Is there a kit for a small (1-1.5") body lift?

[BrianDye]

Really excited for Spring, ill be installing a Traxda suspension lift, which looks great, but ive saw a few pictures of a suspension AND body lift, which I fell in love with.

I saw a few threads for a 3" bodylift needing all kinds of modifications and extensions, which im not interested in, I want the 1.5" lift.

Ive never dealt with ANY kind of lifting (or lowering for that matter) before, so this is new to me.

I saw a write up for a third gen which uses five 3" blocks cut in half, to make ten 1.5" blocks. Is that the same setup for the 4th gens?

Thanks!

Id like to do the BL first, since everyone said its easier to access the shock mounts for the spacer lift afterwards.

 

[Ronin8002]

As with many things on these trucks, there isn't a "kit"....you pretty much have to get the parts together on your own.

The good news is you can do a 1" body lift really easily on the 2006-2010 explorers. I did it a couple years ago.

Main reason I went with 1" is because that's all the room there was between the rear bumper reinforcement and where the plastic bumper cover curves under it, and I didn't want to have to cut or trim that part. No need for a steering shaft extension. Another benefit of the 1" body lift was that I didn't have to remove or trim the lower fan shroud.

The existing bolts on the 4th gen are a larger size than the 3rd gen, and getting the right length, diameter, and bolt grade to be a direct fit was too expensive. So I went with a slightly smaller diameter and used nuts and washers underneath to secure them (on the underside of the pucks), as well as threadlocker compound. Here are the bolts you need for the 1" body lift.

1/2" -13 x 7", grade 8 = qty 2
1/2 -13 x 5", grade 8 = qty 4
1/2 - 13 x 3", grade 8, qty 2
M12-1.75 x 100mm, class 10.9, = qty 2
1/2 -13 nut, grade 8 = qty 8
M12-1.75 nut, class 10 = qty 2
1/2" flat washer = qty 8

The 12mm bolts are for the front two mounts

The 1/2" bolts are for the rest of the mounts.

That's pretty much it, 30-40 dollars in bolts and maybe another 10-15 dollars in body lift blocks. I bought 2" tall ones (from Amazon.com...just search for body lift blocks and get 4 of the 3" wide x 2" tall ones, and 1 of the 2" wide x 2" tall ones). You'll cut them in half to make 1" blocks.

The reason you get 1 of the narrower lift blocks is because the body mounts under the front seats are narrower than the rest of the mounts.

The general procedure for install is basically the same as the body lifts for the 3rd gen explorers. There will be a gap between the rear bumper cover and bumper reinforcement. Not visually bad but you won't want to be standing on your bumper afterwards or anything. I filled the gap with 1" x 1" square tubing that I tack welded little sections of to the bumper reinforcement and that also made the bumper able to handle being used as a step or seat again. You could use wood and zip tie it down or something. It's not going to be visible unless you put it right in the middle of the bumper where the cutout is for the hitch receiver.

 

[BrianDye]

Thanks a lot for those details. Glad I didn't order those 3" blocks, I swear a member or two with a 4th gen said that method works in the other thread.

Bummer that it's only an inch instead of 1.5" but oh well. Will still look great when it's all done. I'll probably take a weekend off one day for the Traxda kit and one for the body lift.

One thing I was wondering was, since the stock body mounts are made of rubber, and the lift blocks are nylon and hard, will that effect the ride quality? (Not that it matters, I was just curious thinking about that on the ride to work this morning). I know the suspension lift will decrease the quality a bit, oh well.

 

[banditxp]

Why not just do the lift strut kit?
Thats what im gonna do.

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=2160146&cc=1441671&jnid=503&jpid=13

 

[BrianDye]

Why not just do the lift strut kit?
Thats what im gonna do.

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=2160146&cc=1441671&jnid=503&jpid=13

How do those work? Sorry if that's a dumb question, I'm foreign to this lifting stuff and trying to gather info.

 

[Ronin8002]

How do those work? Sorry if that's a dumb question, I'm foreign to this lifting stuff and trying to gather info.

They work by using a higher rate and/or preloaded coil spring. That results in lift. That being the case as with all spring type lifts they do settle over time, so you lose the lift. On the plus side, they do give a good ride with adjustable dampening characteristics, and the front ones have more travel than oem type struts which offers some advantages off road.

You can combine them with the traxada spacers but you will lose the advantage of the longer suspension travel since the front spindles will contact and bind up against the coil spring before the shock can fully extend through its travel.

 

[Ronin8002]

Thanks a lot for those details. Glad I didn't order those 3" blocks, I swear a member or two with a 4th gen said that method works in the other thread.

Bummer that it's only an inch instead of 1.5" but oh well. Will still look great when it's all done. I'll probably take a weekend off one day for the Traxda kit and one for the body lift.

One thing I was wondering was, since the stock body mounts are made of rubber, and the lift blocks are nylon and hard, will that effect the ride quality? (Not that it matters, I was just curious thinking about that on the ride to work this morning). I know the suspension lift will decrease the quality a bit, oh well.

The blocks won't negatively affect ride quality because vibration is still absorbed by the rubber body mounts which are left in place.

Yeah it's only an inch lift but for not much money you get a bit of lift that requires little to no additional modifications, and it doesn't add any stress to your suspension or require any changes to the alignment. Seems like a win all around to me.

I am currently waiting to install a 3" body lift on my truck (will be removing the 1"). It has been done before by a couple of people on 4th gens but to do it right and have it look good is going to require some more involved fabrication...like cutting out and rewelding the rear bumper to the frame, fabricating some front bumper brackets, fabricating a sheet metal shroud for the radiator fan, and making or modifying a steering shaft extension. I hope to begin working on that in the new year...I have all the parts just been too busy with work and school.

 

[banditxp]

They work by using a higher rate and/or preloaded coil spring. That results in lift. That being the case as with all spring type lifts they do settle over time, so you lose the lift. On the plus side, they do give a good ride with adjustable dampening characteristics, and the front ones have more travel than oem type struts which offers some advantages off road.

You can combine them with the traxada spacers but you will lose the advantage of the longer suspension travel since the front spindles will contact and bind up against the coil spring before the shock can fully extend through its travel.

not really true. Springs settle int he first like 5,000 miles or so. After that they really loose much untill you get like 75,000+ miles on them. and modern springs are much better then older ones. Plus the little you loose when you first install new springs is not much and thats factored into the lift height most of the time. The Lift height is after they settle.

 

[banditxp]

also im pretty sure they jsut a longer strut or spacer not stiffer spring to give you the lift. its a whole kit not just a spring.

 

[BrianDye]

Thanks for all the info, looking most likely like I'll do the Traxda kit and a 1" body lift.

I've read a few people who have noted how bad a lift on the 4th gen stresses out the ball joints, and something about upgrading to something or other tubular? I don't really want to go through a set of ball joints every year lol plus I drive a lot more than normal, granted its gonna me more of a mall crawler being my work vehicle.

 

[Ronin8002]

also im pretty sure they jsut a longer strut or spacer not stiffer spring to give you the lift. its a whole kit not just a spring.

After seeing an OEM front strut and a Rancho Quicklift strut side by side, I think you're absolutely right about it being a longer shock. With the same spring rate as OEM the overall shock length of the Quicklifts would be longer at ride height than an OEM strut...so that must be where the lift comes from. I must have been confusing them with the Bilstein 5100 series shocks (not for our trucks) that use a preload ring to achieve lift.

As far as them settling, I have read that feedback from a number of users here that complained about the overall lift being much less after running them a while, but those were older posts so maybe Rancho has improved the spring quality since then.

 

[Ronin8002]

Thanks for all the info, looking most likely like I'll do the Traxda kit and a 1" body lift.

I've read a few people who have noted how bad a lift on the 4th gen stresses out the ball joints, and something about upgrading to something or other tubular? I don't really want to go through a set of ball joints every year lol plus I drive a lot more than normal, granted its gonna me more of a mall crawler being my work vehicle.

A set of tubular upper control arms made by BTF Fabrication would be a wise investment when running the Traxada spacers. The OEM ball joints don't seem to like being operated at the increased angles that the spacers cause...in extreme cases the ball joint ultimately separates from the upper control arm so the whole wheel flops over.

The BTF arms use a uniball joint instead of the stock type ball joint so it will hold up over the long term and not separate. You'll need to get an alignment after installing them so best just to do it at the same time as the spacers (which also require an alignment) to avoid another trip to the shop.

 

[BrianDye]

That's something I'm definitely gonna do before I lift then. A close family friend lost a kid from a ballpoint that went bad while driving down the road. Was a big Ford Excursion, ball joint went, truck veered into oncoming traffic and was crushed by a large semi/tractor trailer type rig.

$575 for those UCA's, holy crap! This $275 lift will be nearly a couple grand when said and done!

Traxda lift: $275~
Tubular UCA's: $575
New large tires: $700-$800 I would guess

That's not even counting replacement parts lol! I want to replace everything else under the front when the lift is put on. (Shocks/tie rod ends/bushings etc)

So with the Traxda spacers and a 1" BL, what size tire would be ideal? I'm assuming I'll stick with an all terrain since I do mainly highway driving. I had some Firestone Destination AT's on my last Explorer, but that was years ago. Haven't tire shopped since.

 

[Ronin8002]

So with the Traxda spacers and a 1" BL, what size tire would be ideal? I'm assuming I'll stick with an all terrain since I do mainly highway driving. I had some Firestone Destination AT's on my last Explorer, but that was years ago. Haven't tire shopped since.

I run 265/70/17 Mickey Thompson Baja STZs. They are quiet on the road and have performed well off road and in bad weather. I think that size it's a pretty good compromise between lift/width and doesn't slow the truck down too much. If you have 16" wheels you could run 265/75/16.

 

[BrianDye]

Ah, wheels! Wasn't even thinking about wheels lol! I'd like to go a little bigger on an 18" or even 20" wheel, I absolutely love the look of a larger wheel with beefy tires.

That would open up my options a bit as well, since wheel/tire combos are a fraction of the cost used on Craigslist vs buying new.

Do you have any pics of your X with the tires on it you mentioned
EDIT- Just noticed your registry link in your sig. That is one SEXY Explorer! Dig the cab lights as well, was gonna get a set for mine when it's lifted but "Santa" surprised me with a 52" LED bar that'll be going up there