i wana fit 33s on my 97 xlt 5.0 awd....

[ctiggs88]

hey all! im new to the site so ill start by telling the story behind the truck. i got a 1995 nissan altima for free and put 300 bucks into it which i traded strait across for my 1997 explorer xlt 5.0 awd one owner with 108,000 miles becuase they couldnt afford to put gas in it and needless to say it was a steal. its all stock and needs ball joints before i lift it but im wanting to do a t bar crank and shackles only to fit 33x10.50 or 33x12.50 on the stock wheels or 285/75r16's on later model stock wheels or black offroad wheels. i am willing to trim some metal. any input on level of trimming or some example pics of this setup would be great! also anyone know how well the awd does offroad? im a member of make it or break it offroad club here in ia and want to do light wheeling with it, and eventually doing lockers and swapping out the t-case. Any info is helpful. thanks guys!

 

[4rd4life]

welcome to the forum...nice trade also lol! i think many here will tell you the awd is more then capable off road. 33's would be pretty tight with just the tt and shackles imo..but im sure many have done it. might need a small boby lift to help out. i dont think ive seen anyone have to cut off more than 2" of metal to clear 33's though

 

[97ExplorerXLTAWD]

Took my 1997 X four door V8 AWD wheelin a few days ago. Factory everything, Ball joints are going out in a serious way and it needs new shocks....and the big shocker..im still running plain ole street tires. (thats what i bought it with) If your rig already has some good All Terrains, never fear! just dont wheel past ur means yet until u lift it. i had my street tires down to about the center caps in some mud that i knew wouldnt sink me to pumpkin. (so thats pretty deep for streets) and i thought it wasnt going to crawl out, but that awd sure did the job. I was hanging with the lifted big boys.. (everywhere except the ditches they drove thru that were deaper than my floor boards) lol if you notice, i posted earlier about lifting my rig also. Shackles and a TT would easy provide you with 1 to 2 inches of lift depending. And for a cheap price. You could stick 31's on that setup and have plenty of wheel travel... Im gonna lift myne with a 3 inch body lift.. Warrior Shackles in the back. and a 1.5 Torsion twist. And run 32's mainly cause i dont wanna trim my near perfect body..and i want plenty of clearance. There is a chart here somewhere that kinda gives an idea for wheels and lift etc. (( Dead Link Removed )) and ther it is.

 

[97ExplorerXLTAWD]

Also, i dont know how much youve read on this site yet. But you can only Torsion Twist your rig up 2 inches. Any further will cause ur CV's to be out of angle and will go bad fast and could bind.. I didnt know that till i read it here in 5 different places lol. Glad i know now tho.. Mistakes are Mistakes,,,but i hate making mistakes that are costly and coulda been avoided

 

[ctiggs88]

ya ive cranked the t bars on about 6 of my vehicles (had about 30 trucks since i was 15 and im 23 now lol) and the main problems ive had is tie rod wear and i had a gmc jimmy that i did shackles and a torsion crank on and the cv boots were angled so much that the boots came off and they lost all of the grease but i still wheeled it hard for 8 months before they even started making noise, but i was probly just lucky. it seems to have a larger effect on small 4x4's becuase i maxed them out on all of my full sizes and stuffed 35's without ever having any issues but a bad ride. im hoping for less crank and more trimming. if i have to ill do a body lift in the future....only reason i dont want to is i use the bumper to pull my pop up camper and if i do the body lift i will need a tow package and it will hang down.

 

[ctiggs88]

also the lower fenders and rockers are rusting so trimming and rock sliders will be going on it soon

 

[97ExplorerXLTAWD]

Everyone has there own way of thinking. And everyone pictures things differently. you can get a tow kit for 150 bucks. TO me, in my opinion,, if u plan to cut fenders.. then i dont personally see why it would matter if u body lifted it and the tow bar was exposed more. But thats just me.. I went outside and Taped the tires.. i was curious as to where 32's would sit. Which on my playing field was about an inch past the fender. So if you Torsion Twisted it 1.5 inches or the max 2 inches..and threw shackles on the back.. I agree with 4rd4life on the trimming 2 inches or less.

Ive changed my plans for now, im just going for Shackles and a Torsion Twist to have plenty of clearance on 31's.. after i finish class at wyotech, settle into a good job and have another vehicle then ima go crazy with. SOA... SAS..TT..BL.. i want 6 to 9 inches of lift lol.. but thats a little far away at the moment