Lift for a '95 4WD XLT?

[3ebmisfit]

Does anyone make one? I have looked around and seen lifts for a 91-94, and a 96 and up. It seems most companies leave out the 95 4 door. Is there something I don't know about 1995?

 

[ALLOUTWAR13]

Call superlift I think their 4 inch is 95 and up but i might have read it wrong.

 

[3ebmisfit]

It looks like Superlift leaves out the 95 as well. their application guide on the site jumps straight from a 94 to a 96 and up. I can double check that to be sure.

Thanks for your reply!

 

[SGR1600]

What are you trying to do? Body lift, suspension lift, how much?

 

[duz]

i'm in the same situation. they do skip over the 95. i want to do just a 2 or 3" suspension lift. absolutely no body lift. does a suspension lift exist for 95?

 

[Qweejbo]

I have been researching lifts (both suspension and body) for my 95 X for about 3 years now. I have spoken to people at just about every manufacturer of lift kits. Here is what I have found out:

- You will not find a suspension lift kit or a body lift kit that is specifically manufactured and marketed as for the 95 X.

- Most people will tell you that no one makes a suspension lift for the 95 X because of all the negative rollover publicity. That is simply not true.

- The real reason is that 1995 was the first year of the new Explorer with the IFS. Unfortunately almost everything to do with the suspension was actually welded in place. In 1996 Ford changed that and went to bolting everything together. Although apparently a very few 95's actually are bolted together.

- If you are lucky enough to have a bolted together 95 X you can use Trail Master's 4" suspension lift for the 96 X. I spoke with them and all of the components are the same and they say that it will fit perfectly.

- If you are not that lucky and are stuck with the welded together one you have two options for a suspension lift. (1) Torch out the components and then measure and bolt in some 96 X components. Then install the Trail Master suspension lift. This is not easy, not cheap, and is discouraged by Trail Master. (2) There is a guy in Utah or Colorado that I spoke to and he can completely dismantle your suspension and custom make a 6" suspension lift. He has done it for a couple of them already. The cost was somewhere around $4,500.00 if I remember right.

- That leaves the body lift kits. Performance Accessories makes a 2" and a 3" body lift kit for the 95-97 Ranger that fits the 95 X. This spring / summer I plan on installing the 3" body lift (PA Kit #853) on my 95 X. Here are a couple of links to some guys that have installed them.

http://www.extremexplorers.com/members/Chaz/

http://www1.coe.neu.edu/~mmormino/

I e-mailed Chaz and he said that the 3" body lift fits on his 95 X perfectly and he has had no problems.

- Of course you can also do the torsion twist, shackles and some larger tires to get a little bit of height.

- Anyway I hope that this little bit of info helps.

 

[SGR1600]

Well, you've got the general idea, but there are a few details that are incorrect.

The superlift 4" kit will piggyback the stock torsion bar mounts for the vehicles where they are welded on.

For body lifts: For a 2" kit you will use the kit for the 91-94 explorers, for a 3" kit you will use the kit for 95-97 rangers. Either kit will need to be modified to fit your explorer. I know, I did it. The body mount bolts included with the kit are not threaded far enough up the bolt to fully tighten them into the body mount bushings. You will need to drill out the budhings with a 1/2" drill bit, and put a washer and nut on each bolt. The bumper relocation brackets are another concern. The rear brackets don't work, and need to be modified. The 2" kit doesn't come with a front bracket, you will need to get that part from PA directly.

I did 2" suspension from a tt and rearched rear springs, along with a 2" PA body lift. My personal reccomendation is do the 2" tt/aal/shackles along with a 2" or 3" body lift depending on what tires you want to run. The 2" kit is really easy to do, the 3" kit requires more work. You can search for this info.

______________________
p.s. this is my 500th post

 

[Qweejbo]

SGR 1600: Thanks for the corrections. This is good info.

When I spoke to Superlift they were adamant that the 4" suspension lift could not be made to work on the 95 X. I'm glad that they are wrong. They must be concerned about liability issues. Do you know anyone who has actually put it on their 95 X? Did they have any problems?

Indeed you are right about the PA body lifts requiring some modification. I did not mean to imply that they simply fit right into place. However, I did not want to get into a discussion about how they are installed and the work required. For a good thread about installing them and the modifications required check out:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15264&highlight=1995

If anyone else finds out some more information about this please post it for us.

 

[dman726749]

lifted95X has the superlift i belive

 

[taxx]

Don't call superlif!

They are not correct. They know not what they say. 95 and 96 are the SAME.

the superlift that my cusin runs on his 95 was on my 97. I helped install it. It works. Only thing you need is the torsion bar isolators and some real shocks.

 

[taxx]

Originally posted by Qweejbo
The real reason is that 1995 was the first year of the new Explorer with the IFS. Unfortunately almost everything to do with the suspension was actually welded in place. In 1996 Ford changed that and went to bolting everything together. Although apparently a very few 95's actually are bolted together.

the torion bar mounts where welded from 95 - 97 the superlift mounts sit on top of them. That is why you need the isolators. IT WILL WORK!

here is a link from a search:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=91853&highlight=superlift

I'll try to dig out my writeup for the install.

 

[crazybill]

im thinking if i keep my 95 sport i might lift it this summer , just about 2" to get some nice wheels/tires under it .
what kind of money do the skyjacker kits cost and can i install it myself ? i build dragbikes so i can wrench... just never built a 4x4 before .

thanks much !

 

[taxx]

I you can build a bike you can follow lift instructions, just sometimes it helps to have an extra set of hands around. I am not sure what the lift is going for now but you would be close to $2k by the time you put it in and have your driveshafts lengthened.