You can lift the front end by tightening those two bolts. If you lift more than about 2", the angle on the front wheel CV joints gets to be too much, which causes the joints to wear quickly and make noise.
The front end of your '97 does not have conventional coil or leaf springs. It is sprung with torsion bars. Tightening the bolts will twist the torsion bars slightly, raising the front end.
The end result is an offset in available suspension travel. By raising the front via torsion twist, there is now more compression travel available between resting position and hitting the bump stops. There is also a decrease in the available extension/droop travel between resting position and maximum extension. There is no change to the total travel, just a change to the resting point (aka ride height) within that range of travel.
At the rear, longer shackles will increase ride height with out changing the spring rate. The AAL will change the spring rate. Since Explorers pretty much all seem to get a little saggy in the rear springs, the AAL (with or w/o longer shackles) is usually a good way to go.
