Advice on solid axle or buy a jeep

[rumney510]

Well unfortunately my explorer front end just cannot take the repeated rigours of offroading. The suspension components are just to weak, keep braking and the articulation stinks.

So now I am faced with a problem. Put a customised D44 solid axle up front, estimated cost $8000+ for axle, locker and customized installation or buy a jeep or Landcruiser with a solid axle.

Wondered what you all would do. Reliability is really important.

andrew

 

[DOGMAN]

Wow, $8000+ for a locked Dana 44 front axle swap! Who quoted you that? You could put in a custom Dana 60 for less than that! A few on this site have done the D44 swap, including Rick, so they should be able to steer you straight.

What would I do? I'd find a cheaper way to swap in a D44 in your X. As far as the Jeep or Landcruiser thing, uh, well, hey, is there a hidden microphone or camera somewhere? I do believe this is explorer4x4.com, isn't it? Bet you won't have too many people on this site suggest you buy a Jeep or Toyota.

 

[NoBoundaries]

If you want to talk about breaking stuff on the trail, look no further than a Jeep.

Explorers hold up darn well in stock form, let alone once you start doing things with them. Both in the front and the rear, Jeeps have weak axles. And what do a lot of Jeepers upgrade too? The 8.8 rear you have in your Explorer. It's a misconception that Jeeps are ready to go right out of the box. "A," no vehicle is ready to go right out of the box. For the most part, people buy Jeeps thinking that bam, they buy it, throw on something other than 215/70R15 (not usre of the exact, but it's not good) All-seasons and they are set. You throw bigger tires on a stock Jeep and go wheeling, forget about it, you'll break something. Jeeps are a little smaller which can cut back if you are looking to something more practical.

What suspension components have you broken?

A Jeep, just like any vehicle (Including Explorers) can be made into a good performer. Depending on how far you want to go, some more than others, but for the most part, any and every vehicle needs some work put into it.

Landcruisers are nice and they have a pretty good V6 (Pre-98 with the solid axles), but it's a V6 in a practically 2.5 ton vehicle. They have a lot of size to them, which can make for some difficult manuevering on the trail. When wheeling, you want to take as many "I hopes" out of the equation as possible (ie "I hope I can clear this, I hope I can fit through that, I hope I'm not too wide for this"). And the more weight a vehicle has, the greater the likelihood of breakage.

Blah blah blah..... Essentially, nothing is perfect and if you want to make a real off-road machine be prepared in any scenario to spend more than $8,000.

I'm not usre who told you $8,000 because FABRITECH said they were looking for a prototype Explorer to make a kit for and that it would cost $1,900 + cost of the axle.

Nothing's perfect, everything has costs versus benefits. Choose what you like and enjoy.

I like the Explorer because it's something not everyone expects and a surprise when people see it actually can perform. Yeah, IFS is a limitation, but the way it was designed (A very long lower A-arm) it can do rather well. You get the best of both worlds (on and off road) and it has some great, all around utility. I can always make it into something more if I want to, but overall I like the Explorer because it's a great sleeper and a surprise when it performs.

Hope this helps and let us know what you think you might do.

 

[93Ranger]

if the cheapest solid axle swap you can get is 8k, then get a Jeep. you can get a 97 ZJ Limited, semi-loaded for about 7500 to 8000.

from a monetary point, you probabally have alot of mod's into the truck if your doing such off-roading that the TTB isnt cutting it and actually NEED a solid axle, then keeping the X would be better.

from a Ford and DC driver, i would have to say that stock for stock the Jeep's are better than the X's but in terms of impressive, its refreshing to see a X be able to tackle most of the stuff that Jeeps can, while leaving BowTies in the dust on the trail and on the street.

 

[NoBoundaries]

What type of Jeep are you looking into?

If it is a Cherokee or G. C., it seems like you have to put a lot of lift on those just to get a decent size tire.

You'll have to put a good amount of lift on your X with a solid axle in order to clear the low frame, but you'll be able to fit a lot more tire on as well.

Just an additional thought.

 

[RFR2212]

Just thought I'd chime in and say... it'll be different fer him, cause well, he's got a 2000 ex.... so it'd be a different setup...
Pete

 

[93Ranger]

the Jeep ZJ (commonly known as a pre-new-bodystyle Grand Cherokee) requires a 3" suspension lift to clear 31" tires without rubbing.

fine with me though, its a F..A..S..T car for something that comes stock with 3.43's (maybe 3.73's)

either vehicle is a decent choice. the Landcruiser isnt going to be your best bet, but thats because i dont like them that much, so they could be good, i just prefer other vehicles to that thing.

 

[Jefe]

What are you breaking on your 2000?? I have wheeled hard, running 35's and have yet to break something on the trail.

How much articulation are you getting out of your IFS. I've got ~8.5" and am very happy with it considering its an IFS. If you're not happy with that, then fine. . .go with a solid axle with 8" of lift and have yerself a good time.

 

[JDraper]

Ya need to talk to Lizardtrac about the SAS in a late model X. He's in the process of putting a Dana 44 up front in a '97 right now. $8000 seems WAY steep to me.

 

[rumney510]

Thanks all for the replies. The Quote I got was for a Dana 44 with 4.56 gears and a front ARB for $4500. The rest of the cost was for a custom installation in an IFS with the need to fab parts and stuff. Much more expensive than the older TTB models I was told.

I wheel alot i guess and have brocken upper lower control arms, torsion bars, brackets. spent about $4000 in repairs ( got the insurance company to fund alot fo that thankfully).

It seems the only way to get reliability is too put in quality componets and I guess that costs, so I'll probably just end up putting the solid axle on the explorer.

thanks all
Andrew

 

[Ray Lobato]

Andrew,
What king of armor do you have on your truck? I do alot of hard wheeling and don't seem to be having the same problems you are having. If you don't have the armor to protect your truck, it won't matter what kind of vehicle you have, you will tear it up anyway.

 

[Jason_25]

You broke those control arms??
How??
I could never imagine breaking those things.

And your torsion bars??
Those things are unbelieveably strong.

Are you jumping it 10 feet high or something?

 

[rustytr]

I say do the swap but do it somewhere other than the quoted 8k place. It's just that the explorer is a practical vehicle too.

 

[Rick]

You go out wheelin' Ray? We haven't seen you in years LOL

 

[Jefe]

Originally posted by Jason_25
You broke those control arms??
How??
I could never imagine breaking those things.

And your torsion bars??
Those things are unbelieveably strong.

Are you jumping it 10 feet high or something?

I agree.

If you're breaking control arms, etc, you're going to bust a solid axle setup also.

 

[Rick]

I have to disagree with that one Jefe. I have seen the control arms on the late models and they aren't exactly how performance pieces.

 

[rumney510]

No, I don't do any jumping or stuff like that. I have the stock skid plates. what armour do you all have to protect the control arms?? I just do regular wheelin nothing more than a 7/10 difficulty and run 32's. I have just put 33's on and was thinking of the RCD lift but at the price and with all the breakage I've had figured I'd look into the solid axle. I saw Gerald posted soemthing on his explorer, looks like his front end also collapsed.

andrew

 

[Ray Lobato]

Originally posted by Rick
You go out wheelin' Ray? We haven't seen you in years LOL

Yes I know I haven't gone on any big runs, because I don't have the vacation time I used to have. I will be at Moab this year. Only having 2weeks vacation again really sucks, and to make things worse, I had to take 4 days off inbetween Christmas and New Years, because they shut the place down, due to the slow market conditions happening in the High Tech industry. That was the reason I didn't go to Truckhaven after turkey day and why I didn't go to Truckhaven 2002.
I am limited to day trips.

Andrew,
I don't have any armor for the Control arms in particular, but do for the rest of the undercarrage. I do have a Atlas II which makes playing in the rocks alot easier, becaue I can go alot slower and have more control then with the stock T-case.

 

[93Ranger]

maybe it was just the 33's that did it. to much meat for the stock drive shaft's to spin?

ive seen times when the car will have its tire in a rut, try to turn out, gun it, and shear the driveshaft right off.

as for control arms? thats a new one on me. as rick said, they arent high performance parts, but they are pretty decent. let me put it this way, the truck was built to drive mom's across soccer fields, so in perspective, they are tanks.

the only thing i can think of that would break/bend a control arm and torsion beam is running into an 8" curb, at a 45 to 75 degree angle at 30 + MPH. that MIGHT snap one.

the worst thing that ever happened to my ranger suspension wise, is ****ty tires.

 

[Rick]

Uhmmm. Gerald did you hit a curb at 30?

Anyway...Gerald broke a torsion bar on his also. If you knick a torsion bar there is a good chance it will break there.