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Explorer gets bouncy/kinda like floating above 80mph




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My axle is a code 46, or 3.73 open diff.
 






If I am not mistaken, axle codes are about the differential, not suspension. D3 seems to be 3.54 ratio, limited slip.
There are spring codes and axle codes.
 






may help

id tag.PNG


codes 1.PNG


codes2.PNG
 






The D3 isn’t his axle code.
Sorry, me bad - confused the spring code with axle code. Out of curiosity, looked at the spring codes on my '98 and it's 2H. This vehicle has the somewhat rare four-wheel ARC (air shocks) and as far as I understand, in this setup the rear springs are supposed to be wimpy. Is that what H stands for?
 






Okay so my Front Bars are a D, but what does the 3 mean then it doesn't match anything on the list posted? Or am I reading my door sticker wrong?

20200505_154840.jpg
 












Alright I found my lean issue, as mentioned before I said I would do body mounts with shocks and sway bar bushings. Although I just put a new Transmission in so I need to recuperate some money for more parts. Lucky me though it seems my Explorer knew I wanted to put in new body mounts because it uninstalled most of the ones on the driver side, causing the body to sit lower giving the appearance a spring is bad. While doing the transmission a friend looked at my sway bar end links on the front and said "wow your end links look OEM there look so bad" to which I replied "Those have 15k miles on them" Moral of this story is Moog parts are cheap for a reason they are hot garbage. I believe I've seen that discussed before on the forum, but I wanted to give a warring to anyone who doesn't know how bad Moog is.
 






The Moog ones that use blue rubber as isolators don’t last. I went through many sets of those very fast. They have a newer design that uses these white hard plastic type isolators. I was skeptical at first. They seem to last much longer. Front.

In the rear, the blue rubber ones last a long time.
 






 






Alright I found my lean issue, as mentioned before I said I would do body mounts with shocks and sway bar bushings. Although I just put a new Transmission in so I need to recuperate some money for more parts. Lucky me though it seems my Explorer knew I wanted to put in new body mounts because it uninstalled most of the ones on the driver side, causing the body to sit lower giving the appearance a spring is bad. While doing the transmission a friend looked at my sway bar end links on the front and said "wow your end links look OEM there look so bad" to which I replied "Those have 15k miles on them" Moral of this story is Moog parts are cheap for a reason they are hot garbage. I believe I've seen that discussed before on the forum, but I wanted to give a warring to anyone who doesn't know how bad Moog is.
Here's a custom polyurethane kit for your Sport. Apparently Prothane or Daystar still don't make specific kits for two doors, only four.
ES has never offered custom body mount kits for Explorers. You must reuse the metal shells and bolts from your old body mounts.
 






Yeah it's getting to be old, but I like to keep it maintained well. I almost never go on above 65 since I don't use the interstate. I know the early explorers had a bad issue with rolling/blowing tires (axles to narrow). Which caused Ford and firestone to stop working together. But even with age a vehicle like my explorer should be able to go down the interstate on rare occasion at speed. It's old but it should handle pretty close to new. I'm just trying to figure out what is wrong so I can make it stable, for a trip down the interstate. I'm going to throw some shocks at it, and look to see if anything else needs fix while I'm in there.
At least where I live, there are 2 speeds on the interstate 80mph for cars, 70mph for trucks (semi, large equipment).

You are probably better off going 70 than 80, just stay in the right lane lol
 






Word of caution on the body mounts. Had a guy do these & took him 10+ hours. He'll never do another again after mine. They are very hard unless you have the correct tools.
 






^ Depends a lot on corrosion. If the bolts are seized and the body mount halves are frozen together it will be a PITA. Fortunately I didn't have those issues and got the B and C foam mounts replaced by myself in four hours. Torch to soften the heavily thread locked bolts and a strong impact makes the job much easier.
 






My body mounts popped out with a few taps on the metal inserts. Only problem I had was the very front mounts because they were full of dirt and it acted like red thread locker.
 






I do have an air hammer so I'm not to worried about things being stuck.
 






It has been done, I got the Monroe coil over shocks and put them on over a month ago. Over all, they are great and picked up the rear end about 2-2.5 inches. The leafs are no longer rest on the overload spring, and the ride is still very rough. But it's just barely rougher than before I put on the coil overs. The truck definitely takes a load much better now, and I've put it's capacity to the test while moving. I was also surprised how well it carried my riding mower, and I was surprised it even fit in the back of my 2DR. The next parts on the list are going to be rear sway bar and front sway bar.
20210729_181104.jpg
 






How many people here regularly drive 80 mph? My motor is stock from the heads down and the transmission is original too. It drives great in the city but I feel like something would eventually blow up after an hour of doing 2,500 rpm on the highway, due to the age of the powertrain. Or am I paranoid?
:burnout:
 






How many people here regularly drive 80 mph? My motor is stock from the heads down and the transmission is original too. It drives great in the city but I feel like something would eventually blow up after an hour of doing 2,500 rpm on the highway. Or am I paranoid?
:burnout:
Not a lot of people, I don't drive more than 65 regularly. But if I go on the interstate I want it to be safe and handle like it use to at 85. You'd be surprised what running you motor at 2500 underload can do. Highway driving and interstate driving really helps to clean out motors, if you look at the carbon build up between city motors and highway motors, the stop and go builds up more carbon. But running under load (pushing a bard door brick at 55 or above) helps blow out a lot of the carbon build up. This will make the vehicle run better. I went on a trip with my friend in his 95 Ram 1500, it ran rough before the trip. After about 300 miles on the interstate it was going like a top and ran smooth.
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
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How many people here regularly drive 80 mph? My motor is stock from the heads down and the transmission is original too. It drives great in the city but I feel like something would eventually blow up after an hour of doing 2,500 rpm on the highway, due to the age of the powertrain. Or am I paranoid?
:burnout:
I vote for paranoid. These engines are meant to be run at higher revolutions. Its good for them to get out on the highway once in a while.
 






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