TheM3at
New Member
- Joined
- February 25, 2020
- Messages
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- City, State
- Sammamish
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2005 Explorer Eddie Bauer
I've had 05 Eddie Bauer X since 2012. I've decided to modify and upgrade some aspects of the truck recently including a slight lift. After reading through this thread: How To: BTF-Fabrication Spacer Lift Install I decided to go with BTF spacers.
I replaced the factory struts with KYB struts found here: Amazon.com: KYB SR4051 Strut Plus Complete Corner Unit Assembly: Automotive
I purchased 2" BTF spacers directly from the BTF website: 02-05 Explorer 2” lift spacers
I took the truck to my friends shop and put it on the lift to do the work. As you can imagine, I had every tool I could need as well as the help of a professional mechanic. I was able to get the spacer bolted onto the strut after cutting the strut bolts down slightly. I was also able to get the strut bolted into both the top and bottom control arms. However, I could not get the strut to compress enough to get the upper ball-joint even close enough to bolting it back to the upright. This is after using both a jack and a compression jack.
This is making me wonder if my KYB struts are longer than the stock ones? One thing I noticed after replacing the struts was that the truck sat slightly higher than stock, but that could have been due to 120k miles on the old stock struts and them sagging.
Any tips or suggestions? Am I doing something wrong?
I replaced the factory struts with KYB struts found here: Amazon.com: KYB SR4051 Strut Plus Complete Corner Unit Assembly: Automotive
I purchased 2" BTF spacers directly from the BTF website: 02-05 Explorer 2” lift spacers
I took the truck to my friends shop and put it on the lift to do the work. As you can imagine, I had every tool I could need as well as the help of a professional mechanic. I was able to get the spacer bolted onto the strut after cutting the strut bolts down slightly. I was also able to get the strut bolted into both the top and bottom control arms. However, I could not get the strut to compress enough to get the upper ball-joint even close enough to bolting it back to the upright. This is after using both a jack and a compression jack.
This is making me wonder if my KYB struts are longer than the stock ones? One thing I noticed after replacing the struts was that the truck sat slightly higher than stock, but that could have been due to 120k miles on the old stock struts and them sagging.
Any tips or suggestions? Am I doing something wrong?
