Where to Purchase 94' lowering kits

[Explorer94GV]

i dont neccesarily need a kit or do I? i have no clue what i need and where to get it from. here in arkansas there are not many places to buy stuff for lowering just for lifting any help is appreciated!

 

[Hartman]

They don't make lowering kits for any years except for the 01 Sport. Also, don't even bother going into a shop and asking if they can lower it. They'll just give you the "deer-in-the-headlights" look and then ramble on about how they can't do it. Good news is, you don't need a kit. Do a search on it, it's been brought up before.

 

[TDG]

The early model explorer is a pain in the a$$ to lower compared to it's newer counterparts, and of course like Hartman said there are no kits do to it so you have piece one together.

Eibach used to make 2" drop springs for the front but recently discontinued them. Various companies make drop I-beams for the front which in my honest opinion is the way to go.

Check out Dead Link Removed

for the I-beams but be prepared to spend some pretty big dollars doing this. There is also another company that makes beams called dream-beams, I don't have a URL for them but several people on the board have them. Do a search.

Out back you could go with blocks or leafs to lower it. See the above URL for those items, or do a search on here.

Overall it costs a lot of money to lower the early explorer properly. Just hacking the springs can cause all sorts of problems with alignment and ride quality.

 

[Explorer94GV]

thxs. for the help guys. yes i have gotten the deer in the headlight looks from the shops i went to around here. there question is why do you want to lower a suv? i tell them its 2wd not 4wd whats the point. than they go on with bs on how its stupid. my question is the back easier than the front? is there a specific thread that can tell me what things i need to get or do to make it proportional or do i have to just piece the info. together. thxs

 

[Trckmagik]

I have a pair of leaf springs for the rear. They are 3" drop leafs for 91-01 explorers. They will lower the rear 3 full inches. Let me know if interested. I will sell for 60.00 plus shipping. Shipping should be about 60.00 so about 120.00 for all.

 

[TDG]

There is your hook up for the back end, which will be easier to lower than the front. A cheap alternative to the drop leafs is to use blocks in the back however why not do it right with the leafs?

Up front you might be able to make some drop coils for the ranger work however with the extra weight of the explorer the results are unpredictable. I know that on my 93xlt I only have a few inches between the bump stops and the I-beams with the stock suspension, so if I were to use drop coils I would probably be riding on the bump stops or very close to them. The bump stops could be cut but then I would worry about a hard jounce sending the I-beams into the frame. Once again it comes down to using the drop beams, which in theory should keep the stock suspension geometry and simply move the spindle pick-up point up 3 inches. (This is from the drop beams that I have looked at) I'm not aware of any drop spindles for the explorer or any that could be crossed over.

I'm not aware of any threads or tech posts regarding lowering a 1st generation ex so I guess we are on our own to figure it out. Hopefully someone will read this who knows of some good tech write-ups on this subject.

I'm going through the parts collection process and as long as I can convince an alignment specialist to touch my rollover prone explorer I should be done with it in about 3 weeks.

Tim

 

[Explorer94GV]

hmmm.... sounds like a lot of trouble to go thourgh on the first gen X. so if i got these leafs i would just have to wait and get something for the front right. what about those coils explorerexpress sells? would those work with the leafs that trckmagic has? how much installation price is this going to involve? when it comes to mechanically stuff or looking under the explorer im pretty much handicap. how bout racingjason he has a first generation X mabe he will let us know what he has done.

 

[TDG]

To the best of my knowledge RacinJason has the Dream Beams on his ex but I think they are for a ranger, I'm not sure what he did out back.

Those leaf springs are perfect for the back end. I took a look at EEs springs and I'm not sure if they lower the vehicle or just swap the stock springs with progressive rate springs. You might want to email or call them about this.

I'm not sure about the installation cost of all of this. I do my own work and have no fear of doing suspensions so that saves me a lot of money. And you are right, it's major pain in the a$$ to lower a 1gen, that's one the main reasons you don't see more of them running around like you do the later models.

Tim

 

[93BLUEXLT]

Bags, bags are the way to go. when I get the money, my X is gonna be AIRBORNE HOOAH!!!!

 

[Bumpin97Ranger]

I'm thinking about getting those 3 inch drop leafs whenever I finally get my X. Do you think just adding 2 inch drop coils for a Ranger would work? The front end of the X wouldn't be TOO much heavier than the Ranger, being that I'm sticking with the 4.0, so I figure the X should sit pretty level with the 2 inch drop coils. What do you guys think?

 

[TDG]

93BLUEXLT - Do you have any problems with your rims hitting the shock mounts on full lock? I have the same rims and the shock mounts have been slowly shaving the back of the rim off at full lock when I leave my driveway. I'm lowering in a few weeks and have had to plan on moving the shocks to avoid having the shock mounts dig into the tires.

Bumpin97Ranger - I think the explorer carries most of it's weight on the a$$ end so the drop coils should work on the front. However like I mentioned in a previous post there isn't much more than 2" between the beams and the bump stops with the stock springs so if you go with the 2" lowering springs the beams may being very close to the bump stops. Of course the bump stops could be cut but then you run the risk of hitting the frame and it's not worth C-sectioning the frame for only two inches of drop. Maybe I'm missing something here? Also what year X are you getting? Keep in mind that unlike the Ranger the X lost it's I-beams in 95 and became much easier to lower.

Tim

 

[93BLUEXLT]

TDG, I do get some rubbing under full lock, but from what I can tell,its the tire that rubs, not the wheel. If I be careful with it, and dont crank the wheel, then Im good to go.

 

[93BLUEXLT]

I went to the NOPI (www.nopi.com) website and was looking around.. they still sell the springsfor the 1st Gens, and after some more searching, the front springs for the 91-94 X have the same part number as the 1990 Ranger. so if you cant find the explorer springs, the ranger springs will work.

 

[siberthugd]

Do you guys think I could get away with using the eibach 2" lowering springs for my 4WD?? They say for a 2dr/4dr 2WD, but I can't imagine them being much different... Your 2 cents appreciated!

 

[TDG]

I just got done lowering my 93 2" and several things happened, the rubbing is gone for some strange reason, I've cycled the suspension and looked at everything and it just won't rub, now I need another reason to move the shocks.

After lowering it the tie rods started whacking away at the sway bar mounts it seems there was only about half an inch of clearance between the two, I fabbed up some new sway bar links that are 1.5" longer than the stock ones to fix the problem.

Alignment... Most shops wont touch a lowered vehicle much less a lowered explorer, I've got a line on a couple of shops that might do it but so far I've had to guesstimate it. It's not a daily driver so I can wait a while.

Tim

 

[Explorer94GV]

Sounds like youve done a good job do you have any before and after pics? Any pics at all?

 

[TDG]

I have this problem with people stealing my digital cameras so the only pics I have are pretty crummy. Here is the before picture which I took a few days after I bought it.

 

[TDG]

Here it is as of this afternoon.

 

[TDG]

One more.

 

[siberthugd]

TDG... if you could tell me how you went about lowering it, I'd appreciate it... The oil pan doesn't hit the front transfer case though??? It didn't look like enough room to me... thanks for any info...