First mod! 97 ex

Added this roof rack to the explorer yesterday. 6/23/2011.

Came from a Humvee, and i needed a spot to put my spare tire.
Im later going to paint it black and re mount it so u cant really see the bolts holding it up there. THen when the funds arrive (LOL) im going to put probably 4 lights on the front of it....

Then after that.. all i want to do is 2 inch lift, 31' inch tires, and grill gaurd.
and exterior mods will be done.

 

[lounge lizard]

nice!

do the 3" body lift. you won't regret it at all.

then you be able to run up to a 33" tire if you want to.

 

[97ExplorerXLTAWD]

Id like to put a locker in also.. ill find out how bad i want it when i get to put it in some snow in wyoming


Ya, i want to eventually. for a total of almost 5 inches..
However, when i do that, i want to beable to upgrade the gears because im not worried about 3.73's with 31's but upgrading to 33's ima need to up the gears to 4.10 or w/e is best.

((3 inch body lift – 33x12.50x15 on 15x8 rim/ may require fender trimming
3 inch body lift and 1-2 inch suspension lift – 33x12.50x15 on 15x8 rim/ may require fender trimming))

so im probably just going to run some 33x10.50x15's whenever i get ready to do 33's, im not concerned about width....BFGoodRich makes a set of knarly 33x10.50x15's

 

[97ExplorerXLTAWD]

but when i do the 3 inch body lift im going to Fabricate some custom skid plates, and gap fillers, etc. Probably out diamond plate. so im going to need alot of time. cause id like most of the skid plates bolt on that doesnt require 9 years to take em off. However,

at factory hight, i was REALLY impressed on how well ford tucked everything into the body.
the only thing i dont like is how the ball joints point down from the control arm and that the steering knuckle is subject to a beating if ur out rock crawling. which i wont be.. but i know some do

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

nice x

 

[97ExplorerXLTAWD]

thanks

 

[97ExplorerXLTAWD]

these are the tires im going to get.
Cooper Discoverer STT
with ARMOR-TEK3 CARCASS CONSTRUCTION

factory 235/75/15 size