance. And I would also like to know which ones will give the best bang for the buck? Also which ones will yield the best ride over the black top?

 

[Maniak]

Duff brackets seem to have the best design (have extra gussets).. they have progressive rate springs which ride nice...

Before we went higher we used the Duff brackets and Springs and it took me a little while to get used to the linear springs we switched to.

I'm currently running Skyjacker front springs and they are softer (linear) thatn the Duff springs... but I wouldn't say they ride any better.

The rear springs is where I think the most issues are going to come from and I can't comment on which springs are the best in the 4" as we went from OME springs to a frankenpack to SOA.

have you looked into the different options? As in, are you looking to get something with extended radius arms (you should)?

~Mark

 

[Fordman4eva]

Why did you switch from Duff to Skyjacker coils? More flex?

 

[Maniak]

More lift.. and progression of lift...

roughly, the lift progression over the years (and 400k miles) went... At least I think this is the right order.. I'm not positive when I went to the OME rear spring.

• stock
• Duff 2.5" lift w/ duff 2.5" front springs - AAL in rear
• Added f-150 lower spring seats under front springs for more lift & Added War-153 shackles for for more rear
• OME-36 (now CS042r) rear springs
• Extended Radius Arms for more travel with f-250 shock mounts for 32" front shocks
  [*} Duff 3.5" springs as I broke 2 sets of the 2.5". With the bolted down tight at the bottom I was bending the spring in 2 directions..
• Cut & Turned beams + skyjacker springs up front and Franken pack rear (with war-153)
• SOA rear conversion (stock spring + war-153)

I need to do something about the rear springs as I get enough flex to invert my rear springs which kills them in short order AND I want to re-gear and run 35's instead of 33's which means I "might" add a little more lift..

~Mark

 

[HSlough]

So how high is your lift now Mark? Any pics? And I'm completely confused on the terminology and what things mean on this Forum

 

[Maniak]

Best Guess is about 5.5" of lift... It's not a kit and hasn't been stock for so long it's hard to tell..

My front springs are skyjacker 5.5" TTB lift springs and I did a SOA in the rear which puts the springs over the axle and that alone gets about 5" or so of lift and I have Warrior 153 shackles in the rear which get you another 1.5" or so...

Here's a shot of it right after I move the axle back about 1" (can't do that with stock axle perches).. It's running 33's which appear a little small with that much lift...

SOA-axle-moved by maniak_az, on Flickr


This thread may help explain some of the acronyms used.. http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=150702&highlight=dictionary

Let me know if there is something special you want to know about my lift (throughout the years) and I'll try to post a pic to help explain it and why I did or don't use it anymore.. Although, for most things I don't use it anymore because I upgraded..

Keep in mind.. I get enough flex now to cause other issues..

for example, I don't use bump stops in the rear so I can get too much flex.. My springs go inverted when I do this which kills the springs...

truckhaven MLK weekend 2015 by maniak_az, on Flickr

Up front I can get my steering to bind...

~Mark

 

[HSlough]

So why is there so many threads say that I can fit a 33 12.50 on a 8 inch wheel with four inches of lift? I want to run the Yokohama geolander MT's which is by spec 32.8

 

[FROADER]

So why is there so many threads say that I can fit a 33 12.50 on a 8 inch wheel with four inches of lift? I want to run the Yokohama geolander MT's which is by spec 32.8

Because you can. I don't see anywhere that Mark says you can't fit 33s with a 4" lift. Plenty of people have. I don't think any of them ride better than others on the street.

This is my first explorer with a TrailMaster 4" and 33x12.5s on 8" AE wheels.

 

[HSlough]

I'm still learning now but this is what the Duff guys sent me in an email. Lee,

Thank you for your inquiry.# We do not build a 4" lift.# You might
accomplish this using our 2.5-3" lift with the addition of a 2" body lift.
But, you would likely have to do some fender trimming.

You could clear 33's with our 5.5-6" lift system.# It is part number 5053-3
and sells for $1895.00 plus shipping.# Note:# You would also require new
drive shafts for this much lift.# We have them custom built.

JDI

 

[HSlough]

Froader, how much rubbing did you have if any and is it the pic or did the rear sag a little

 

[FROADER]

That was right after I installed the lift, so I think the front actually settled a little. It did rub VERY slightly on the pinch weld of the firewall which was an easy fix (big hammer).

 

[Maniak]

So why is there so many threads say that I can fit a 33 12.50 on a 8 inch wheel with four inches of lift? I want to run the Yokohama geolander MT's which is by spec 32.8

Like Froader said... you can BUT if you start doing things to increase the suspension travel you can get it into things as it flexes..

The Pinch weld or the back of the front bumper near the tire are the first things you may hit..

Also, many, many, many moons ago (as in, over 200k miles ago) we ran the Yokohama Golander MT's... We were running 30x9.50 I think (might have been 31's back then)... They worked great off-road but we got < 30k miles on a set with a rear detroit locker. With open or a limited slip in the rear you may get more miles...

~Mark

 

[HSlough]

What is he talking about with the drive shaft thing?

 

[HSlough]

I'm getting the MT's for 450 for all 4

 

[Maniak]

I'm getting the MT's for 450 for all 4

That's a good OTD price...

I pay almost $200 each for my BFG KM2's in 33x12.50r15.. That's cash and carry.. I have to mount them myself (I use my neighbors tire machine)..

What is he talking about with the drive shaft thing?

As for the drive shaft... When you do a suspension lift you are increasing the distance between the transfer case and the axle. You can increase it a few inches before you run the risk of the 2 halfs of the driveshaft pulling apart.

When I was running my "around 4 inch" of lift we were still running the stock drive shafts. That was using the OME (old man emu) 2" lift springs with an added leaf (franken pack) and the war-153 shackles which got me to around 4" of lift with a bunch of suspension travel.

Soon after I did the Spring Over conversion (the 5.5"-ish lift) on my rear suspension I did some measuring... From my thread when I did the soa...

I measures the distance flange to flange for my drive shaft and came up with 51" when on the ground and 51.75" when drooped on the lift. From what I can tell the stock shaft when in the middle of the spline is 49" long.. Soo, I dropped off my rear shaft today to have it extended.

Hopefully that makes sense...

Oh yea, my front drive shaft is the stock length.. We measured it and even with all the travel I can get out of my TTB there is still plenty of spline left in the joint.

~Mark

 

[HSlough]

So the rear is the only one to worry about?

 

[Maniak]

Correct.. and according to my SOA thread I paid < $250 for a shaft with new u-joints

~Mark

 

[RangerX]

Duff says to use 5.5" of lift for 33s because their lawyers tell them to say that, not because it's necessarily so. They don't want to be liable if someone has problems with 33s on a 4" lift, so they factor in extra to protect themselves.

 

[HSlough]

I'm going to rely on the experience of the guys on this forum to guide me in this build. I like to build once and learn from my piers. I have lifted my 250. And built my Mustang so I do have some mechanical ability. I have just never welded and that seems to be a need in the land of the explorers! Lol

 

[HSlough]

This is my starting point.