Modding my 93 Opinions needed Please.

[XLT]

I have been doing some research and want my 93 explorer to look more like it was meant for offroading but also be capable off road. Right now i have a manual with 3.27 gears, and 30 inch tires. The tires did effect my power but not enough to be beaten by my friends cherokee or blazer. Anyway i am stuck on what i want to do. I offroad every now and then but this is my daily driver but i only drive maybe 10 miles a day and soon i will walk once college starts because i will be just a couple blocks away. Keep in mind the only off roading i do is pretty much on easy trails with mud through the woods and no rock climbing. I want something that will get me through throught he woods or across a frozen lake with snow since i do ice fish.
Route one:
Was to get some 31x10.5-15 tires bridgestone dualer A/T Revo and some black rock crawler 97 series rims 15x8 with 3.75 inch back spacing (is the back spacing correct?). For a lift i wanted to get some warrior shackle just ( i have heard the aal stiffens the suspension up) and the front i would use coil spacers or more ideal would be to get new 2 inch longer coils (wheres a good place to get these). Then to top it all off i would regear to 4.10 because my acceleration will really suck with 3.27 and then i would add some kind of locker for the rear. I need something good on road but will help me offroad becuase i have been stuck about 4 or 5 times now in the past 2 years but i never have needed a pull yet. I am leaning towards the Detroit ez locker.

Route Two:
I would go with the 5.5 inch superlift with new radius arms and get some 33x11.50-15 one the black rock crawler rims. I would regear to 4.56 and maybe forget about the locker.

Questions
1. What will my gas milage be about in route 1 and 2? (right now i get about 15 mpg but i think i could get better if i regeared)
2. I want a good A/T tire and know the BFG has quite a following but people also really like the Dualer Revo, so is the Revo a good tire for what i want??
3. What route should i go with??
4. Does that locker look good?
5. In route one i have found 1.5 or 2 inch lift springs on ebay made by rough contry. Will these work fine ?

Sorry for all the questions. I want to make sure i dont overlook anything and screw up because i want to do it right the first time. Also if any one has any good pictures of some chevy tow hooks on a first generation that would be great. I just got mine but havent had a chance to put them on yet. I have been searching but 95% of the information is for the 2nd generation. I have done research on all of the above but i just need a little guidance. Thanks in advance.

 

[SVO42]

You sound like you're in the same spot as I am as far as what you plan on doing with a DD Ex. Hopefully some people that have actually done the mods can answer your questions better. Here's my plan:

2" front lift coils (made by Skyjacker, just check jackit.com, Summit, etc.)
F-150 rear leaves (see thread in the "Useful Threads" Forum)

If the F-150 leaves don't raise the back enough, I'll add some shackles.

Then,

3" body lift
33x12.50x15 mud terrains (I'll trim a little if I have to) on...
15x10 black steelies with 3.75" BS

Once I have more money,

Auburn ECTED rear selectable limited-slip/locker
Not sure on front, likely an electronically-controlled open diff/locker
4.56 gears (currently 3.27s and I also have a 5-speed)

Basically I want a daily driver/weekend offroader. I also don't have a ton of cash, hence by 2" suspension/3" BL. Someday I'll go for the Superlift 5.5". I've even considered a motor swap eventually for more MPG (esp. since gas jumped AGAIN 10 cents today )...a 2.3 turbo motor. Not that my SVO has given me any ideas or anything. Good luck.

 

[Rhett]

XLT, If you take "Route 1" in your post, you may eventually desire to go to "Route 2".
Most people, when they do a shackle-and-spacer lift and run 31's, eventually develop this desire to go bigger--that means 33's, and a lift kit--something more than shackles and spacers...

And what do people here always advise? To go for the 33's, lift kit, and gears right off-the-bat because you will save more money in the long run. Of course, that's assuming you would be one of those people that would want to go bigger...

A lot of people are perfectly satisfied with 2" lift and 31 x 10.50's. Especially a person who does the light off roading as you describe.

 

[XLT]

ok thank you for the good advice but what would my gas mileage be effected that much going with route 2 even though i gear correctly?? Just checking. I really like the look of 33 inch tires but i just want to check.

 

[Captain AirTime]

ok thank you for the good advice but what would my gas mileage be effected that much going with route 2 even though i gear correctly?? Just checking. I really like the look of 33 inch tires but i just want to check.

Milage will probably improve, if you can keep your foot out of it. I had 3.73 and P235's stock, went to 4.10 and 31's, then about 4" lift and 33's, my highway milage is the same as ever, around 18mpg, and the city at about 15+.
You sound like a perfect candidate for a TrueTrac Its perfect for everything outside of extreme rock crawling, and it can get you through that, once in a while. Open diffs blow.

 

[aldive]

ok thank you for the good advice but what would my gas mileage be effected that much going with route 2 even though i gear correctly?? Just checking. I really like the look of 33 inch tires but i just want to check.

Lifting and big tires are detrimental to mileage.

 

[Captain AirTime]

I've even considered a motor swap eventually for more MPG (esp. since gas jumped AGAIN 10 cents today )...a 2.3 turbo motor. Not that my SVO has given me any ideas or anything. Good luck.

FWIW, BT,DT. the 2.3T is a great motor, but don't be expecting it to hand out any kind of performance if you want economy from it! in my 2700LB Ranger, I got consistently 13-14mpg around town, 15-16hwy. Thats at 17+ psi, but an indication. Swapped for a 5.0L, and got 15-16 in town, and up to 20 on the hwy. A heavy pig like the explorer needs the low end grunt to move it around the city. Hard to deny the beautiful sound of a turbo tho! Maybe my 4.0L wants a turbo...LOL!

 

[SVO42]

FWIW, BT,DT. the 2.3T is a great motor, but don't be expecting it to hand out any kind of performance if you want economy from it! in my 2700LB Ranger, I got consistently 13-14mpg around town, 15-16hwy. Thats at 17+ psi, but an indication. Swapped for a 5.0L, and got 15-16 in town, and up to 20 on the hwy. A heavy pig like the explorer needs the low end grunt to move it around the city. Hard to deny the beautiful sound of a turbo tho! Maybe my 4.0L wants a turbo...LOL!

You must have some really steep gears in that thing and/or a HEAVY foot. I experimented with the MPG in my SVO once. My stock, 3100# SVO. I'll admit it's more aerodynamic than a Ranger, but this experiment was in town.

I ran a whole tank with a heavy foot, boosting a lot. I got about 15 MPG. Then I did a whole other tank driving like grandma--I got 20 MPG. I usually get 27-29 highway all the time.

I realize there are differences between a car and a truck, but driving style also has a lot to do with it.

 

[Creager]

Skip the body lift/spacers deal... trust me I went route number one, now I'm Kicking myself for not just going straight to route number two. Ok enough about me

with 4.10's and 31"s, your gas milage will probably be like mine with 32"s and 4.56, or maybe not as weird. That’s if you normally drive over 65 mph for a steady distance... 4.10s and 33"s your gas mileage will be like 3.27 and 28" tires stock.

On Average I get 17-18 mpg with 4.56 gears and 32"s. Although I rarely go over 65 mph. When I do, gas mileage suffers to 13/14 mpg.

Do you drive heavily over 65 mph?

But that isn’t to say big gears and great gas mileage cannot coexist. Like said above, driving style has a lot to do with it, but not like you might think.

Last week I bought 87 Exxon gas for 2.48 a gallon, (normally I use 89... and now I remember why.) The next day gas prices shot up to over 3.00 a gallon. With the gas prices so high, I didn’t TOUCH my accelerator. And when I did, that sucker would be SPARK knocking like crazy (hence why I never use 87 time for rebuild?) I never got on the highway, and I rarely drove over 45 mph! I made sure my RPM's didn’t go over 2500. Normally I drive with a heavy foot, because its fun and I like it. Even with driving like a kid, I get 300-350 miles a tank (depending on when I fill up)

(Rhett, if you are reading you are not going to believe this). Finally when I got to 270 miles on that tank, I said its time to fill up. I figured since I've been babying this ***** for a week, I must have been getting like 24 miles per gallon, and I was getting anxious to see what it was at. I filled up with 16.1 gallons. I was way wrong, I got LESS gas mileage then I use too!!

I never went over 2500 rpms, and I used a lower grade gas? It must have been the fact I was straining the crap out of my old engine (keeping the RPM's so low), plus I was putting that dirty 87 in it, which it doesn’t like.

It’s somewhat of a mystery. I mean, it doesn’t make much since that I get better gas mileage when I put the DEVIL on the accelerator. But hey, can’t complain much.

I'm going to try my experiment again, with the 89 gas I usually use. But the moral of the story, when you get low gears... your gas mileage doesn’t necessarily suffer. That’s only a theory. Your gas mileage suffers more with HIGHER gears (especially with a v6), and most people, plus myself, can vouch for that. But again I ask you the question, do you drive heavily over 65mph?

 

[Rhett]

FWIW, BT,DT.

FWIW = For what it's worth
BT= ??
DT = ??

 

[XLT]

Very good comments and what i wanted to hear. I normally get about 15 mpg no matter what i do. A couple weeks ago i used about a 1/4 of a tank while hauling a trailer back and forth moving our stuff to our new house and my milage only dropped .15 . I think i would rather go with the 33 inch tires and suspension lift. Currently i do about 90% city and maybe 10% highway but most high way speed limits are only 55 here. So i doubt the highway should be an issue. I will also look into the trutrac locker too. I will probably end up start buying pieces and hopefully get this all on at once next summer since i am currently in college but i made sure to save up enough for future plans to my truck. Thanks so far for the help everyone!