It depends on what you're planning to do, I would think. If the looks are more important than flex, than you could use F-150 coil spacers for the front and either AAL or shackles for the rear. The AAL will be stiffer, making the ride a little rougher than it already is. If you plan on using it more off road, you have 2 choices that I know of. James Duff makes a 2.5" lift using new coils and shackles, with the option of extended radius arms. Another option is what I plan on doing, which is using 2" skyjacker coils in the front and new Eaton 2" lifted leaf springs in the rear. The advantage of the last 2, especially with new leafs, is when you use shackles or spacers, you're lifting it 1.5-2" over what it is now, not over stock. If yours is anything like mine, the suspension has definitally sagged over the years. Hope all this helps!
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I got the add a leaf and spacer for 80$. Mako off road sells it. Look it up on google. You can get shackles anywhere, I grabbed em' for about 40$ with shipping. And with a bottle jack, 4 jack stands, 1 1/8 wrench, and a lot of sockets and liquid wrench you can do it your self. The axle piviot bracket is like 180$. And the instalation takes a lot of time and tools. Get a pro to do it. It will be pretty expensive but it is cheap insurance for your ball joints. Go for the 31's on 15-8's gives the explorer a great stance. But don't worry about the wheels and tires now. The stock wheel set up with the 2" lift still lookls pretty good.
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Here's the part #s:
F2TZ5A307-A
F2TZ5A307-B
they're like $12 each...
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Yes, they are left/right specific. The parts are stamped L & R. When you order them specify the 2WD version
Does anyone know if you need to change the bolts or are they long enough?
the stock bolts are all good, works fine
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/factoryspacer.htm
These will only work on a 4x4 ex, a 2wd requires the use of 4x4 coil/radius arm bolts......
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yeah, they work great. just make sure the the point "thing" sticking up is facing downward when you install them, b/c the coil sits on the side that the hole is on.... I sure hope that makes sense. but once they are installed on the truck and weight is back on them.... they sit centered.
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You will see. The prong faces down and keeps the spacer from moving, It rides up against the radius arm ear.
The spacers will work perfect on your truck, like they were designed for it
You will re-use your coil retainer washer and bolt as well as the urethane coil seat.
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I noticed that one has a blueish mark on it just like the picture and that appears to be the drivers side so I can now orient them correctly and not have to worry I have them on the wrong side.
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Drivers side, blue mark, peg to the rear up agains the radius arm ear.
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Alignment:
Mad alignment problems........haha Well on my other one I loosened the pinch bolt and spun the bushing then adjusted my toe and wallla! No need for new camber bushing!! I drove it for a while and listened for tire noise and checked tire wear and I was good. Maybe I got lucky, but my buddy did the same thing and he did n't have to get new camber bushings.
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AAL then WAR's... that way once you get the old shackles off, install the AAL then replace the old shackles with the new WAR153.
I did the AAL and shackles at the same time. Since you take the leaf pack out to add the AAL..its only 1 extra bolt to undo to change the shackles at the same time.
www.summitracing.com
Explorer Pro Comp short AAL, $30.
make sure you get the long ones. better arch.
Shorts worked fine for me, and they're cheaper. Them with WAR shackles put it over 3" in the back, but it was sagging an inch to start with.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97676&page=1&highlight=leaf+install
You have the typical "Explorer Lean". Caused by a constant load on the left (driver's) side of the vehicle. The "fix" is to replace the rear leaf springs, not the shocks. Without replacing, eventually your rear end will begin to bottom out on the stops any time you have even moderate weight in the back (like one passenger). A cheap temporary fix is to swap the springs left to right. A more permanent one is AAL (add-a-leaf). The correct fix is replacing the springs.
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I also have the WAR153 shackles
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48965&highlight=war153+install
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Here is a small piece of advice!
Your Stock shackles have the bolts with the heads toward the center of the vehicle, this is ok unless you have the Newer style of the Hidden Hitch Reciever Trailer Hitch. Then your bolts will hit the hitch before they can be removed from the Shackles. I had to remove my Hitch just to take the bolts out.
So here is my advice, when you put the bolts back in, make it so the heads are toward the outside of the vehicle, and the nuts are toward the center..... It will make Life much Easier if you have a hitch and need to remove the springs or shackles at a later date....
Another thing that should be mentioned, Campo brought it to my attention. There is an up side and a down side to the shackle. The instructions show that the brace is in the middle, but in fact it is off set. The longer end of the shackle bolts to the frame and the shorter side to the spring. That is to allow a full range of motion, otherwise the brace of the shackle will hit the frame under full compression.
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Rear Lift
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=101035&highlight=F-150+leaves
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97676&page=1&pp=20&highlight=add-a-leaf
