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Ford Explorer Community - Maintenance - Modifications - Performance Upgrades - Problem Solving - Off-Road - Street
Explorer Forum Covers the Explorer ST, Explorer Sport, Explorer Sport Trac, Lincoln Aviator, Mercury Mountaineer, Mazda Navajo, Ford Ranger, Mazda Pickups, and the Ford Aerostar
Superlift shockes are more resistant than skyjackers, skyjackers are 3.5 or something of some measurement while superlifts are 4.5 i think...off the top of my head, i read it somewhere today, try a search.
I forgot to mention, I have not done any drive shaft modification. My shop does not recommend lengtheng the drive shaft with the superlift 5.5-inch lift.
the skyjacker lift sits lower than the superlift because the springs are softer.
Most people with Superlift springs think they are too stiff.
With either lift you will want the extended radius arms to get any kind of improved suspension travel.
They are both good kits.
The Skyjacker kit is typicall considered better on this website. It definatley has a softer ride to it and the Skyjacker coils actually compress a little whereas the wuperlift coils do not compress well at all
Now if you are running a very heavy front bumper and winch along with a v-8 the superlift coils may be better suited for your truck.
If you are choosing the superlift kit just because it has an additional .5-1" of lift dont forget you can always use a coil spacer with teskyjacker kit to get the extra height.
Oh and I should have mentioned what Jamie said. If I had been the one to put the lift on my truck it would have been the Skyjacker one. I think the Extd Radius arms are better with the crossmember. Even though now I am liking the Duff arms more.
I have had a lot of brerakage with the superlift and I am not that happy with the redesigned parts as they have not worked out as well. When I got the radius arms warranteed I discovered that the shock bracket didn't align with the stock shock location anymore. But all in all I would say that there doesn't appear to be much difference in the front lift parts from Superlift to Skyjacker.
As for my 35's the fenders have been trimmed. Now my buddy is trying really hard to avoid having to trim fenders and currently he is only getting a slight rub on flex and full lock. Wwe are installing 1" body lift to see if this solves his problems.
Actually I don't remember the costs of each lift back then. I think I got my 4in lift for like 1200 bucks. New coils were around 100 bucks, and then they just swapped right in.
OK all looks like I will be going with the Superlift 5.5" kit with the extended radius arms and the superunner steering kit too.
I know i get a couple of superlift shocks with the kit but from what most seem to be saying the skyjacker shocks are better ??? any input on that ??
I am also going to be putting on the double shock mounts on the front end.
Looking to put 35x12.50 tires on it after the lift on the 15x10 rims I have (I have 31x10.50s on them now). I have seen the threads on needing to regear to be able to go with the larger tires but have never really seen the reason behind the need to regear. Can anyone enlighten me on that and I guess you need to regear both rear and front end ??? Also this is one area that I am not familiar with since I have never had to regear b4 so anything would be helpful.
Hey you all have been great, for someone who started out not knowing a whole heck of a lot about lifting a Ex I have really got up to speed due to the great responses on here and links to other places to get more info.
Imagine that you have lost first gear. Now second becomes first and third becomes second, and so on. This may not make a huge difference on flat pavement. Go try to climb a hill ot tow something. All that extra stress goes straight to the transmission, It won't last long. Now you know why you will have to regear.
Well what are you going to be using for dual shock kit? I used the Skyjacker one on the Superlift it was an easy side mount kit. I have an extra set of brackets if you are looking to save some money. If I had to do it all over again I think I would get the new James Duff coil bucket and dual shock kit. Its about 175. I have seen the hoop style dual shocks get damged on Explorers from steering ends with the super runner kit.
I like the skyjacker shocks more than the superlift they just feel better to me, plus I can get them easier than Superlift parts.
As for the gearing I think you will want to regear. The vehicle will seem sluggish. If you have 3.73's and auto it may not be as bad. I know that 31's and my 5speed manual tranny was sluggish with 3.27's. I run 35's with 4.10's and performance is good, but if regearing do it right the first time and get 4.56's.
the reason for the gear change is to get the engine back into the proper power band.
If you run 35" tires on the D35 TTB it had better be in prestine shape, you will also become an expert at wheel bearing maintenence on the axle. If you do any tyupe of 4x4ing you should plan to carry many spares as well. 35's are the MAX tire I would run on that axle.
If you dont re-gear the truck will drive like crap, you will have no power and get really bad gas mileage.
I have the skyjacker 6" and I love it. You don't need to extend your driveshafts. Skyjacker shocks do suck. I have had mine for a year and I think I need new ones right now. Good luck.
OK does anyone know if you get the superrunner steering kit as part of the superrunner lift kit or not, I keep getting conflicting info on this.
I know that you get the extended radius arms as part of the SR kit but is that the only difference between the standard kit and the SR kit ?? I found the superrunner kit for $890. Anyone have any input on this ??
Ordered the Superlift 5.5" (superrunner w/ the extended radius arms) Added the double shock mount and new shocks all round. Went with the superlift shocks since they came with lift (running special 2/$50 on the shocks). Got em all from Rocky Mtn Suspension, should be in next week. Also got the P.A 3" BL to finish it up for puttin on 35's when its all done.
Was going to order the superruner steering kit but the girl at Rocky Mtn swears I wont need it with the kit so we will see, I can always order it if the steering seems off.
I will put up some b4 pics and the after pics hopefully round next weekend.
OK well here we go and now just got to put it all on. Thanks again to all who gave their help and input, It has been greatly appreciated !!!
Yup the drop pitman arm & extended brake lines came with the kit. Got everything from Rocky mountain suspension.
OK... the full lift (superlift superrunner 5.5") which included the drop pitman arm, extended brake lines, SOA kit for rear, 4 shocks with boots, AND the extended radius arms plus the regular etc. items came to $990 ($582 w/o the extended radius arms) ...add the 3" performance accessories body lift for $92 and the double shock mount for $45 and the 2 additional shocks (2 for $50) Total came out to $1177 for everything
....plus $60 for shipping (but I also ordered a couple of dbl shock mounts and shocks for my F350 and Excursion plus shocks all the way round for both which added to freight) took less than a week to get here and that was ordered the 23rd probably would have been only a couple of days if it hadnt been over Christmas.
Going to put the suspension lift and dbl shock mount on tommorrow that will get the 31s clear of the body rubbin thats going on ...spaced the bumper forward with 3/4" worth of washers to clear any rubbing on front but rubs inside fender well in tight turn right now...but it wont by tomorrow night hehe
....going to wait on installing the BL til my kid can afford to buy the 35s ... itl sit in the back of the truck as an incentive to get the $$ earned for the tires (hey its his truck and I bought everything else for it for his Christmas present... hes gotta buy somethin y'know lol)...
Pics will be up by this weekend if all goes well..... of course we're having to replace the muffler tnite since it rusted thru yesterday lol...
Oh and if you are doing the muffler get a good cat-back system like a flowmastewr 40. make sure you get larger pipes also like 2.25" or 2.5" you can do a nice single in dual out with the flowmaster. Of course my buddy has a Ravin exhaust and it sounds real nice
ok it only took ... OK Im not admitting how long it took lol
Lots of torchin, grindin ... wish I had a air chisel that would have been a great help in removing the 8 1/2" rivets that u have to remove... Had to fight the Extended radius arms in including heating up and rebending one of the legs on the drivers side arm .. wasnt real happy that superlift didnt do a better job of making sure the brackets were aligned correctly.
All Im sayin is this is the first and last IFS lift Im doin.... Will update link here soon to a new thread in ... B4 and after will also put the links to all the pics....wooohoooo
It looks great !!
A note... did not get the extended brake lines with the kit... they run round $130 so I got some 6" lines and extended the stock lines with a coupler.... works fine and doesnt look too bad.. and only cost $15 vs $130 so im liking them just fine.... have pics of the mod as well that I will post links to.
Thanks to all who gave so much input to makin it happen.... just did the suspension lift for right now til we get the $$ for the 35s and the regear then we will put on the PA 3" BL
