My Pre-Runner Idea

[Desert Rat]

What do you guys think about these plans I have for my 92 4x4 Ex:
For the front I want to get the Canburg cut and bent beams and then either buy coil overs and fabricate my own shock mounts or just get 7 inch lift springs to "to accomadate for the 4inch lift of the bent beams and 2.5 J-Duff already on it" and longer shocks. Then I can just fabricate radius arms and crossmember and then buy the extended brake lines, dropped pitman arm and straps.
For rear I want to do a SOA or fab up some longer shackles because I don't want it level with the front too much. Then if I have to cut out holes in the rear "bed" of the Ex I will to fit the longer shocks. Also mind you that my truck already has a James Duff 2.5 stage 1 lift onit already with 31inch STS All-T's so I want to leave the front drop brackets for the extra lift.
I've been thinking about this for about a month now and just wanted to get some ideas from people who have Exploders too so I'm going in the right direction. Thanks

 

[Robb]

You plan to keep it 4wd?

 

[BigDave!!!]

I like it, camburg does some very good work so i dont think you can go wrong there, post pics when its all done too

 

[410Fortune]

Its a great start, but there is alot more to it then wat you are thinking.

First off Camburg makes several different styles of TTB beams, stock width, extended, uni balls, extended ball joint, stock style radius arms, custom arms, etc... once you have the beams you have to purchase custom axleshafts to fit them, sometimes $1000 + right there. If you want to "pre run" your truck meaning whoops and airborne you can setup coils and bypass shocks with buckets to work very well, but you will also need some sort of a bump stop and bracket, also limiting straps.

If you want to go with coilovers (threaded body resevoir shocks) then you are talking a full engine cage to support them. It is not uncommong for a 4x4 camburg equipped truck to have $5K+ plus just in the the front end, and high end coilovers will run you another $1.5-3K. We havent even talked about radius arms, ball joints, tie rods, steering yet either.

In the rear you will want to run some good springs if you plan to come up through the floor for a bed cage and some bypass shocks, Deavers or similar can run $500+, the shocks another $1000 or so and then the tube work to support them.

Explorer 4 doors make excellent desert toys, and there are alot of way set them up.
A basic entry level kit is a good way to start, take a look at Autofab and Camburg entry level beam kits, also Giant off road and many others in CA make some good TTB kits, the Baja shop, Mcneil, etc. You can also pick this stuff up used often because those desert guys are always fabbing up the latest and greatest on their truck to stay competative. The autofab 18" of travel TTB kit is very good and proven while still being an entry level bolt on style kit. Autofab and Camburg both = $$$$ Of course buildong a long travel TTB is expensive.....


If you are going to go fast in the desert a cab cage is rather important in my opinion.

it sounds like you know where you are headed, you just need to do alot of research, this is alot of $$$$ to spend and you can do like alot of guys and start off slow and learn/build the truck up at the same time (like my BII) or you can go big right off the bat, I have had 4 different lift setups on my truck in 8 years I think

 

[Desert Rat]

I know I didn't mention all the small things but I do plan to keep it 4x4. Things like bump stops and ball joints, well I can figure bump stops out and fab it up or buy it and limiting straps aren't that hard and I figure the stock ball joints can stay while untill I can get beefier ones therefore I won't drive hard till then. And yea I plan on spending alot of money on this thats why I wanted to gradually build it up like start off with Canburg beams and like I said before fab up radius arms and buckets, and then just leave the rear with an SOA for a while because I'm not going to romp this truck with this setup till I save up and get more parts to complete it. By the way 410Fortune I was looking on the Canburg site and saw a pair of stock width bent beams for about $450 and I thought you could use the stock axles for the setup?

 

[410Fortune]

Yes you can. The stock width Camburg beams for $450 with trade in is a good deal, just know that if you are serious about this you will want to go with wider beams (extended) and you will also want to run more lif then those beams will allow, which means you want the beams with the ball joint re-located to correct camber. However those beams are a great entry level start.

research is your best friend right now. Like I said AutoFAb makes a nice 18" of usable travel 4x4 TTB kit for your truck.

Spending LOTS of $$$ on this will not be hard

 

[Desert Rat]

Yea I don't want everything to be all out race spec, but I don't want a notch above a simple lift either. I think I'll just start out with the Canburg beams and the other parts I mentioned before for now and work my way up from there, thanks on the info.

 

[Josh S.]

I think 7" up front would be too much if you want to make a "prerunner". The camburg beams are pretty good, but now I have some jacked camber issues and axle clearancing crap too. We'll see how it is now that its more limited and a new axle shaft/u-joint is going in...but I'm doubtful. the thing is that I keep blowing a passenger side u-joint cuz its nearly maxed out under hardly any droop...anyways thats a different story...don't want to get 410fortune started heh heh.

I would steer away from drop down brackets if you're planning on doing anything serious...they will just make a weak link for something to break(happened to me many times with the duperlift kit)...SOA with stock leafs will only trash the hell out of them and cause them to S-bend and sag, lots of axlewrap...its happened to me :fire: ...screw body lifts too ok?

Camburg and autofab are nice companies, but you're going to pay out the ass, I hope you know that(not to say it aint worth it) but I think I would go a bit of a different route. check out my forum for some additional good info on explorers and prerunning them. there's a handful of dudes over there with prerund exploders...rear shock hoops with kings, camburg beams, engage widened 2wd beams, engine cages, c/o, etc...Rebel4x4 Board

 

[Desert Rat]

Yea I guess the rear would have axle wrap with stock springs, and 7 up front would be a little accessive for a preunner. Oh yea, I would never put a body lift on my truck, ever.

 

[Desert Rat]

I was wondering after I get the Canburg beams if I could just take out the axles and pumkin and just put a plate were the pumkin was to keep the dirt out. Because I can get a 4.10 rear axle but I can't find a front in my area, I don't care if I have 2 wheel drive for a while I just want to drive it until I get the front 4.10 pumkin.

 

[Josh S.]

Yah you could take out the pumpkin, I have seen people do that before. As for putting a plate where the pumpkin was to keep the dirt "out"? That wouldn't be necessary because the pumpkin would be the thing to keep the dirt out of, and if its out it doesn't matter. I'm not sure about down towards the hubs though, and what the dirt would get into there...maybe people just run with no hub covers and open spindles...someone wanna chime in here?

 

[410Fortune]

If you remove the diff friom the beam the beam becomes weak, the pumkin is a structural partof the drivers side beam.

Now witht hat said you can just remove the front driveshaft and run with the rear only for a while, but removing the axleshafts, etc will allow dirt to get inside your diff.

You can order a 4.10 ring and pinion and have it installed in your diff for about $500 or less, if you take the diff (pumkin) out and to the gear place yourself.

I ran a wekk in Moab with no passenger side axle shaft, I used a zip tie and duct tape to keep the red Moab sand out of my $1000 from pumkin (4.10's and new ARB locker)

 

[Desert Rat]

Actually I went to the Desert Rat Truck Centers here in Phoenix and talked to the them and they said that they would regear the front and rear for $650 with labor and parts. I thought maybe that was a deal.

 

[Desert Rat]

I really don't want to mess with the U-joints because they are so rusted its not even funny. How many U-joints do u have to take apart to remove the pumkin and axles?

 

[410Fortune]

You dont have to remove any U joints

YOu can replace them once its out though

You puill the wheel, hub, spindle nuts, brake, rotor, spindle then the shafts pull out of the diff, well the drivers, the pass pulls out of the inner shaft.
Then you are ready to remove the diff from the beam.
This can be a PITA if you have extended radius arms

$650 is el cheapo, but guess what I got $20 says thats not your final bill.
Also you dont want to use cheapo gears and you need to use a master install kit to replace all worn seals and bearings.
PLus if you are going to re-gear you should save and do a locker at the same time

 

[Desert Rat]

Yea theres probably a catch somewere in there, the reason while I was down there is cause my friend bought a 93 ranger for 3500. It has a 5 inch up front and like a 3inch in the back. The guy who had it had built the suspension with the stock parts, he just welded on plates to the I-beam brackets to drop them, cut the radius arms in half and welded in two small tubes to extend them and then welded the crossmember straight to the frame. The ''fabricator'' didn't think about the beams over extending so the springs shot out while we were driving it twice when the beams extending too far so we put limiting straps on it. The guy at Desert Rat was telling him what he needs to make the truck better "safer" cause it handles like a boat too and it came out to over $1000.

 

[410Fortune]

Alot of people booty fab the TTB, some of them are strong as hell and work great, I have also seen some I would not want to touch with a 10 foot wrench.

 

[Desert Rat]

But, it can be worked with. I also just realized that I will have to get stock i beam brackets unless I leave the JD lift brackets on there.

 

[410Fortune]

Stock axle pivot brackets should not be hard to come by. Also you dont have to use stock, there are alot of good replacements on the market, look at camburg, Autofab, Giant, etc.......
I only have the Duff brackets because I traded my old 2.9L engine years ago for a Duff 3" VR lift that this guy had just sitting in his shop for years, luckily it was the old style kit withthe cast bracket, which is considered by many to be the strongest bolt on bracket made.