treywylie
Active Member
- Joined
- April 10, 2001
- Messages
- 73
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Atlanta, GA
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- '97 XLT
About a month ago, I installed Edelbrock IAS all around. Ride was much improved and controlled, dive on braking is much less significant. Cornering was still pretty crummy.
I ordered the Energy Suspension kit for a '97 XLT w/ stock swaybars. Cost was about $50 including shipping.
I can't say enough about this cheap upgrade if you do any street driving in your Explorer. Body roll is SIGNIFICANTLY reduced, allowing the suspension to actually work in the turns. Even though I'm still rolling stock sized rubber, I am 100% satisfied with the combo of the IAS and the ES bushings. For an SUV, it handles and rides great. I should have done this a LONG time ago.
The install was not too bad. The front is straightforward... drop out the stock bar and end links, fit the new parts, and bolt it back up. The rear was a bit trickier, but I didn't drop the tire or jack it up. I could have saved at least 30 min had I done this when I had the truck up and the spare out to do the rear shocks. I would recommend removing the spare and jacking it up even to do the rear bar. If you can time it to do the shocks and the bushings at the same time, I would say to go that route. Be sure to loosen everything up before actually removing any of the bolts or links. The only challenge with the rear kit is that you have to remove the factory bushings from the drop rods to the rear bar. I ended up banging, twisting in the vice, and even drilling the old busings to get them out. The new ones are 2 piece and are easy to refit, but be sure to note which way the drop arms mount and which end goes up before you remove both of them and have no point of reference. It took me about 3 hours to do the front and rear bushing sets, but I could shave an hour if I had it to do again.
If you have an Explorer that Energy makes a bushing set for, I highly recommend that you do this. The ride was not affected at all in terms of harshness, but once the wheel gets turned a bit, you'll notice the difference as your Explorer will roll a touch, and then hold its line without additional tip.
drop me a line at treyatewyliedotcom if anyone has any questions.
-twylie
I ordered the Energy Suspension kit for a '97 XLT w/ stock swaybars. Cost was about $50 including shipping.
I can't say enough about this cheap upgrade if you do any street driving in your Explorer. Body roll is SIGNIFICANTLY reduced, allowing the suspension to actually work in the turns. Even though I'm still rolling stock sized rubber, I am 100% satisfied with the combo of the IAS and the ES bushings. For an SUV, it handles and rides great. I should have done this a LONG time ago.
The install was not too bad. The front is straightforward... drop out the stock bar and end links, fit the new parts, and bolt it back up. The rear was a bit trickier, but I didn't drop the tire or jack it up. I could have saved at least 30 min had I done this when I had the truck up and the spare out to do the rear shocks. I would recommend removing the spare and jacking it up even to do the rear bar. If you can time it to do the shocks and the bushings at the same time, I would say to go that route. Be sure to loosen everything up before actually removing any of the bolts or links. The only challenge with the rear kit is that you have to remove the factory bushings from the drop rods to the rear bar. I ended up banging, twisting in the vice, and even drilling the old busings to get them out. The new ones are 2 piece and are easy to refit, but be sure to note which way the drop arms mount and which end goes up before you remove both of them and have no point of reference. It took me about 3 hours to do the front and rear bushing sets, but I could shave an hour if I had it to do again.
If you have an Explorer that Energy makes a bushing set for, I highly recommend that you do this. The ride was not affected at all in terms of harshness, but once the wheel gets turned a bit, you'll notice the difference as your Explorer will roll a touch, and then hold its line without additional tip.
drop me a line at treyatewyliedotcom if anyone has any questions.
-twylie
