cheep and easy way to fit 33s

[93XLT4door]

i have a 93 XLT 4door 4x4 5speed so far all 31x10.50x15 with no lift and 15x8 black rock crawler rims i wanna put some 33x13.50x15 swamper LTBs or 33x12.50x15 thornbirds no not quite sure yet im bout to buy a set of used 31x11.00x15 thornbirds to see how i like them but i want to put at least 33s on my X and this will be a daily driver / weekend mudder i figure if im gonna do it do it right the first time what help me out people what would be best
3" body lift ? i know its cheeper
or
4" susp lift i found one dunno if its any good or not tho its
90-94 Explorer 4 inch lift Rough Country
http://www.justliftkits.com/inc/sdetail/121
i cant decide weather to go cheep route and body lift it or spend a lil money and put susp. lift on it i like the way it rides stock has good flex i dont do very hardcore offroading mostly playin in the mud and trail rideing not lookin for more flex or differant ride just more tire clearance
so any ideas help would be great
also lookin to get a good set of replacement shocks what would be best?

 

[SkanlaxJMO]

do a suspension lift 4 inches should get you 33's. IF you do the BL youll be kicking yourself later on.

 

[LBarr2002]

The cheap way to go is spacer/shackle/AAL for 2" suspension, then 3" body lift. You'll clear 33's easy for about $200-$300.

 

[mitch]

that kit is a little steep i got mine from suspensionconnection.com for for about 100 less. it is very good. i havent broken anything yet (knock on wood) and like skanlax said you should be able to fit 33s. you said weekend mudder and if go ooffroading almost every weekend than you will want the suspension lift. all the body lift does is lift the body up so you can clear bigger tires. It does nothing for the suspension travel of the truck. which is very important for offroading. and oh yea dont get the thornbirds they suck off-road they look like they would be good but they are not, take a look at these

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=114012&highlight=thornbird
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108627&highlight=thornbird

 

[slravene]

 

[BigDave!!!]

hahahaha, ugly but cheap

 

[93XLT4door]

im sorry i dont care what anybody says bout thornbirds ive got bout 6 buddys that have them and we all swear by them we will buy another set we run them till they are so bald they look like drag slicks and even then the side lugs still pull ya threw the mud im sorry but anybody that says thornbirds arent worth anything must be smokeing crack ive wheeled in rigs from toyotas to jeeps to full size trucks and suvs with anywhere from 31x12.50x15 all the way up to 38.5x14.50x14 thornbirds they will pull and they will throw a lotta mud


the one and only thing keepin me from buyin them is a lotta people have them and i like to be differant thats why i was thinkin the LTBs nobody else has them around here and they look like very good tires so im gonna try them first i belive plus nobody else has a lifted explorer here sure theres tons around but none lifted

by the way thanx to everybody with the lift info and all still not sure what im gonna do yet but thanx

 

[SkanlaxJMO]

the body lift only lifts the body not the suspension. if you do the BL and not the Supension then you will kich yourself later on. For a weekend mudder/trail rider a Suspension lift is good......

 

[badash]

my brother had turdbirds on his jeep when he bought it, NOTHING but trouble, but they LOOKED awesome turned heads and just looked plain mean, but offroad, mud rocks trails.... they performed like CRAP you had to air them down to nothing to get them to grab on anything. They were alright in mud i guess... just my 2 cents...

anyways... yeah do the suspension lift, like everyone said BL is just for looks suspension lift will give you performance

 

[Con Seann3ry]

the one and only thing keepin me from buyin them is a lotta people have them and i like to be differant thats why i was thinkin the LTBs nobody else has them around here and they look like very good tires so im gonna try them first i belive plus nobody else has a lifted explorer here sure theres tons around but none lifted

Get what works, in my opinion that isn't thornbirds but if you "swear by them" then I guess it's your decision, but don't get a tire just to be different and don't get it just because it looks mean. Do what you want though.

The cheap way of lifting is going to be 3 in body lift and shackles/spacers. It will get the tires under there and for what you want it sounds like it should be fine. You can always take out the body lift later and sell it if you're disatisfied with the performance and want to go suspension. If you've got the money for suspension though go for it.

 

[SkanlaxJMO]

Exactly if you have the money for a suspension lift do that. But cheap is spacers shackels BL. That would be aproximtly 5 inches of lift. But with the body lift there are disadvanteges to it being up higer then the frame. Such as over confidence. You theink you have another couple inches to go to the rock then bam you smash your front end on the rock. The ultimate decision is do you have the money for it or not. IF you are just a weekend trail rider and mudder then a BL and Spacers and shackels will get you 33's and you will be alright. But if you do that and then you get really serious about wheelin you will most likelye loose the BL after a number of years and go for a biger suspension lift.

 

[dmasini]

the body lift only lifts the body not the suspension. if you do the BL and not the Supension then you will kich yourself later on. For a weekend mudder/trail rider a Suspension lift is good......

What do you think the suspension lift does?? It lifts the body and frame from the axle. The only way to get true ground clearence is bigger tires.

I do agree that BL's are more for looks while SL's are more functional. But if your not doing hardcore off-roading just do a BL. It works fine for me and I probably do the same amount of wheeling... Why spend the extra money just to put bigger tires underneath the X??

 

[93XLT4door]

thanx for all your help guys at the moment looks like money is gonna win the battle in the end and ill end up gettin a body lift my main consern now is gettin a transmission put it in march 17-19 me and a bunch of buddys are goin down to river rock orv park i might take it on some of the easy trails but if nothign else we are plannin goin down there walkin the trails seeing what its like and partying with everybody there haveing a live band and everything there some of yall should come down go to http://www.riverrockorv.com/ for more info and stuff on the park
they explorer will probly still be stock on 31s when i go down there but ive taken it everywhere anybody else has with 35s on there rigs so who knows id like to build the explorer but in a way i dont takes to much money to make it do what i want so i think i gonna stick with the explorer for daily driver and build my trail toy outa a 70s model full size jeep truck like i used to have

 

[93XLT4door]

ok guys its 2:52am cant sleep and wantin to lift my explorer i been lookin around lets see what yall think and rember cheepest and easyest is what im goin for here so see how yall like this

from another post i found a site called www.jackit.com and lookin around peiceing togather a lift ive come up with this

for the front lift a set of skyjacker 2" lift springs $127.99
for the rear lift skyjacker 2" add a leaf $74.99

so ok thats 2" lift in the front and 2" lift in the rear ok cool but the urge to go bigger is hitting soooo...

toss on a 3" body lift $103.00

so have so have a total of 5" lift front and 5" in the rear

ok so for bout $300 bucks get 5" of lift dont sound bad to me how bout yall ?

all these prices was from www.jackit.com i havent looked around yet to see bout cheeper prices yet but so far seems pretty cheep to me

also plz somebody correct me if im wrong but with only 2" of suspension lift i dont gotta get the radius arm drops or the Ibeam drops or pitman arm right??

not sure bout break lines i think they would be fine with 2" lift


and slap on a set of 33x12.50x15 tires or with 5" of lift think i could clear a set of 34x10.50x15 swamper LTBs??? i already have 15X8 black rock crawler rims i think ill keep them

ok well theres that for now yall help me out let me know what yall think or if im missing something etc etc

im still not sleepy i belive ill go start takein the transmission outa my explorer lol
later yall

 

[FROADER]

With the 2" lift you don't need any drop down brackets, but that's the limit too. I don't like body lifts but it's not my truck. With 5" you'll be able to fit 33 no problem. You could probably fit 34s but might have to trim a little bit.

 

[93XLT4door]

gotta quick question i was plannin on lifting the rear with a 2" skyjacker add a leaf but i was thinkin i like my rear lifts how they are ya know there not to stiff not to soft they flex good and all would an add a leaf make it stiffer?
and what would be better a 2" add a leaf or a 2" block ?
and this is proly just me being stupid but almost every 4x4 ive had was spring over eather stock or when i got it my explorer is only one ive had that is spring under so how does the add a leaf or the block go in ?

and if anybody could send some pictures to my email it would be great to help me better understand
real_tree_camo_redneck@yahoo.com

thanx

 

[FROADER]

An add a leaf will make it stiffer.
If you put a block in there it will lower it since it is spring under. You could get Warrior shackles which will lift it very close to 2" in the rear.

 

[everythintech]

in regards to farther up, ltbs are the $hit. i love mine. and i love the look. i can tell you enough how many times they have been handy, a low creep will get you outa most anything.

the only reason i was stuck there, is because i was goin through that mud pit in reverse, went up a lil hump, and high centered the front end