97 Explorer - What can I do?

[Bigworm805]

I just bought a 1997 Explorer 4DR 4WD and started looking around for body lifts and suspension lifts and learned about this IFS thing on 95-97 Explorers and problems with lifts. Needless to say, I was disappointed. I want my truck to have that "off road" or raised look with increased ground clearance. Can anyone help me? Are there 97 owners out there that have overcome these problems?

[Edited by Bigworm805 on 08-21-2000 at 02:18 PM]

 

[Seth]

Do a search for Warrior Shackles, Add a leafs, and "torsion twist". That will get you two inches. Anything after that would have to be a custom body lift(not too expensive) or a custom suspension lift(big bucks). Hope this helps a little.

 

[Bigworm805]

Thanks Seth - I will start looking today. Your truck looks great, what modifications have you made?

 

[Seth]

Thanks.
My Mod's:
K&N filtercharger
-more hp and better gas mileage
30x9.5 Bfg's (was a mistake should have gotten 31x10.5 but
the guy at NTB talked me out of it)
-Great off road tire as well as street
Manik Stainless Steel grille guard
-has saved me twice now..one to a head on colision and
another time to a really steep incline
Piaa 520 off road lights
-BRIGHT
Rancho RS5000 shocks
-lets put it this way..I don't slow done for speed
bumps anymore
Clear head lights (installed after picture)
-get rid of that ugly orange side thing on lights
Class 3 Hidden hitch
-lets me put in a tow hook in the back and I can tow
-Great hitch...can only see the reciever box
Warrior shackles (being shipped..should be here by thursday
after I get those I will "twist" torsion
bars for 2 inches of lift)
If you have any more questions I'd be happy to help. There are a lot of people on this board with great looking late model modified explorers. Look around for stuff by people named Ray Lobato, Gjarrett, felsman, and t-bone. They all have great looking rigs.

 

[Ray Lobato]

Hi Bigworm805,
Welcome to the website.
I sent you a email reply to your question.
Those of us with 95-97 Explorers are gonna have to do some custom work on the Trailmaster lift that is going to be here shortly. I am presently having a Trailmaster 98 Ranger lift kit put in, but am leaving it for the professionals to do, since it will require some fabricating and welding of the rear portion of the torsion bar mechanism to make it work for our year Explorers. I choose not to wait for the Explorer kit to come out, since I would have to modify it anyway. Juan Felsman already beat me to it and there are some pictures of his Explorer on the "before and after" forum. The only differance between his and mine is, Juan's is a spring over axle(SOA) and mine will be spring under axle(SUA). I had to buy the springs extra as the ranger kit is made for SOA. I know $1300.00 sounds like alot of money, well it is alot of money, but this kind of thing isn't for the weak of pocket book. To have a trail worthy machine, you've got to spend the money. Remember good trucks are not readily bought, they're made. If you buy the Trailmaster Explorer kit, it will have the rear springs since it is a SUA setup. Figure on probably spending around $600.00 to $800.00 to have it modified to your Explorer. I am also having a Atlas II transfer case installed, so I needed to put a 1" body lift on it so the bigger transfercase would fit. I will then have 4" from the suspension lift, 1" from the body lift, 1.5" from the Warrior shackles and Torsion Bar Twist for a total of 6.5" to put 35X12.5 R15 BFG KO's with 15X8" rims. Was going to do 15X10's but Bill (RangerX) talked me out of it. I will probably still have to trim the inner wheel walls but that's only because I'm going to run 35's.
You would be able to run 33's with the OME-36 rear 2" lifted springs, the torsion bars turned up to 1.75 and a 1" body lift. some minor trimming would have to be done, but nothing that you couldn't handle with a Dremel tool.
Sorry for the long post. Hope this helps.

 

[Bigworm805]

All your help has been awesome. Thanks for everything. I am in search of a Off-Road shop in town to give me the extra boost of knowledge and skill. I am not trained in anything mechanical and my wife would kill me if anything goes wrong with my truck. She has some delusion of my Explorer becoming some type of "family wagon." I can't handle the stigma of a "family wagon." I will convince her over time. Thanks again. If you guys have any other advice that you think I need, let me know. The modifications I am now looking at are the torsion bar twist, rear springs or shackles, brush guard, step bars, and fender flares. That is probably all I can get a way with.

 

[Seth]

Hey now don't forget the tires

 

[Bigworm805]

Oops - Forgot those - BFG 31X10.5R15 ASAP

 

[Ray Lobato]

Hey Bigworm,
What you have to do is get your wife involved in you endevor to build up your truck. How do you accomplish this? I'm glad you asked. What you do is save some of your vacation time and come to the Truckhaven Run in January. There she will meet all the wives of the drivers and they will explain how, even though it is costly, it keeps us out of trouble. and She might just like 4wheelin. She will also get to see all the tricked out trucks and realize that she wants yours to look like that too.

 

[JWood]

93 XLT

As I wait for Firestone or Ford to replace my ATX's I'm considering new shocks on my 93 XLT 2WD 4DR. The original shocks probably need replacement. I would appreciate opinions on Monroe Sensamatic, Gabriel Pro Rider or others appropriate for a stock Explorer. Also, Ford quotes the shocks as Front $43.95 and rear $29.95...why different price...?

Thanks

 

[2001ExpSport]

Front and back have different style shocks. The mounting brackets are different as well as composition.