my new ride

[med]

hello all-

i've lurked here some but haven't really done any posting because i've been explorerless until now. i stumbled across a pretty sweet deal and bought an explorer the other day though. i found a 1 owner 1997 xlt 4x4 with every option on it that was possible in 1997. the guy i got it from was a bachelor computer geek that lives alone that strictly drove it in town from home to work. it doesnt even have anything under it that remotly resembles dirt or mud. and get this....it just rolled over 53k miles. needless to say i'm pretty happy about the deal. the only thing that doesn't work is the horn. i'm wanting to lift it to put 31's...maybe 32's on it but i'm not sure which direction would be best. i've thought about a body lift but i saw on the internet a 4" tuff country lift for $420 i think. i'm not wanting to sink a ton of cash in raising it a little but $400 would be affordable and maybe look better. what do you guys recommend? i'm not planning on jumping rocks with it. i just want a little more clearance.

thanks for any info or suggestions...

-med

 

[TheFox88]

Welcome to the site! This is such a great resource for us X owners. You will find everything you need here, plus a ton more. Just to warn you, modding is addictive, once you start, you will never stop. But that is a good thing. As for lifting your truck, there is a lot of info that you will be able to find through the search feature at the top of the page. Good luck with all that you wish to accomplish.

 

[davidmmm69]

looks good. especially cause it is or was a twin to mine

 

[davidmmm69]

see what i mean.
easy to do .

 

[bmxking5]

The Tuff Country lift you found will not work. You can do a "torsion twist" and shackles (and/or add-a-leaf) for about 2" of lift and then you can do the 2 or 3" body lift from a Ranger. The only two suspension lift kits available are made by Superlift and Trailmaster...and both of them are roughly 1400+! Do a search for the torsion twist(TT), shackles, and add-a-leaf (AAL) and you'll find out lots of info about it. If the price was right, sounds like you got a really nice truck.

 

[davidmmm69]

what did you pay for it if i can be nosey??

 

[med]

i went back and looked at the tuff country ad and it was my misunderstanding. it said for rangers/explorers til 1997......but they were grouping the rangers/explorers together. it goes to a '97 ranger and '94 explorer. thanks for setting me straight. i'm not sure if i care to do the tt. i did that to my previous ranger and i wasn't too thrilled about the ride after doing the twist. so i may stick with the body lift. that should allow the 31's shouldnt it? and i got it for $6,800. i might have been able to get a little better price but i thought it was fair. it still has the window sticker in the glove-box and sticker on it was $33k.

-med

davidmmm69 - what did you do to your X?

 

[davidmmm69]

First it is 2WD but it has torsion bars cranked to about 2 inches more to come.
spindals up front 2WD only can do this that is 3 inches.
each leaf spring pack in teh rear has 2 extra add a leafs and shackles installed in the rear also.
and 2 inch body lift to top it all off..
i was able to hack the front bumper a little bit to even it out and trying to find a way to level out the rear bumper, which looks hideous..
also removed the fog lights cause i destroyed them while beating the crap out of the front bumper.I was getting mad cause I couldn;t get any adjustment out of the bumper.waiting for some new bigger driving lights now.
and to top it all off. I took of my 31 inch BFG'S and added 33 BFG'S Mud tires.

and also added steps last year to it to improve how it looks from the side...

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

nice x you got there med it looks nice and sharp

 

[j602]

what did you pay for it if i can be nosey??

Dude! Why do you have the quote his post everytime you reply? There's a ton of text and a big picture, which makes it a pain in the ass to try to read through the thread!

 

[davidmmm69]

Dude! Why do you have the quote his post everytime you reply? There's a ton of text and a big picture, which makes it a pain in the ass to try to read through the thread!

fixed it I didn;t even realize I was doing that..
MY Bad. sorry...

 

[FROADER]

Nice buy med. For what you say you're after, I think your best bet would be the body lift. It's cheap, easy and will get you the clearance for the tires you want. Welcome to the site and like said above, you'll find just about everything you'll need about your Explorer on this site. Take the time to learn the search feature, you'll be amazed what you find.