VWbaja10 Intro

[VWbaja10]

Long time off-roader, newbie to explorer/mountaineer owner.I’ve been involved in off-roading my whole life being apart of corva and other clubs as well as racing dirt bikes and quads. I just acquired a 2000 Mercury Mountaineer from a friend, it has a mildly built 5.0, 4.10 gears, headers, and a few other goodies, cranked torsions and shackles with minor trimming in the front. It had 32’s but I recently put 33’s due to availability of 32’s. I already found some good info on this site and can’t wait to learn more. Here’s a few pics of my ride from when I got it to with the 33’s. My plans are to keep it a simple build and get a little more lift. I purchased lift torsion keys and looking on how to get an inch or two more in the rear. Any info or tech tips are greatly appreciated

 

[2020FordRaptor]

That's awesome! Welcome to the forum!

 

[Rick]

Welcome to the forum.

Since you already have extended shackles, about the only way you will get more lift from the rear without going to spring over axle is to get leaf springs with bigger arches. Spring over axle will give you at least 5".

 

[VWbaja10]

Welcome to the forum.

Since you already have extended shackles, about the only way you will get more lift from the rear without going to spring over axle is to get leaf springs with bigger arches. Spring over axle will give you at least 5".

I have thought about going spring over but I think that’ll be to much lift than what I want. I want to keep this one simple as I have a Baja bug and 94 Chevy prerunner that are the projects. I’ve found some add a leafs, but my leaf pack is pretty worn out, I did just recently find some old man emu 1.5” lift leafs on 4wheel parts and was thinking about going with those if anyone has any info on those or what leafs to go with.

 

[Fix4Dirt]

Long time off-roader, newbie to explorer/mountaineer owner.I’ve been involved in off-roading my whole life being apart of corva and other clubs as well as racing dirt bikes and quads. I just acquired a 2000 Mercury Mountaineer from a friend, it has a mildly built 5.0, 4.10 gears, headers, and a few other goodies, cranked torsions and shackles with minor trimming in the front. It had 32’s but I recently put 33’s due to availability of 32’s. I already found some good info on this site and can’t wait to learn more. Here’s a few pics of my ride from when I got it to with the 33’s. My plans are to keep it a simple build and get a little more lift. I purchased lift torsion keys and looking on how to get an inch or two more in the rear. Any info or tech tips are greatly appreciated View attachment 436859View attachment 436858

welcome!

 

[Tnashua]

Welcome!
Looks like a fun project...
Hey Admin(s)- can one of you pm me? I sent 2 pm' s, but have yet to see a response. Thank you for your time!

 

[Fix4Dirt]

Welcome!
Looks like a fun project...
Hey Admin(s)- can one of you pm me? I sent 2 pm' s, but have yet to see a response. Thank you for your time!

@Rick is top dawg round here

which admins ya tryna reach? just to @[membername] and it shows a notification for them

 

[DintDobbs]

@VWbaja10 Nice looking ride! I bet that 302 with 4.10's is a torque beast, eh?

I've been abusing a set of those OME 1.5" lifted springs + 2" RTZ shackles on my Sport for a year or two now. I'll go ahead and say, they're worth the money, but you shouldn't expect to get the whole 1.5" out of them, since these offroad trucks are usually loaded down with gear. Expect 1" max, plus your 4-door is heavier than my 2-door. I removed the overload leaf to get the extra little bit of lift and extra flex, but you shouldn't do this on your 4-door. I'm considering putting the overload leaf back in, to prevent over-flex damage and flattening. These springs are very soft.

If you decide to go SOA, get the Rough Country 5" Ranger kit. I'm running the Superlift 4" + RTZ re-indexed torsion keys on the front, and it sits level with the 2" shackles + OME springs (overload removed).

 

[VWbaja10]

It moves nicely I must say and I found out I get the same mpg daily and Hwy driving as I do driving it harder in the dirt. And that’s good to hear about the ome leafs. I mainly want to gain about an inch just to clear the tires a little better and help out when I load my Dirtbike up.

 

[Lee's Automotive]

Long time off-roader, newbie to explorer/mountaineer owner.I’ve been involved in off-roading my whole life being apart of corva and other clubs as well as racing dirt bikes and quads. I just acquired a 2000 Mercury Mountaineer from a friend, it has a mildly built 5.0, 4.10 gears, headers, and a few other goodies, cranked torsions and shackles with minor trimming in the front. It had 32’s but I recently put 33’s due to availability of 32’s. I already found some good info on this site and can’t wait to learn more. Here’s a few pics of my ride from when I got it to with the 33’s. My plans are to keep it a simple build and get a little more lift. I purchased lift torsion keys and looking on how to get an inch or two more in the rear. Any info or tech tips are greatly appreciated View attachment 436859View attachment 436858

Nice 2nd gen bro Welcome to EF

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum!

 

[DintDobbs]

@VWbaja10 Nice. These should do the job, but do be warned that I've heard the OME's flatten out if you tow much with them. I can't speak from experience, just heard from other forum members. I believe it, though; these springs are really, really soft. I've got a flex pic linked below, if you want to see. On very slow movement, it just clears the inner rear wheel arch, but I've got sidewall scuffing from catching the inner lip while wheeling, and the lip has taken some more-than-cosmetic damage too... Just figured you'd like to know, since you're running a similar setup. I'm on 10" wide rims, though, so if you're on 8" or 9" wides you should have a bit more clearance.

Page 7, post #127

Project Vulture

Played with the VSS to day, cleaned it up nice and good, didn't get to the relays because of other things going on around the house to day. The test drive still showed the same 6 flashes, so the VSS being dirty wasn't the problem. I did poke straight down into the hole, and felt tiny gear...

www.explorerforum.com

 

[VWbaja10]

@VWbaja10 Nice. These should do the job, but do be warned that I've heard the OME's flatten out if you tow much with them. I can't speak from experience, just heard from other forum members. I believe it, though; these springs are really, really soft. I've got a flex pic linked below, if you want to see. On very slow movement, it just clears the inner rear wheel arch, but I've got sidewall scuffing from catching the inner lip while wheeling, and the lip has taken some more-than-cosmetic damage too... Just figured you'd like to know, since you're running a similar setup. I'm on 10" wide rims, though, so if you're on 8" or 9" wides you should have a bit more clearance.

Page 7, post #127

Project Vulture

Played with the VSS to day, cleaned it up nice and good, didn't get to the relays because of other things going on around the house to day. The test drive still showed the same 6 flashes, so the VSS being dirty wasn't the problem. I did poke straight down into the hole, and felt tiny gear...

www.explorerforum.com

Thanks for the info. I don’t tow much and when I do it either just my bike on the hitch hauler or it’s my small trailer with bike and camping gear not crazy heavy or all the time. And I believe I’m on 9” rims. The tires just tuck in the fender well at slow speed without rubbing

 

[DintDobbs]

@VWbaja10 Nice, then the OME's are for you! She's gonna look even better once you nab a set!

 

[Mike65]

Welcome.