v8 Body lift radiator drop bracket problems

[gear_grinder]

Hi

I recently installed a body lift in my explorer, however i'm having some problems getting my radiator mounted correctly. My radiator has a large black rectangle molded into part of driver side the end tank, preventing me from moving the lower mount under the stock seat in the core support. anyone else run into this issue? i'm almost wondering if its just a problem with the v8 trucks because of the larger radiator.

thanks

 

[Jason c]

Yes I had the same problem.
I had to cut a small piece of plastic off of the radiator on the driver's side to get the radiator to drop down where it needed to be. I circled it in this pic. I was able to slid a sawz-all in there, and I left enough of the bracket on there to hold it together still.

 

[lounge lizard]

I had no issues doing my body lift on my v-8 explorer.

I pulled the shroud out and had to cut it down some.

then when I put it back in it fell right on the original mounts.

it was real easy. didn't have to do much at all.

 

[Jason c]

It's not the shroud that is the problem. It is the plastic bracket mounted on the side of the radiator that holds another cooler (A/C I believe.) It sticks out right above the driver's side lower radiator mount and prevents it from dropping below the body mount. You can see I nicked the lower radiator mount when I cut part of the other bracket off.

 

[lounge lizard]

oh!
I didn't have a problem with my condenser

 

[Slowy]

watching this thread. i'm doing a BL on my 98 soon

 

[storlied]

You gotta do some cutting...

Getting it into place was the most difficult part of this.

 

[gear_grinder]

Yes I had the same problem.
I had to cut a small piece of plastic off of the radiator on the driver's side to get the radiator to drop down where it needed to be. I circled it in this pic. I was able to slid a sawz-all in there, and I left enough of the bracket on there to hold it together still.

exactly what i need to do. i'm going E fan so i'm not going to need to modify my stock shroud.

 

[99ex22]

I had no issues doing my body lift on my v-8 explorer.

I pulled the shroud out and had to cut it down some.

then when I put it back in it fell right on the original mounts.

it was real easy. didn't have to do much at all.

You my friend are a genius! My original plan when I re-lifted my 2000 was a sloped body lift and spring over axle but I could not for the life of me get the radiator to drop down so I just went with a 1". I will def. be leaving the radiator in the stock location and cutting the shroud. Thanks!

 

[storlied]

The concern is the airflow isn't going to be as efficient as it could be.

 

[99ex22]

it should be ok. I think john rock did the same on his ST.

 

[lounge lizard]

on some you can actually turn the shroud upside down and they fit that way. I didn't even think of it at the time.
but if I have to get in there now it is much easier this way to clear it and work on the front end of the motor.

air flow on mine is not effected at all. I wouldn't of put the top half in if it wasn't for keeping other from getting hurt if they are under my hood when it is running.

I myself don't need it

 

[boominXplorer]

I used stock mounts also when I did my body lift back in the day. I just trashed the whole fan shroud and ran without it till I swapped to an electric fan. I ran without it for at least 6 months though the summer with no issues with no shroud.

 

[99ex22]

What did you guys do for the steering extension?

 

[lounge lizard]

I made my own steering extension.

and I'm thinking of changing it again. but I want to find a universal joint out of a tilt steering column.

 

[99ex22]

just put the steering extension that came in my 883 kit on and somehow it works on my v8 just fine!

 

[lounge lizard]

yours should!

mine was for a f-150 so it's good to see yours in your kit was correct and works well!

 

[99ex22]

haha yeah I thought there was a rumor going around that they didn't work on the 5.0L

 

[lounge lizard]

well...........

I think it depends on which kit you use. I thought I read that the kits for certain year 5.0L explorer was obsolete. so you would have to use a different kit. and then you may run into problems like the steering extention

 

[Slowy]

I had no issues doing my body lift on my v-8 explorer.
then when I put it back in it fell right on the original mounts.
it was real easy. didn't have to do much at all.

well yeah... if you don't lower the radiator, then trimming the shroud is cake.
before i lowered the radiator, i had a hard line (coming from the drivers side of the radiator) rubbing on the belt. so instead of bending that line, i lowered the radiator


i too had a HORRIBLE time with that condenser bracket thing. i had no sawzall so i took JUST THE BLADE from a hacksaw and got er dun.

then.... on the passengers side radiator bracket. i had to make the hole bigger because the bracket wouldnt get close enough due to a 2mm lip underneath
the drivers side i actually cut through the bracket to move around the lip cuz i couldn't get the drill in there.

either way. i'm happy with it.