AAL? Why not add 2 or 3?

[hardywo]

I see lots of explorers listing that AAL is one of their mods. I've been looking at doing this, and I don't see why I shouldn't add more than one. Wouldn't that increase the height even more? Anybody feel free to agree with me or correct me before I make the trip to the junkyard in search of different lengths of leaf springs. Thanks for the help.

 

[cgriffin_5139]

Well Bill 1 set of aals will make your rid e stiff and harsh. 2-3 will make it unbearable, what is the amount of lift you want?

 

[Gadget X]

Yeah, you'd be better off doing an SOA than you would by just adding more leafs to the pack. You would just end up with an unbearably stiff rear suspension.

 

[hardywo]

More

Well I was SOA'd for a while (check it out), but I took it down because I can't afford to throw away the $2000 or so to replace the torsion bars with coil springs. I can get between 2 and 3 inches of lift from the TT in the front, and I wanted to match that in the rear, then add a 3" body lift to acheive about the height I had when I was SOA'd, only evenly this time. I know I could do AAL + shackles, but I'm still a little confused about how the shackles work, as it looks like I already have shackles anyhow. The other question is what is the part number of the best 3" body lift for my explorer? Thanks for the help guys.

 

[carlover]

The aftermarket shackles are longer than the stock ones giving about 1 1/2 inches of lift in the rear. With the AAL and shackles i went up a little over 3 inches in the rear over stock. And if your 4wd you cant go over 2 inches in the front with a TT, youll bind and wear out your cv joints.

 

[Dan Whitaker]

There is only one BL which is Performance Accessories PA853. It is for
Rangers, but fits Explorers. You will have to fab your own bumper brackets though.

 

[naxel86]

I also hear the steering is kind of stiff, but I have no experience in this

 

[410Fortune]

stacking add a leafs would be counter productive when the spring goes under the axle, the leafs themselves are like 1/2" thick so putting 3 of them in there lowers you 1.5" or more

Plus the ride would SUCK

Check out the F-150 leaf mod for a MUCH better approach, or consider lift leaf springs, if you are 4" or more up front consider the SOA

 

[Hartman]

who needs suspension? just weld a bar in there for your desired height. :rofl:

 

[hardywo]

Warrior Shackles/Autozone Shackles

First, does anyone know the dimensions of the warrior shackles (WAR153 right)? Also, has anyone tried just using the ones from Autozone? They look like they'll get the job done for a lot cheaper. Let me know.

 

[410Fortune]

I'll let you know that if you use the search button you can find your answers, both of them

I have seen the "zone" shackles used and the warrior dimensions posted on this forum

 

[carlover]

i have the auto zone shackles, have had them for almost 2 years. Have beaten them pretty good and they are still going strong. For less than 20$ you cant beat that.

 

[mynameisaric]

Well Bill 1 set of aals will make your rid e stiff and harsh. 2-3 will make it unbearable, what is the amount of lift you want?

Have you ever ridden with the aals? i have them on my truck and i don't even notice they are there. they gave me .5-1" of lift. just what i needed to level out the truck.

and when people say "put shackles on" they mean extended shackles.

body lift and shackle part numbers, and everything else for a basic stock suspension lift is posted HUNDREDS of time. unlike pirate4x4, the search function works on this site.

 

[hardywo]

Thanks

i have the auto zone shackles, have had them for almost 2 years. Have beaten them pretty good and they are still going strong. For less than 20$ you cant beat that.

Thanks Sean, that's exactly what I needed to hear. Well it seems like you have the same lift I'm going for...do you have any pics online of what it all looks like? Also, how did you go about installing the shackles? Unfortunately, none of my "friends" are ever availible to help (although they always seem to come to me first when something's going on with their vehicles) so I'm planning on placing jack stands just in front of the leaf springs (towards the middle of the truck), then putting jacks under the leafs just to the back of the ubolt area. I'm thinking I can unbolt the factory shackle, lower the leaf spring slightly, then bolt in the autozone shackle fairly easily. Sound about right? Just trying to find a way to do the install solo. Thanks for your help.

 

[mynameisaric]

put your jack under the pumpkin, and get it high enough to place the jacks right behind the leafs.. like you said, and the motor will hold down the front. you dont have to worry about it tipping on you.

with the jack under the diff, let it down to take the tension off of the shackles, and unbolt them. use the jack to lift or lower the axle to try and get most of the tension off, but a 3lb hammer works really good in this situation. just don't mar your threads.

 

[ExplorerJimbo]

right now my truck has the lift i believe your wanting...

i have the 2"tt
longer rear shackles
add a leaf ( i personally think the aal's make a more bumpy ride)
pa 853 3" body lift

if you look in my signiture click the my truck link and youll see the lift on a 01 xlt. im able to fit 33's with no rubbing...

what size tires do you plan on running?

 

[hardywo]

Hey Jimbo, thanks for the pics it looks great. I think I'll be happy with that lift. For right now, I'm running 31x10.5 R15's and college bills = waiting a while on upgrading to anything bigger. Few questions though: where'd you get the bumper from? is that a fire hose in front bumper area? which shackles did you use, and how'd you go about installing them? Any issues I should be aware of about the body lift before I get started - other than the bumper brackets don't quite work? Finally, I actually have a spare tire holder from an old bronco II, but I have to figure out a new way to attach the top hinge, as the bronco's is too thick to fit behind the rear hatch of an X. Any ideas about that? Thanks so much for your help.

 

[ExplorerJimbo]

1. my front bumper was just my stock explorer bumper i just cut out the fog lights... and the rear was stock then i fabbed up a tube tire carrier bumper. i believe thats whats on that page... i havent been there in a while.

2. i used the shackles from auto zone. i made them a little stronger by welding a piece of steel in the middle much like the warrior ones..

3. as far as installing them follow mynameisaric's directions on that one... its not hard to do at all.

4. the body lift isnt that bad to put on. the only issue that i really had was the rear bumper brackets didnt work.

5. and as far as the bronco tire carrier... i really havent resarched that one... but i imagine if you bolt it straight up to your truck than you probably wouldnt be able to carry a tire any bigger than a 33... cause of weight maybe even a 31..