Striving for comfort on a lowered X

[diesel_s]

Ok, so i've posted a few threads about lowering an X and I have wasted money swapping out shocks and whatnot trying to go about this the cheap way. My new plans are now to purchase the upper and lower control arms designed for lowered X's, found on airbagit.com and instead of continuing with the torsion bar set up, i want to convert to the coil spring set up which is an area in which I need some advice. I need to know how different the control arms are between a ranger and the X. and o yea, lowering spindles as well.

Second, the rear, I need to find lowering shackles for the explorer..........if I can,t I am thinking of getting F150 lowering shackles and F150 leaf springs and new spindles for the back or converting to IRS. I have excellent shocks and all but its time to really stop wasting time and do some real frame work to my X. I have my wheels for it already, and they are waiting to be mounted but I want my suspension set right before I do it, I need help with parts and fabrication advice being that I can fabricate whatever I need to myself. O yea, what do you guys think, should I C-section the rear of the frame?

 

[Spdrcer34]

IRS in the rear.

A Mark8, or a Cougar/Thunderbird Rear would be perfect...There are even weld on brackets that make the whole swap a bolt-on.

Ryan

 

[diesel_s]

great, i know where i can get a mark8 too, but where do i get the weld on brackets?

 

[techieman33]

There aren't any lowering shackles for the rear that I've ever seen. Instead of the control arms you could swap to a coilover setup for about the same price, it's a bolt on install just have to weld 2 gussets onto the shock tower.

 

[IZwack]

Ok, so i've posted a few threads about lowering an X and I have wasted money swapping out shocks and whatnot trying to go about this the cheap way. My new plans are now to purchase the upper and lower control arms designed for lowered X's, found on airbagit.com and instead of continuing with the torsion bar set up, i want to convert to the coil spring set up which is an area in which I need some advice. I need to know how different the control arms are between a ranger and the X. and o yea, lowering spindles as well.

Second, the rear, I need to find lowering shackles for the explorer..........if I can,t I am thinking of getting F150 lowering shackles and F150 leaf springs and new spindles for the back or converting to IRS. I have excellent shocks and all but its time to really stop wasting time and do some real frame work to my X. I have my wheels for it already, and they are waiting to be mounted but I want my suspension set right before I do it, I need help with parts and fabrication advice being that I can fabricate whatever I need to myself. O yea, what do you guys think, should I C-section the rear of the frame?

After you do all that, really the only thing that will remain stock is the center section right under the cab/passenger area. So I'd probably look into just lopping off everything in front and behind this section and then start from scratch - Mustang-2 IFS setup for the front and a 4-link rear with the original solid axle. If you dont have room in the trunk area for shocks, then cantilever it.

 

[diesel_s]

There aren't any lowering shackles for the rear that I've ever seen. Instead of the control arms you could swap to a coilover setup for about the same price, it's a bolt on install just have to weld 2 gussets onto the shock tower.

ok, question is, do I have to make the gussets or can I buy them, weld them on then go for the springs? And that quote from Jeremy Clarkson you have is one of my all time favorites

 

[diesel_s]

After you do all that, really the only thing that will remain stock is the center section right under the cab/passenger area. So I'd probably look into just lopping off everything in front and behind this section and then start from scratch - Mustang-2 IFS setup for the front and a 4-link rear with the original solid axle. If you dont have room in the trunk area for shocks, then cantilever it.

The thing is, up front, if I do as mentioned before and buy the control arms or just do the gussets abnd springs, I'll be fine. I've been in vehicles with 4 link rear suspensions and I prefer IRS to them honestly........I just need to know where I can get the weld on brackets so I can do the IRS as a boilt on then weld the whole unit in afterwards

 

[techieman33]

Yes you can buy the gussets with the rest of the kit, it's discussed here, in the thread they are talking about it for use on lifted rangers, but it works just the same on a lowered explorer, you would just need a different size coilover.

 

[diesel_s]

There aren't any lowering shackles for the rear that I've ever seen. Instead of the control arms you could swap to a coilover setup for about the same price, it's a bolt on install just have to weld 2 gussets onto the shock tower.

o yea i've only seen the lowering leaf spring brackets for the f150 and S10's.......sucks how they skip over rangers and explorers

 

[techieman33]

There really isn't much room to lower the explorer with a shackle, you might get half an inch if you were lucky. Blocks are your best bet for the rear end, unless you want custom leaf springs, or want to switch to a linked setup.

 

[Spdrcer34]

http://team321.com/truckirs/truckirs.html

 

[diesel_s]

There really isn't much room to lower the explorer with a shackle, you might get half an inch if you were lucky. Blocks are your best bet for the rear end, unless you want custom leaf springs, or want to switch to a linked setup.

I know the shackles can work correctly, depends on the angle used.......but I'm just gonna do IRS

 

[diesel_s]

http://team321.com/truckirs/truckirs.html

thanx dude, your a life saver, i'm gonna order the brackets in a few weeks and then go pull the rear sub frame off of a tbird or mark VIII and will post pics of the build