Thinking of a different way...

[94_Xploder]

I have a 94 explorer 4x4 and im going to be lifting it here pretty soon. Im not new to the 4x4 world as i've had a couple RBV's before and some toyotas. What im wanting to do is keep the COG down, in my 92 ranger I had with a 6in skyjacker class 2 on 35's the truck felt really top heavy same in my tacoma that was SAS'd on 37's and I know that with the explorer it has even more weight to the cab so I could see it being worse. What im thinking of doing is getting a set of jeep coils that would lift a RBV around 4in's and then building a set of coil buckets that are 2in's taller then the factory ones and something like the f-250 shock mounts and a set of extended radius arms that way I will have around 2in's of lift and have more droop then one would with a leveling coil spring. Of course id run a long enough shock to take advantage of the travel. Has anyone here heard of someone doing something like this? I'll most likely run a 33x10.5 or a 34x10.50 with locked axles front and rear. I believe that this would be a pretty capable set-up, Any opinions?

 

[rickybobby]

you will end up with a bit of trimming with the 34's i would think, but 33's should be fine as long as you end up with 4" of lift. Try just the springs 1st however, as 6" Jeep springs will net less lift on an explorer and will sag faster

 

[cmhaah06]

You asked for it!

My opinion (based off my suspension):

Find a coil, in the 300 ppi rate and the correct length, that would net you around two inches of lift. There will be some research needed to figure out the exact length coil you will need. I run a Deaver super flex coil that is rated as such. I moved my stock coil bucket up one inch and had to cut about 3 - 3 1/2" inches off the coils and massaged them into the stock coil buckets to make them work. I retained them with a exhaust ubolt kit.

Get a longer shock. I am running a 14" travel shock using the f250 shock tower mod.

Extend your brake lines using the brakelines off of a 2000 f250 superduty with rear abs and manual locking hubs. (sorry dont have the part number. I'm sure you could find it on this site or someone will post it for you or tell your parts guy what your looking for if he has any idea what he's doing he should be able to find it for you.)

Get a dropped pitman arm. I believe the part number for this is FA400. I truly believe the FA400 would be perfect for the 2" lift. Most sites will tell you this (FA400) dropped pitman arm is for use with a 6" lift, however, I ran it on my 5.5" lift and it was not long enough. I ended up buying the longer pitman arm FA600, which is supposed to be for a 6 - 8" lift and is barely long enough for my 5.5" lift.

Get longer radius arms. Not necessary with a two inch lift, but for better flex any new, used, Duff, Skyjacker or make your own radius arms would make this suspension come alive.

This should get you a nice flexy smooth ride on the front.

For the rear, there are a few things you could do. AAL: add a leafs (the way I went but rode stiff), Warrior shackles (would probably ride the same as stock, just adding down force on tired springs) or I believe some on this forum add a f150 main leaf to their exsisting leaf packs and cut off the eyes of the explorer main leaf, making the f150 main leaf the new main leaf in the pack. I have not done this mod but heard it can net about 1.5 inches of lift and flexes well ooorrrrr buy a custom leaf pack.

I ran 31's with a two inch lift but could have definitely ran 33x10.5's with that setup if I trimmed the front fenders or got glass fenders.

Ditch any lower body moldings, the factory style auto hubs and f/r sway bars. Add a locker: front, if you have a rear l/s. Rear, if you dont have a rear l/s), jeep hubs, c-clip eliminator.

If you have the extra funds and get a good deal, getting the radius arms or making them and a locker would set you up to have a lot of fun. A winch and sliders and you would have a extremely capable explorer.

I priced out just the suspension stuff and you could have the lift you want with all the above listed parts for the front and rear for about $500, minus the radius arms.

So, there you have it. My opinion.

 

[94_Xploder]

My opinion (based off my suspension):

Find a coil, in the 300 ppi rate and the correct length, that would net you around two inches of lift. There will be some research needed to figure out the exact length coil you will need. I run a Deaver super flex coil that is rated as such. I moved my stock coil bucket up one inch and had to cut about 3 - 3 1/2" inches off the coils and massaged them into the stock coil buckets to make them work. I retained them with a exhaust ubolt kit.

Get a longer shock. I am running a 14" travel shock using the f250 shock tower mod.

Extend your brake lines using the brakelines off of a 2000 f250 superduty with rear abs and manual locking hubs. (sorry dont have the part number. I'm sure you could find it on this site or someone will post it for you or tell your parts guy what your looking for if he has any idea what he's doing he should be able to find it for you.)

Get a dropped pitman arm. I believe the part number for this is FA400. I truly believe the FA400 would be perfect for the 2" lift. Most sites will tell you this (FA400) dropped pitman arm is for use with a 6" lift, however, I ran it on my 5.5" lift and it was not long enough. I ended up buying the longer pitman arm FA600, which is supposed to be for a 6 - 8" lift and is barely long enough for my 5.5" lift.

Get longer radius arms. Not necessary with a two inch lift, but for better flex any new, used, Duff, Skyjacker or make your own radius arms would make this suspension come alive.

This should get you a nice flexy smooth ride on the front.

For the rear, there are a few things you could do. AAL: add a leafs (the way I went but rode stiff), Warrior shackles (would probably ride the same as stock, just adding down force on tired springs) or I believe some on this forum add a f150 main leaf to their exsisting leaf packs and cut off the eyes of the explorer main leaf, making the f150 main leaf the new main leaf in the pack. I have not done this mod but heard it can net about 1.5 inches of lift and flexes well ooorrrrr buy a custom leaf pack.

I ran 31's with a two inch lift but could have definitely ran 33x10.5's with that setup if I trimmed the front fenders or got glass fenders.

Ditch any lower body moldings, the factory style auto hubs and f/r sway bars. Add a locker: front, if you have a rear l/s. Rear, if you dont have a rear l/s), jeep hubs, c-clip eliminator.

If you have the extra funds and get a good deal, getting the radius arms or making them and a locker would set you up to have a lot of fun. A winch and sliders and you would have a extremely capable explorer.

I priced out just the suspension stuff and you could have the lift you want with all the above listed parts for the front and rear for about $500, minus the radius arms.

So, there you have it. My opinion.

Wow thanks for the info! Right now I'm having brian1 building me a set of his frame mounts/crossmember and going to extend my factory radius arms using a trail gear creeper joint at the frame. I have a set of skyjacker 2in springs in the front and a aal in the rear, if this doesn't flex as good as I'd like I'm going to move the buckets up and run a taller spring. I have f-250 shock mounts on order through my local dealer and will be using the f-250 brake lines. Will be ordering a locker for the rear probably a lock rite as that's what I had in my yota and liked it a lot and running a l/s front.

 

[94_Xploder]

Also I'll probably build a 1" body lift out of some 3" aluminum rod to give me a little more clearance for the 33's and when the radius arms are built we will try and push the front axle about 3/4-1in forward.

 

[cmhaah06]

You'll like the skyjacker springs. They rode well. I always wondered how they would do with a long set of radius arms and longer shock. This will be interesting for me to see. I did not like the aal. I was about to order custom springs for the stock SUA when I decided last minute to go SOA. Stock springs are super soft and flex like crazy. I dont see the benefit of moving the coil mounts forward at all unless you are going to move the pivot points with it. There seems like there would be a inverted angle to the axle shaft and steering, which with all the geometry the factory put into the locations of the stock suspension points, I wouldnt mess with it, but to each his own. IDK. Good luck with the build and put up some pics when you have a chance.

 

[Brian1]

Your brackets are getting welded today

I really like the long arms and longer shocks with the skyjacker 2" coils, they really helped the ride out. I dont notice the flex as much since I dont do much serious rock crawling with mine but the overall performance is much better than with the stock radius arms.

 

[94_Xploder]

Your brackets are getting welded today

I really like the long arms and longer shocks with the skyjacker 2" coils, they really helped the ride out. I dont notice the flex as much since I dont do much serious rock crawling with mine but the overall performance is much better than with the stock radius arms.

Sounds good!