Just a little lift in the Rear?

[Johnny K]

Looking to level out (or make it higher than the front), my '00 XLT sport (4-door, 4 x 4) as it's got that slight sagging look (like the front springs were made for the V8 weight and I only have the V6!)..

Anyways, I've read that to get 2 1/2 to 3 inches higher in the rear, many people have put the AAL and/or the shackles. I'm not a big fan of the shackles.. Will the AAL alone raise the current bumper height 2-3 inches? or do you need both?

I'll be changing shocks at the same time, probably sensatracs for a softer ride.. Any considerations for an AAL or are standard replacement sizes for the shocks OK?

I do tow a double jetski trailer during the summer, but the rear end doesn't really drag (goes down slightly) with the extra 150-200 lbs of tongue weight.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

Johnny K

 

[lonestar]

Read the F150 leaf spring mod.

 

[CarFreak146]

I'm not sure about that new of an X, but some of the 95-98 I think had monoleafs, so if you do too, you can swap in leaf packs from a 4-door for lift.... AAL will only give you about 1.5" of lift, so if you don't swap in the 4-door pack, you will have to do an AAL and shackles to get about 3" of lift.

--Ryan

 

[CodePoet]

You can put aal's in iff you don't have a mono-leaf rear suspension, if you look under there and see a leaf pack you can. I'm pretty sure the stock shocks will work, I still have them on my after my aal and the rear flexs great. You might want to consider ride quality though, aals to stifen the rear up quite abit. If you wanted to retain a stock like ride you might want to consider warrior shackles (WAR153). Then if the rear looks too high you could do a simply torsion twis to finish leveling it out. OR you could lower the front in with the torsion twist to level it out now...and the best part is the TT is free .

Good Luck
CP

 

[Johnny K]

Yep, it's the 4-door, 4 x 4, so I don't have the mono-leaf.. I think the "sport" throws people off as it was just a package added to the XLT to give it the 16 inch tires, the roll step bars and the wheel well trim.

Thanks for the replies, keep 'em coming!

And for the f-150 conversion, great plan but seems to be a bit more work than I wanted to tackle for this weekend mechanic.. besides, I can't seem to find a left-handed screwdriver.. lol

 

[Lee S.]

Yeah I didn't like the slight sag in the rear of my 98X so I put sensatrac load levelers in the rear and they raised up the rear about an inch. The loadlevelers have coil springs around the outside of the shock that provides the lift. I put regular reflexes in the front and it solved the rear sag problem.

John V from EE posted a picture somewhere on this board of the load levelers. I think it was in response to a lowered X bottoming out. His suggestion was to try the load levelers in the rear since they raise it a bit. Do a search and you maybe you can find that thread with the pic.

Just a suggestion in case you don't want to go the shackles or add a leaf route.

Lee

 

[Johnny K]

Interesting concept.. I thought the "coil overs" would help support the rear when towing and not really add any lift when not towing. A buddy of mine put them on his 2WD (XLT) to help to reduce major sagging when towing.. I'll have to look into that since I'm changing the shocks anyway!.

Thanks,

JK

 

[Lee S.]

I checked with the Monroe tech line before I bought them. They indicated the load levelers would raise the rear a bit. Maybe not a full inch but that seems to be what I got.

Here's the thread with the pic of the load levelers:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100804&highlight=bottoming

I realize that this thread is talking about lowered X's but the point is that the load levelers will raise the rear. John V indicates .5 to .75 in.

Anyway they seemed to solve my sagging problem without to much effort.

Lee

 

[Johnny K]

Lee S:

Thanks again fro the advice. Looks like I'm going to order the Sensa-Trak load levelers for the rear and Sensa-Traks for the front as well. Auto parts store has them on sale, buy three get one free, so it'll be $123 plus tax which is very reasonable. I'd think the sensa-tracs in the front would be a bit softer than the reflexes, but a little less stable. As long as they are any improvement over stock, I'll be happy.

Take care,
Johnny K

 

[Lee S.]

Johnny K

No problem.......If I had it to do over again I'd probably get the regular sensatracs in the front instead of the Reflexes. I think you'll be happy with your choice.

Lee

 

[john gaglio]

ok maybe some body can help me I have a 97 ex 4 door. want to raise it a bout 1.5 to 2 inches. I know that I need to do a torsen-twist for the front, But what is better out back warrior shackles or an aal.

 

[Johnny K]

Just a follow up now that all the shocks are installed (sensatracs in the front, and sensatrac load levelers in the rear).

Much, much happier with the way it rides. Rear end appears to be level or closer to level and you can jump on the bumper and it barely moves. Handles railroad tracks and bumps quite well... not harsh like the stock ones, which you could easly compress by hand. Haven't towed with it yet, but confident it'll tow better than before.

Installation of the fronts took all of 20 minutes per side (cordless impact helps) and spraying the bolts a few days before with PB blaster worked perfectly. For the rear ones (since the new shocks have coil springs on the outside), my buddy had spring compressors to use on ATVs that he got for $10 at harbor freight that enabled me to compress the springs enough to get them on. The instructions from the board helped as well!

Thanks to everyone and to this board for their help!!

Take care,

Johnny K

 

[dmr1203]

I have a problem with mine that happened when I backed into something. I need to raise it about 2.5 inches in order to become level. If I take it to a body shop just to have it raised, what do you think it will cost me???? Thanks.