hello..new member with a 96 sport lookin for some help

[dirtjunkies]

hi my name is josh
im new to the off-roading world and am looking to build onto what i have aquired recently. i have a 96 explorer sport. its a 2 dr with 4wd sport trac

im looking to do a 3-4'' lift on it but am having difficulty in finding a kit for less than 1800 bucks. i also would like to know some prefered tire sizes? opinions on whats best for on and off-road driving. i was looking at a set of 30x10.5x15's. will these clear on a stock setup? any info will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Charlie]

You can fit bigger that on a stock setup. Check the link in my signatures for max tire size info. You can cheaply do a 2" lift, with a TT (Torsion Twist) in front, and shackles in back. In the back you can also do a 4 door leaf swap, then with the 4 door leaf's do an AAL (add a leaf)

Welcome to the forum, Josh.

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

welcome josh

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum!

 

[Dopler174]

Welcome ot Explorer Forum!

 

[manaen]

Welcome to the forum,

In addition to the TT/AAL you can do a body lift to add another 3" of clearance to fit bigger tires.

 

[Charlie]

Just a quick clarification, you can only do the AAL if you do the 4 door leaf swap. Otherwise it won't work.

 

[dirtjunkies]

wow thanks for the help charlie....so on my stock setup ill be able to run the 30x10.5x15's with no problems at all? also im new to all this stuff and im a lil lost on what u are suggesting...could u send me some info or point me in the direction? thanks alot guys

 

[Nocturnall]

if you search you'll find a lot of info.

4 door leafs are the springs in the back. The sport has a mono or single leaf where as the 4 dr's have a leak pack, multiple leafs. Add a leaf is just what sounds, you buy a kit and add a shorter leaf spring onto the exsisting multi leafs.

Shackles are what holds the springs to the frame on the very rear of the truck, you can get longer ones that will raise the vehicle up a few inches.

Torsion twist is adjusting the springs in the front which are 2 long poles. There are adjuster "keys" on the rear of the poles right about under the front seats. There are bolts on these "keys" you can turn in for a little bit of lift, search for the whole explanation of how to do it. Need an alignment afterwards.

Body lift is probably the most involved. It requires changing out the bushings body to frame and can be a little trick, also requires custom brackets for the front and rear to lift the bumpers to look right.

By the way if your interested in doing a lift then look into that before you do tires, also check out the max size tire charts because you could get 33's under your truck I think with the body lift, tt's and shackles. Might not look right with 30's under there though.

 

[dirtjunkies]

Welcome to the forum,

In addition to the TT/AAL you can do a body lift to add another 3" of clearance to fit bigger tires.

how hard and long would it take to do a body lift? this is my only vehicle and id prolly have another person helping and possibly a lift. ive looked at body lift kits and they arent too bad...any brands i should get? nothin real expensive but nothing cheap thats gonna break. im on a budget lol. also i noticed the year for the max lift and tire size starts at 95-01....i found a 4'' kit for a 95 for like 600. would it work on mine?

 

[Charlie]

Torsion twist is:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47345&highlight=torsion+twist
It will gain about 2" in the front.


Just for reference...

That is section525's with stock height and 31's

section525's TT/shackles with 31s

 

[dirtjunkies]

o i want the second pic...that is what im lookin to do. how much would i be lookin at cost wise to do all the suspension stuff? tires are a diff story i have those lined up.

 

[Charlie]

The second picture, suspension wise cost under 100 bucks. The shackles for the rear, were about 60/70 dollars, and the front, torsion twist is free. The only way it wouldn't be is if you needed to buy bigger bolts, and that wouldn't run more than 10 bucks.

 

[dirtjunkies]

o well taht isnt a bad deal at all and its in the budget.....now where do i find out what letter i have on the torsion bars? also what is a recommended tire size for me? something more aggressive than stock but not something thats gonna kill the wallet? would these be ok?
215/85R-15 Super Swamper TSL Radial Tire
http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/...013744/N-111+1996+200005334+600009979/c-10614

yay or nay?

also i def need some new rear shocks cuz mine are o so squeaky and old. whats a good budget shock? also what are some good aal's out there? does it matter on brand? autozone sells them would this be somethin to look into or no? again im new to all this and am tryin to do it right and not fork it up as its my daily.

 

[Nocturnall]

215/85R-15 is a very very small tire to put on your truck, a 31" tire which you can fit stock is 265, after all the lift stuff you could do a 32" - 33" probably. With a torsion twist you have to do an alignment or your going to kill your new tires since camber will be off. That's $80 - 90ish for that.

You really really need to SEARCH and READ what people have posted. AAL is not something you can do with your current rear springs, webmastercharli said this twice in this post alone. Lifting an explorer has been covered more times then area 51. You've been given a lot of information in this post, you were told where to locate what tire sizes you can run. Finding the number on your torsion bars has been covered, I think it's on the door jam sticker but don't remember off hand.

 

[dirtjunkies]

ok well tahnk you and i am going to be doing alot of searching to find out more info on things i want to know.

so let me make sure i got this down right...
to do the proper lift as stated by charlie i can do a 4dr rear leaf spring w aal, new shackles, tt, 31'' tires? do i just need the leaf springs from the 4dr or is there anything else that would do better on there from a 4dr? reason i ask is we have many truck junkyards with umteen thousand explorers and i know the owner of like 5 of them so i want to know what all i need to pull from there so i can do this right and not have to make multiple trips. thanks for all the info so far and im looking forward to researching more info

 

[Nocturnall]

........You just need the springs. You can do an f150 rear leaf spring swap but that's probably a little more involved then you want to get into right now. Search, this is seriously all covered and very easy to find all the information you want and need.

 

[dirtjunkies]

........You just need the springs. You can do an f150 rear leaf spring swap but that's probably a little more involved then you want to get into right now. Search, this is seriously all covered and very easy to find all the information you want and need.

so after spending quite a bit of time searching and reading ive come to the conclusion that alot of people are unhappy with the aal.....i read the write-up on the f150 swap and it sounds like a perfect task for me. i understood it all very well and it seems like this is the route i will be going. also i read up on the tt...again this is very basic and easy for me to understand and i plan on doing this as well.i have found many things helpful and many good write-ups on this site and have my work cutout for me. im unemployed at the time but still have money coming in and have lots of plans for this winter....
id like to say thanks to:
webmastercharli
Nocturnall
section525

u guys have helped me alot and given me so much info that is helpful and pushed me to search and READ what people stated. thanks alot. i cant beleive how helpful people are on here. im apart of other forums and have never been treeated so nicely and given so much help and advice.

i do have one last question tho...is there ever a meet for the forum? if not maybe we could plan one for one summer and get everyone together that can come and go hit the trails....again thanks alot everyone

 

[Nocturnall]

There's Truckhaven in Cali where a lot of us will be, Moab run in March, a Cave Creek run is in the works I think in Arizona. A Tellico run on the east coast somewhere. I only know for sure the truckhaven, moab, and cave creek because it's in my neck of the woods.

there is actually a forum for it: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=80
Clubs: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=3

Dunno if Ohio falls into any of those though.

 

[dirtjunkies]

ok ill def look into those sites....i did have another question on a thought i had to maximize my budget lift.....this is my thought
swap the 4dr main leaf and add the f150 leafs to it along with a aal and shackles. would this be overkill?or just not work at all? just tryin to think of how i can get the most lift for the budget minded like myself. also is the tt the only thing i can do to the front? is teh 4dr front suspension the same as 2drs? or is it a lil bigger as far as lift height?