PA-853+Shackles needed?

[alexub]

Hi everyone,

I am currently running 265x70x16 (roughly 30.5 inch) tires on my 96 Explorer 4x4. The tire size looks good, but the truck is begging to be lifted. Perhaps 2-3 inch lift will be perfect.

After reading here, I have decided to go with PA-853 body lift kit. My question is do I need to also change the shackles? My leaf springs are about 2 years old, so no sagging yet.

It seems most folks have both PA-853 and shackles/add.leaf etc. Not sure if the rear still needs to be raised to level it off.

Thanks!
Alex

 

[Big_Pezzy]

the body lift should be more than sufficient to clear those tires. If there is no sagging with your leaf springs, you don't have to put shackles

 

[alexub]

Thanks for the reply! Will post follow up with photos once I got the kit installed.

 

[mynameisaric]

If you want 2" of lift, just crank the torsion bars and add lift shackles. The bodylift is a lot of work and raises the center of gravity on the truck. It also makes the frame hang lower. If you're in a rust belt state, chances are that your shackles are in pretty bad condition anyway.

With the torsion twist lift and lift shackles, you should easily be able to clear 31's, and maybe 32's in the future with some trimming.

I'm not telling you that you shouldn't body lift it, I'm just saying it may not be worth the headached or expense if you only want 30's.