Clearing 35"s with no body lift

[00explorer8]

i meant water like rain on roads, it was just something i saw on another thread here

 

[danwaters]

i meant water like rain on roads, it was just something i saw on another thread here

Ya thats what i figured you ment. Thats why I said it. Mudders grip better on the road in the rain but then again that was just my experience. Some people may think different.

 

[King$nake]

Ok, so I know that I need the Fabtech Ranger Edge 3" Spindles for my 2WD 98 Explorer.

However, I am not sure which specific model I need? Looks like there is a few different model numbers:

FTS98100-7, FTS98200-7, FTS98300-7, etc

So, which exact spindles do I need? Who should I order them through?

Thank you

 

[voss24]

gonna start following this thread! I am probably going to be doing an SOA and spindles over summer, combined with 33s.

But, im confused, Ive always though that AAL and shackles only give you about 3 inches. With the spindles and TT in the front for 4 or 5 inches, its not really gonna be evened out, right?

Thanks for clarifying, i would love to skip the SOA if possible haha

 

[King$nake]

gonna start following this thread! I am probably going to be doing an SOA and spindles over summer, combined with 33s.

But, im confused, Ive always though that AAL and shackles only give you about 3 inches. With the spindles and TT in the front for 4 or 5 inches, its not really gonna be evened out, right?

Thanks for clarifying, i would love to skip the SOA if possible haha

Good question!

I think if you want it to be even than you need to put blocks in the rear. Not sure though

 

[mounty71]

gonna start following this thread! I am probably going to be doing an SOA and spindles over summer, combined with 33s.

But, im confused, Ive always though that AAL and shackles only give you about 3 inches. With the spindles and TT in the front for 4 or 5 inches, its not really gonna be evened out, right?

Thanks for clarifying, i would love to skip the SOA if possible haha

Spindles and TT is about equal to shackles and AAL. Like stated before, SOA is too much.

Good question!

I think if you want it to be even than you need to put blocks in the rear. Not sure though

No, blocks will lower the rear.

 

[King$nake]

Spindles and TT is about equal to shackles and AAL. Like stated before, SOA is too much.



No, blocks will lower the rear.

Hi Mounty,

Thanks for clarifying.

BTW, for 33"s, do you need to have AAL AND Shackles in the rear? Or can you do just Shackles? I see alot of guys doing both but I dont know if thats necessary or not.

Thanks

 

[mounty71]

Hi Mounty,

Thanks for clarifying.

BTW, for 33"s, do you need to have AAL AND Shackles in the rear? Or can you do just Shackles? I see alot of guys doing both but I dont know if thats necessary or not.

Thanks

Both aren't necessary, but depending on what you do to the front will help you determine what to do to the back to make it level. It will also depend on what you are doing as far as offroading goes. With only an AAL i bottomed out the rear and my 32s rubbed the top of the wheel well, but now i have shackles and they don't rub anymore. If the truck doesn't see too much flexing or bottoming out, it might not matter.

 

[King$nake]

Both aren't necessary, but depending on what you do to the front will help you determine what to do to the back to make it level. It will also depend on what you are doing as far as offroading goes. With only an AAL i bottomed out the rear and my 32s rubbed the top of the wheel well, but now i have shackles and they don't rub anymore. If the truck doesn't see too much flexing or bottoming out, it might not matter.

Cool man, thats good to know. Ya I was thinking about just doing the Warrior Shackles in the rear and not bothering with the leaf system, not sure how that would work out though

 

[yellowford]

Cool man, thats good to know. Ya I was thinking about just doing the Warrior Shackles in the rear and not bothering with the leaf system, not sure how that would work out though

You would have a severe rear rake going on since you'll have roughly 4.5in of lift in the front with only 1.5in of lift in the rear, to me it would still be better to do a SOA as it will get you around 5in of lift in the back giving a minor rake to the front instead of prerunner style. Also with just the shackles there is a good chance 33's will rub like crazy, considering under complete full compression I can get my 31's to stuff all the way in the back and rub.

 

[danwaters]

SOA is unnecessary! U have to take in affect that the front sits lower than the rear from the factory and more than you would thing. Spindles and shackles you will clear 33s no problem. I ran 33s with stock rear for a while. Ya they rub offroad but if its to get it done before you hit any trails then so be it

 

[GRNMACHINE]

I have been very happy with shackles and ARB OME Dakar leaf springs.

 

[yellowford]

SOA is unnecessary! U have to take in affect that the front sits lower than the rear from the factory and more than you would thing. Spindles and shackles you will clear 33s no problem. I ran 33s with stock rear for a while. Ya they rub offroad but if its to get it done before you hit any trails then so be it

I'm not sure how many 10-15 year old Explorers you have looked at but almost all the rear springs are sagging, with the rear being almost 1-2in lower than the font. You can see this on a daily basis by just looking at Explorers driving around mine personally are completely flat. Also as I said before doing SOA nets about 5.5in of lift which is would give a slight rake after doing spindles and TT.

I have personal experience running shackles and AAL, I ended up with a slight rake of maybe an inch after just having a 1.5in TT, the leaf springs are old and sag out it probably only brought me a little higher than stock.

 

[danwaters]

Doing a SOA will throw off the explorers ride quality on road. It will increase the roll center of the truck and alter it's characteristics due to center of gravity change. To add longevity and the best ride it is more worth wild to go with a set of lift springs explorer specific from such companies as deaver or national. If it was just a crawler rig and wasn't mainly street driver, sure SOA is easy and cheap. If the guy doesn't have the resources and knoledge to due the swap it actualy won't be easier. Welding new perches onto the axle tubes at the correct distances and with the propper pinion angle as well isn't as easy as bolt on stuff.

 

[voss24]

SO:

SOA-- 5.5 or 6 inches lift, raises center of gravity, decreases ride quality. Better offroad because its got more room to flex.

AAL/shackles: 4??? inches of lift. stiffer ride. less room to flex, will probably rub offroad.

Sound about right?

How much worse is the SOA ride? if its midly worse I will still go with the SOA, i like the idea of being higher rather than nearly rubbing.

 

[yellowford]

SO:

SOA-- 5.5 or 6 inches lift, raises center of gravity, decreases ride quality. Better offroad because its got more room to flex.

AAL/shackles: 4??? inches of lift. stiffer ride. less room to flex, will probably rub offroad.

Sound about right?

How much worse is the SOA ride? if its midly worse I will still go with the SOA, i like the idea of being higher rather than nearly rubbing.

The soa shouldn't effect the stiffness of the ride since you would be using the same springs as before. The only thing that would really be changing is the center of gravity due to the hight.

I still don't get where people are thinking they can get 4in out of shackles and aal, when I did that on my old one it rode like complete crap and only around 3in not sure it was even that much.

 

[danwaters]

Its not a worse ride. The spring rate will not change. Bump stops will have to be relocated as you are changing the suspension geometry and where the rear end bottoms out on the compression side of wheel travel. You will lose wheel travel, not gain. You lose travel in relation to the thickness of your current leaf spring pack. All you are doing is relocating the spring on top of the axle which lifts the rear as thick as the tubing diameter is on the rear axle housing. You will need to buy weld on spring perches and calculate the new pinion angle with everything together before they are welded. If you get the angle incorrect it will compromise every aspect of your drive line. It requires welding and precise measurements in angular degrees in reference with your transmission to achieve the correct pinion angle. If you cant do this it will cost a few hours of time at shop rate which is generally 75-100 dollars/hour at minimum.

You are changing the position of the "sprung weight" which directly effects handling characteristics as a higher speed, ie street driving. It is not an intelligent move to make if you are doing it to seek better ride/trail quality. If you want tit for performance it would be more wise to sacrifice the minimal amount of lift you achieve from the SOA and go another route. A local spring shop will build you a pair of springs for exactly the lift you want and will be better than a SOA. Or even some lift springs from whatever trail 4x4 company who makes them. I'd suggest contact Deaver Springs, they're awesome and would be more than willing to point you in the right direction.

 

[King$nake]

Wow time flies

Ok well I just reviewed this thread again, and I think I am pretty squared away on where I need to be

Ok, here is the plan:

- 3" ranger edge spindles
- (4) new shocks
- warrior shackles
- (4) 33x12.5 tires on 15x8 rims

If it rubs bad in the rear then I will go custom spring route w/ the shackles.

For the front, I don't really want the rough ride that comes with doing a torsion twist. What other options do I have for the front where I could easily clear 33" all terrains while maintain relatively decent ride quality

Also another thing I'm wondering about is if I should replace the stock suspension components when doing this front spindle lift. Components such as tie rods, bearings, tie rod ends, etc.

Any input would be appreciated. Just trying to plan this carefully so I do it right.

Thanks

 

[mounty71]

You can't do anything else to the front to get more lift, just spindles and TT.

I reread this last page and would just like to add that there are a couple of different AALs out there, that will result in different heights. I recently replaced my stock leaf springs and when i took the old ones out, i took them apart to sell the AALs. The set i had came with 2 long leafs per pack (total of 4 leafs) instead of just 1 short leaf per pack. That's probably why i got so much lift from them.

As far as replacing stuff, of course it would make sense to replace as much as you can while it's all apart, if you can afford it. If you can't then you can do it later on. You'll just have to pay for a 2nd alignment in the future. Bearings and seals are pretty inexpensive and very easy to replace, and since you need to switch them from the stock to lift spindle anyway, it might be worth it to just replace them. Balljoints are more involved, so if they're still good then i wouldn't bother.

 

[danwaters]

I agree. Replace the inner and outer wheel bearings and if you can I would replace the outter tie rod ends as well if you have yet to do so.

BTW, you will have no problem clearing 33s in the front with just the spindles.