Potential Strut conversion options

[ahuggins6]

So, a lot of folks don’t like spending money on race parts for their DD. And that’s what I consider coilovers to be. For me, I’d rather find a strut/spring assembly that I can build mounts into the explorer stuff and be able to replace parts with factory off the shelf parts. And yes, there are spring rates and ride heights to be considered. All part of build 4wd vehicles from scratch.

I’ve seen one guy that put 3nd gen struts on his 2nd gen. He had to cut and patch the frame rail to get them to fit inside the upper control arms. I don't really want to do that, so I’m looking for a strut assembly that has an absolutely SMALL spring, similar to the coil over springs everyone seems to use. Yesterday I was in the JY preparing to buy stuff in a 50% off sale tomorrow. I really wanted to start pulling things apart to put certain struts against the explorer suspension just to See what it would look like. But I was running out of time.

I’m looking at different SUV struts, and I think I’ve decided you have a lower “mount” on some strut assemblies that does not get replaced when you change the strut. And it must be possible to mix and match struts and mounts!! Here’s pics!

From a 2006 Chevy Trail Blazer:

And then a 2008 Dodge Nitro (take a look at the knuckle while you're there. perhaps an extended height knuckle for a little lifting action?? More measuring to be done.):

And finally, we have a 1999 Toyota 4Runner. I’m posting these because I think the spring is a smaller diameter than that 3rd gen, and a guy might not need to cut into the gram to make room for it. I didn’t have time to take any real measurements because they were closing up. Maybe tomorrow?

My big score toward my current 4wd conversion in another thread: a complete ranger 4wd front end and full set of BEAUTIFUL 16” wheels. All to be bought at 50% off.

 

[ahuggins6]

I just saw a parts diagram that shows the lower ball joint on the Nitro to be the wrong direction to work with Explorer control arms. And theres no telling right now if camber would be the same as with Explorer stock stuff. But that's why it takes work to make this stuff work!

 

[J_C]

I imagine that trying to make any of that work, is going to be major headaches trying to get the alignment right.

I'm not trying to discourage you but you might be better off just buying the vehicle with the type of front strut suspension you want and driving that instead as a daily driver, while this project is bound to cause significant downtime of the vehicle... guess it depends on whether you have another vehicle you don't mind using as a daily driver while working on the Explorer.

Consider that when the engineers designed those, there had to be a lot of trial and refinement, not just throw something on and call it a day. This means you may end up spending more, in the value if your time, than less by choosing to try to retrofit something from another vehicle.

You showed us the mounts but how do you propose to implement that? Build lower control arms from scratch? Reinforce your factory arms with a mounting plate to attach the 3rd party OEM mounts?