Please help a newbie...

[Maniak]

The Duff lift comes with Progressive rate FRONT springs and an add a leaf and longer shackles for the rear..

The OME springs are Rear Springs.. and give you roughly 2" of lift.. Sooo.. If you use the Duff shackles with the OME springs you will get the 2.5" of rear lift.. OR... you can buy a set of War-153 shackles to use with OME springs and you will get a little more lift in the rear.. enough that the truck should sit level or slightly higher in the rear...

The OME-36 springs will not keep you from getting sag, they will get rid of the sag you currently have on your worn out stock springs..

We have 80k+ miles on our OME-36 rear springs and it doesn't look like it has sagged much if any..

I got my OME-36 springs from Rick Horowitz... he replaced them with a set of National springs (he needed more lift)...

OME (Old Man Emu) is distributed in the united states by ARB USA.. Just about any place that can get ARB stuff can get OME stuff.. The OME-36 spring is "officially" for a 1996 Ford Explorer.. I don't remember if ARB ships them with bushings or not.

Soo.. Your options are...

Duff lift only.. (uses add-a-leaf and shackle in the rear).. The front of the truck will sit slightly higher until the front springs settle in AND since they still use your original leafs the front may always be higher if you old rear springs have sagged)

Duff Lift + WAR-153 shackles.. (uses add-a-leaf and shackle in the rear).. The front of the truck will sit slightly higher until the front springs settle in AND since they still use your original leafs the front may always be higher if you old rear springs have sagged BUT the rear will be about 1/2" taller than it would be using the Duff shackles)

Duff Lift + OME-36 springs (uses a NEW set of rear springs with 2" of lift.. You would use the Duff shackles and the front may sit slightly higher until the front springs shackles.. then it should level out)

Duff lift + OME-36 springs + WAR-153 shackles (uses a New set of rear springs with 2" of lift + shackles that give 1" of lift.. The front should be even with the rear until the front springs settle.. then the rear should be slightly higher)...

All of the front bushings should be changed when the lift is put in (I believe the Duff kit comes with Axle Pivot and Radius Arm bushins)..

I would buy a set of Moog adjustable caster bushins to use instead of the Duff bushings.. This way you can get rid of any pull that gets introduced when the front end is aligned (caused by caster).. If the springs don't settle to the exact same height you can get some caster induced pull (easy to fix with the moog adjustables)

Also.. Change out the brake lines to steel braided lines.. (may "need" them and they will help with the brake feel anyway)..

If you "want" you can also have the sway bar bushings changed (I don't run sway bars and the once in a while time I do it.. I don't might having old bushings)..


ok.. I think I answered everything... lemme know if I missed something or confused you...

~Mark

 

[TimReno]

Ok, I'm going with JD lift, with OME-36 springs and Warrior-153 shackles.

I'm going to my local 4x4 store tommorrow to get a quote on the install. What is a reasonable price?
I'll also ask them if they can get the shackles, springs, and brake lines for me.

Can you explain the bushing thing to me, so I won't have to buy any bushings, because the JD kit comes with the ones I should change, unless I want to change my swaybar bushings or want to upgrade to ?Castor? bushings.

Thanks alot Mark for your help.

Tim

 

[Maniak]

Right.. the Duff kit comes with both Radius Arm bushings and Axle pivot bushings..

Since they will be in there anyway.. and the explorers are somewhat hard to align (almost impossible to get to track straight if the caster is off on 1 side) I'd get teh moog adjustables.. Most places that carry Moob chassis parts can get you the moog adjustable and there is no extra labor cost putting them in instead of the stock style replacemnts.

The only "possible" bushing I can think you may have to buy is the spring eye bushings for the rear axle IF the OME-36 spring doesn't come with them.. (stock 1996 ford explorer rear spring eye bushings...)

~Mark

 

[TimReno]

I just went to my local 4x4 store.
He game me an estimate on the install as being around $550 to $600, is that a good price.
Also, he gave me their prices for the parts I need...
OME-36 rear springs...$275
War-153 shackles...$60
Bushings for rear springs...$40

Are these good prices? Or should I order from somewhere online?

 

[Maniak]

The parts prices are good... ( I didn't see brake lines listed)

I can't say for the install price.. since we did the install ourselves.. But.. it too 2 people 2 nights to do it.. it is somewhat involved (the front).. The rear part of the lift is easy...

If they are going to do everything.. the $500-$600 sounds about right..

Here is the article I wrote about our install expierence.. This will give you an idea of what they will be doing.. (and why I think the $500-$600 may be right)..

http://mark.legendz.com/install/duff-install.html (yes I know I have 1 bad picture link)

~Mark