so ya wana cheap lift

[wattsgame]

ok guys every body wants a couple of inches to clear some 32s or so well hear is how i got mine and cost me 10 bucks outa pocket.

first i found a thread on hear about useing 85-86 f-150 leaf springs and explorer main hanger. i aquired these said springs from a friend that needed some parts for his x. i traded the parts from my donor x that i purchased for the 4wd conversion. knowing what i know now i would have left the f-150 spring pack together and used it like it was but that might have raised me up to high in the back.

for the front well this was a little more tricky. first thought was to use some springs my dad had from his cherokee after he lifted it 3in. they where about 4in taller than the factory x springs but was not near as beefy so i figured that they would compress more giving me about 2 to 3in up frount. well i was right about them compressing more in fact they compresed to the point my front tires where rubing the fenders. i figured out real quick this was not the way to go. now this is where every one is not gona like this thread. i went down to a local auto salvage and was directed to a truck bed full of springs. bingo there they where same size as far as spring thickness and about 2.5in taller than factory they fit the spring seat perfectly. the only thing was at the top of the spring they where bent in but that wasnt nothin a tourch didnt fix. cost 5 bucks per spring a steal as far as i was concerned.

and that is how i got my lift for 10 bucks

 

[jimbo74]

yeah there is a thread on here about using f150 springs.....

 

[Nuggethead 420]

What if you don't have people trading and giving cheap stuff?
What it cost for normal purchase?

 

[Doug]

Alot of people use coil spring spacers from an f-150, they're pretty cheap and give some lift. Also good luck aligning your front end now.

 

[have2goski]

glad somebody mentioned the alignment.

It's the cost that nobody ever seems to want to report in these kinds of threads

But i guess that would be making the assumption you did get an alignment

 

[wattsgame]

nope didnt get it yet. will let ya know how it turns out though. right now ive got 2.75 shims in the front and it looks straight from an eye view but the machine will tell me the rest of the story. wost case ill have to go to 3.0 shims. and buy the way if ya wana do things cheap you got to get creative, trade, still, borrow.; lol im just saying for the guy that aint got alot of money to invest in lifting his truck can get it done if he reads enogh threads and is willing to do the leg work. good luck to all you guys with a tight budget and an open mind.

 

[JTX]

Thats pretty cool! Junkyards can be alot of help when modding on a budget. Glad everything worked out for you.

 

[wattsgame]

thanx JTX

 

[yosh18981898]

Sounds like you got a set of f-150 or bronco springs. They are indeed a bit taller than ranger based vehicle springs and will bolt into a ranger based vehicle and give a small lift. The only problem is that the spring rate is way too high for an explorer (unless you have some enormously heavy front bumper, winch, and V8 conversion) and your truck doesn't weigh enough to compress them. My guess is that you have very little front end flex. But that doesn't matter if you don't take the truck off road.

I got lucky when I did my budget boost. Somehow, about a 1/2 year ago, my front end got all messed up and was shimmed the wrong way. It looked like this: /----\ I used f-150 spacers and put 2 3/16" washers underneath the f-150 spacers on each side for a true 2" lift. On the back I just used add-a-leaf, which gave me about 2" in the back. I haven't had my front end aligned, and it looks like this: l----l and drives straight and true and only cost me $50 for all of it

 

[wattsgame]

ok finaly got the alignment
before

 

[wattsgame]

ok finaly got the alignment
before after

camber left .7 .5
camber right -.2 0
caster left 1.8 2.2
caster right .6 2.3
toe left -2.59 .05
toe right -2.6 .05
total toe -5.19 .10
steer ahead .01 0

 

[TheRookie]

Nice alignment. atfirst i read camber left as 7.5 and danm near spit cup o noodles all over my laptop

 

[wattsgame]

lmao !!! I tried to post it further apart but when i hit quick reply the spaceing didnt make the trip.

 

[RocknRolla4x4]

so you just R&R your leafs with the f-150 leafs, correct? and how much lift did you gain from that?

 

[Foxracin]

Holy old thread batman. Atleast your using the search feature. Good job.

 

[Flip4ford]

Glad it worked for you

 

[MountainMonkey]

this is a total noob question thats been ansewered a thousand times im sure but i'll ask anyways... you can lift the front just by putting in springs that are say 2 or 3 inchs taller? so if i do an add a leaf in the back i can match the hight with just new taller front springs?