Are new brake lines and/or shocks needed for a 2" lift???

[wabbit]

I'm getting ready to put Skyjacker extended coils and Warrior shackles on my 91 XLT. This is supposed to yield 1 1/2"-2" of lift.
Will I be able to retain my existing shocks??
And will the brake lines need replaced for a 2" lift?
Any help would be appreciated....

 

[BlueDogBandit]

NO

The answer to your question is "no." But wait, why the inch and a half. As cheap as the Duff 2 1/2's are, I'd go there. I have a Rancho 2 1/2 with a 2" body, and still regret not going with the 4 or 5 1/2". The OEM brake lines are suggested. I was going to add braided lines, and the local 4x4 shop said they didn't make ones short enough. They could of put them on, but they would had to coil them up. Good luck on your ride. My '91 is at the shop right now having 32 x 11.50's BFG M/T's mounted. Yippee!

Blayne J. Watts
(aka bluedogbandit)
wattsbj@3maw.usmc.mil
watts_zoo@webtv.net

'91 XLT

 

[Rod Bivens]

Im with Blayne here. If it is just for looks, then you might save some money, and you might not need new rear shocks with the mix and match setup, but why not go with an entire kit. I think you will be much more satisfied. I just payed $540 (Ranger, not Explorer, therefore only a 2" block for the rear instead of new springs) after shipping for a 4" Skyjacker kit.
Pitman arm, shocks, boots, and everything.

Even with the 1 1/2 to 2" lift you will need new front shocks, the 1" in the rear might be able to slide. But only getting replacement coils without a bracket kit to drop your radius arms, and axle pivots could cause some allignment problems.

I am not saying that you have to get a 4" lift, but you should definately think of the long term life of your truck. You will probably be more satisfied with a complete system.

I probably should have bought new brake lines for my Ranger, but I was able to carefully bend them to reach at full extension.

Hope this helps.

Rod

 

[Maniak]

The rear shocks should not need to be changed (unless they are short like the RSX shocks)... The shocks for the rear of a stock and lifted 2.5" Explorer are the same (as per Rancho for the rs9000's). We run the stock length shocks with a 3"ish lift and the shocks are not the limiting factor (maybe after the ranger main is used).. The front shocks on a 2.5" lifted explorer do need to be longer but I doubt they would with <2" of lift

Mark

 

[Scott B.]

wabbit,

The new coils will give you more lift, not more wheel travel. If you put longer shocks on, you will be able to increase wheel droop, hence increasing wheel travel (assuming the front will compress as much as with the stock springs) If you go with longer shocks, you will need to check to see if your brake lines are long enough on full droop. You can either move the hard line mount down, or add longer brake lines. Unfortunately, the only longer lines I've seen are 4" longer, which would probably be too long. You really don't want to coil up your lines - to easy to be damaged by something on the trail.

Those rear shackles are going to give you 2" of lift? They are actually 4" longer than stock? I would be wary of using shackles that long. You might consider an add-a-leaf for the rear springs. You can easily get 2" of lift, and it will be much more stable than longer shackles. Also, your stock shocks and brake lines will work just fine.

BTW, if you are looking for a slightly used set of RS5000s (2" longer than stock), I have some for sale. If you are interested, I could bring them to Colorado, saving you the shipping!!

 

[Maniak]

The Warrior Product shackles are 8.5" long.. Stock shackle length is 5.5".. thats a 1.5" lift... I've heard of an explorer with a 6.5" long shackles and you would only get 1" of lift on that vehicle.
The warrior Product shackles are definatly longer than the stock ones.. but there is no comparison in how they are built.. The stock ones aren't much more than gusseted(sp?) stamped steel.. The new ones are very very beefy. We use the combo of the Shackles and the add-a-leaf...

If you replace your front coils will a progressive set the ride should be smoother (they compress easier in the beginning and get stiffer as you compress them more). You shoudl also get some more suspension travel (droop).. to the point you run out of shock. The only way to know is to try it.. put the new spring on and then test it.. When we were installing the lift we installed the spring.. then put weight on the suspenion to make it droop (one side only).. We then disconnected the shock and tried it agian.. It went farther this time.. That means the shock was the limiting factor and we needed a longer one..




[Edited by Maniak on 08-04-2000 at 09:05 AM]

 

[wabbit]

thanks for the info...

For now, I'm doing the 2" because I already had the coils and the WP shackles are less than $40.
A bigger lift may be nice later. Costs go way beyond the lift kit price, even if I install it myself. New rims for 33's, new gears/labor, etc. Now is not the time for me..
I will try to retain my existing shocks until I find them to be a problem.
Thanks guys...