Suspension Question

[lumpdog]

I am a newbie here to the Explorer world. I personally own GM's, Jeeps, and a Cruiser. But my girlfriend and my mom own a 94 and 93 Explorers, respectively. I wheel the crap out of my girlfriends ride, it is fun to wheel a stocker sometimes because everything is an obstacle.

I recently took my mom out on one of our 4wd club runs, and she had to park and ride with someone alot. She is wanting to lift her explorer now to fit 33's so she has a little more clearance and articulation. But I don't want anything that is going to ride like crap (i.e. add a leafs). After all, she is an old lady and I don't wanna hear about how harsh it rides! This is her daily driver, she went to Les Scwab and they quoted her $1000 bucks for a lift, I would assume a Tuff Country, and it was a 4 inch.

I am not much into fords, and after some research, the explorer lifts are few and far between for a good setup.

Any opinions? Pricing?? Links to sites with good prices and products??

 

[FROADER]

Welcome to the site. You'll find anything you need to know about your mom's and girlfriend's Explorer on here.

$1,000 is a decent price for a 4" lift and the Tough Country is a decent lift for a daily driver. A 4" with 33s will look like this minus the front fiberglass fneder. Before you do it though, you need to think about regearing it, because her already crappy gas mileage will get even crappier and the tranny won't like the bigger tires too much without regearing. If she's not too worried about the money, with it geared and a locker in the rear it will be a very capable off-roader.

Good luck.

 

[j602]

You have a cool mom.

 

[lumpdog]

I would be doing the install on the lift myself, saving her a couple bucks. I am an automotive tech with lots of experience, just not with fords. That explorer looks pretty good!

Ride quality and street manners ok??

BTW, for some reason, my mom's explorer gets way better mileage and has more power than my girlfriends, and they are identical, both 4.0, a4ld, etc...
Haven't looked to see if the gear ratio's are different yet. My girlfriends is very well maintained by myself, and has a new MAF,plugs, wires, coil pack, etc. I took it to a very good ford tech (a friend in the business!) and everything works great, just no nuts, oh well......back to the lift.....

Also, I just got done rebuilding the A4LD in my mom's explorer (it's what I do, I am a tranny builder on the side) and incorporated 5r55e servos, shift kit, BW clutches, and modified the overdrive planet to eliminate the "star" washer failure in it. It is a one off trans for now, kinda my test bed to see how it works....so far so good!! So trans should hold up for a while, and I would do gears in it once she drives it a little and figures out it got gutless quick.


j602

You have a cool mom.

Just so ya know, the 66 cruiser is my girlfriends wheeling ride, and my sis has a lifted s10 blazer on 33's! My whole family wheels now!

 

[j602]

Sounds like you're a pretty capable mechanic, and should be able to tackle the lift with ease. If you go for a lift that's around 5 - 6", like a Superlift or Skyjacker, you can save some money by doinf an SOA (Spring over axle) in the back. All you'll need is some new spring perches. It does sound like your girlfriend's X has a higher gear ratio than your mom's, resulting in more off the line power. That A4LD rebuild sound interesting, let us know how it holds up.

 

[410Fortune]

Rouch country is tooooo stiff of a ride for a daily,
I suggest Skyjacker
Also with the TTB if you want to improve the ride, not jsut simply lift it ou will want extended radius arms.

In the back jsut do a spring over axle conversion to match the front 5-6" lift

 

[lumpdog]

I will keep you up on the A4LD, I do alot of them, and the common factor seems to be the Overdrive clutch drum failure.

I am also interested in doing a complete junk yard lift too. I see there are articles about using springs from different trucks and such to make the lift work. I have done this a bunch with other rigs, and the outcome seems to be usually better than what could have be bought off the shelf.

I do have a fab facility at my fingertips, cnc plasma, benders, welders, etc. So I could fab brackets and mounts too. Just looking to "explore" all my options!

Bolt on stuff would save me a lot of time, but I want the best combo for it, and the lift can't be too much, after all, my mom is gonna have to crawl in and out of it.

The expertise on the sight so far seems really good!

 

[FROADER]

Mine was a TrailMaster that I bought back in '98. The ride was better than stock. I see now that the TrailMaster rear 4" lift is an add-a-leaf. When I bought it the rear 4" lift was full leaf packs. Not sure on the ride quality of the new lift.

I've heard good things about Skyjacker's ride quality too. You could just get the front lift bolt on then get some nationals 4" lift leafs for the rear and it would ride really well.

 

[lumpdog]

any good vendors to check the pricing on the skyjacker lift??

 

[j602]

I just had a great experience with stylinconcepts.com. I got screwed over by another company who said they had what I wanted in stock, when they really didn't. I needed the Skyjacker 6" kit for the front only, since I was doing an SOA in the back. Anyway I callen Stylin', and the guy was able to put together a custom order for me for only the front lift parts, shocks, and brake lines. Give 'em a call, they can probably get what you need, and for a good price too.

 

[TimW94XL]

When did you buy the skyjacker kit? I checked at skyjacker's web page all they are making is a 1" lift for the 4x4. They have 2", 4", and a 6" for the 2wd 91-94's. The only kit that i could find is the tuff country and superlift. I checked with the local off road shops around here, they also called skyjacker and was told that the 4 & 6" lifts were discontenued for the 4x's.
I sold my 94XL, but I also have a 91 which i was going to lift.
Iwas going to put my 33's on from my jeep. I already have gears and lockers for it sitting in a box new for the last yr. Also a 2" bodylift new.

 

[FROADER]

If you're going to put about 6" of lift on it why not just gett he superlift 5.5", and stay away from the body lift?

 

[95offroadx]

Rouch country is tooooo stiff of a ride for a daily,

i have a rough country lift, i like it alot, handles pretty good, and is awesome offroad, but it did stiffen up the ride, i wouldnt sugguest it for a older person

 

[RangerX]

Lumpdog, your Mom AND you girlfriend drive Ex's? You're gonna be on here ALOT!
And if you come up with a decent upgrade for the A4LD, please share it. ALL of ours are crapping out.

Welcome to the site.

 

[lumpdog]

My mom just had some RMX shocks put on her explorer, and hates them. We have them on my GF's, and her and I both love them. Handling and offroading is sooo much better, but my mom is complaining about the ride to stiff over speed bumps and potholes........She want's to trade them back in!

 

[91Sploder]

Check out rockymountainsusp.com, thats where I bought my Superlift 5.5" lift. The price came out to be a little bit over $1000 because I added the extended radius arms (which by the way helped smooth out the ride and added to my overall front flex.) Skyjacker lifts are gonna run you more money and are going to be harder to find since I believe they stopped making them for Explorers. You could check out James Duff lifts (jamesduff.com) They make a 2.5" lift for Explorer and all of their products are top of the line! But definitly try rockymountainsusp.com, they did great with my order and gave me a really good deal too since I mentioned I was on this forum!

 

[appx91]

Welcome to the site. Please keeps us updated on the A4LD tranny build. I would say try to find a SkyJacker lift kit and if not the SuperLift. I have a Rough Country and I love it but YES it is a little rough but performs well off-road. Again welcome to the site.

 

[rino351]

Mine was a TrailMaster that I bought back in '98. The ride was better than stock. I see now that the TrailMaster rear 4" lift is an add-a-leaf. When I bought it the rear 4" lift was full leaf packs. Not sure on the ride quality of the new lift.

I've heard good things about Skyjacker's ride quality too. You could just get the front lift bolt on then get some nationals 4" lift leafs for the rear and it would ride really well.

I got my trailmaster 4" lift last summer, and it still had the leaf packs.
It rides pretty smooth.
If I had to go back and do it all over again, I'd get either the Superlift or the Skyjacker.